By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — The only way that a Quad 4 win can help a team is if it’s a blowout, and North Carolina’s overtime victory Saturday over Boston College was decidedly not like that on a day that a Tar Heels loss earlier in the week was upgraded.
The 102–96 Saturday overtime win for UNC (13–8, 6–3 ACC) avoided a disastrous Quad 4 loss that would have been a black mark on the Tar Heels’ NCAA resume. Even with the win, UNC dropped one spot to 40th in the NET rankings.
Boston College (9–11, 1–8) went up seven spots to 224th after nearly pulling the upset but still has the second-worst NET rankings of any power conference team. The only power conference team with a lower NET ranking is Miami (4–16, 0–9), which went up seven spots to 240 after its 98–94 overtime loss Saturday at California (11–0, 4–5; 118 in the NET).
“I’m taking this win, I know it was ugly, but a win is a win,” said RJ Davis after leading the team with 22 points and five assists. “We’re at a point right now where we’re just trying to stack some wins, and we’ll take the wins how they come. So, it was ugly today, but it’ll go up on the scoreboard as a W, so we’re good.”
Wake Forest (15–5, 7–2) delivered some good news for UNC with its impressive effort in a 63–56 home loss Saturday to No. 2 Duke (17–2, 9–0; 2nd in NET). The Deacons moved up six spots to 71st, flipping UNC’s 67–66 loss Tuesday in Winston-Salem from Quad 2 to Quad 1.
How good the Tar Heels are in the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee may come down to their performance in the next four games, three of them Quad 1 opportunities.
The NCAA tournament committee, which UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham chairs, uses the NET rankings as one of its metrics to determine who makes the field and how to seed teams. NET rankings will fluctuate throughout the season, and the only quad designation that matters is where your opponents stand on Selection Sunday, not where they ranked when the game was played.
NCAA quadrant system
Quadrant 1 (UNC is 1–7; 5 games left): Home games against teams with a NET ranking of 30 or better, neutral-site games against teams ranked 50 or better, and road games against teams ranked 75 or better
Quadrant 2 (UNC is 4–1; 1 game left): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC is 4–0; 4 games left): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (UNC is 4–0; 1 game left): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower
Only 58 of 80 projections listed on Bracket Matrix — most made before the Boston College win — have UNC in the field, with the consensus predicting the Tar Heels as the highest No. 11 seed. The 22 projections leaving the Tar Heels out of the field is up from 12 just after the loss to Wake Forest.
The DRATINGS website projects the Tar Heels the highest, predicting that they will be the highest No. 8 seed.
Jerry Palm, in CBS’ projection released Friday afternoon, has UNC as a No. 11 seed in the East Region and playing in the First Four against New Mexico (15–4, 58th in NET), with a potential first-round matchup with No. 6-seed Michigan (15–5; 13th in NET) in Milwaukee. No. 2 Duke (16–2, 8–0; 2nd in NET) is the region’s No. 1 seed and Michigan State (16–2, 16th in NET) is the No. 2 seed.
In projections released Friday, Joe Lunardi’s latest ESPN projection has UNC as the fourth team on his “last four byes” list, meaning it is one spot away from being sent to the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.
UNC has two Quad 1 road games this week — 9 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN) against Pittsburgh (13–6, 4–4; 32nd in NET) and 6:30 Saturday (ESPN) against No. 2 Duke. After a Quad 2 home game against the Panthers a week later, on Saturday, Feb. 8, Carolina heads to Clemson (17–4, 9–1; 31st in the NET) two days afterward, on Monday, Feb. 10, for a Quad 1 game.
After that, the rematch against the Blue Devils in Chapel Hill on March 8 is the only lock to be a Quad 1 game.
The Feb. 24 visit to Florida State (13–7, 4–5) is still penciled in as a Quad 1 game. But after the Seminoles’ 78–71 loss Saturday at Stanford, they fell three spots to 75th in the NET. For that game to be Quad 1, that’s the lowest FSU’s NET ranking can go.
UNC’s NCAA resume
(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 40
Highest NET: 25 on Dec. 2
Lowest NET: 47 on Jan. 1
Average opponent NET: 94
Average NET win: 137
Average NET loss: 26
NET strength of schedule: 14
KenPom: 38
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 30
KPI: 48
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 32
UNC quad schedule breakdown
(Through Saturday’s games)
| Opponent | NET ranking | Quad designation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elon | 136 | 3 | Win |
| At Kansas | 8 | 1 | Loss |
| American | 228 | 4 | Win |
| At Hawai’i | 176 | 3 | Win |
| (N) Dayton | 69 | 2 | Win |
| (N) Auburn | 1 | 1 | Loss |
| (N) Michigan State | 17 | 1 | Loss |
| Alabama | 7 | 1 | Loss |
| Georgia Tech | 151 | 3 | Win |
| La Salle | 168 | 4 | Win |
| (N) Florida | 5 | 1 | Loss |
| (N) UCLA | 33 | 1 | Win |
| Campbell | 223 | 4 | Win |
| At Louisville | 25 | 1 | Loss |
| At Notre Dame | 88 | 2 | Win |
| SMU | 44 | 2 | Win |
| At N.C. State | 120 | 2 | Win |
| California | 117 | 3 | Win |
| Stanford | 70 | 2 | Loss |
| At Wake Forest | 71 | 1 | Loss |
| Boston College | 224 | 4 | Win |
| At Pittsburgh | 36 | 1 | |
| At Duke | 2 | 1 | |
| Pittsburgh | 36 | 2 | |
| At Clemson | 30 | 1 | |
| At Syracuse | 146 | 3 | |
| N.C. State | 120 | 3 | |
| Virginia | 138 | 3 | |
| At Florida State | 75 | 1 | |
| Miami | 240 | 4 | |
| At Virginia Tech | 187 | 3 | |
| Duke | 2 | 1 |
ACC standings
| Team | League | Overall | NET |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 2 Duke | 9–0 | 17–2 | 2 |
| Clemson | 9–1 | 17–4 | 30 |
| No. 25 Louisville | 8–1 | 15–5 | 25 |
| Wake Forest | 7–2 | 15–5 | 71 |
| SMU | 6–3 | 15–5 | 44 |
| Stanford | 6–3 | 14–6 | 70 |
| North Carolina | 6–3 | 13–8 | 40 |
| Pittsburgh | 4–4 | 13–6 | 36 |
| Florida State | 4–5 | 13–7 | 75 |
| California | 4–5 | 11–9 | 117 |
| Notre Dame | 3–5 | 9–10 | 88 |
| Georgia Tech | 3–6 | 9–11 | 151 |
| Syracuse | 3–6 | 9–11 | 146 |
| Virginia Tech | 3–6 | 8–12 | 187 |
| N.C. State | 2–6 | 9–10 | 120 |
| Virginia | 2–7 | 9–11 | 138 |
| Boston College | 1–8 | 9–11 | 224 |
| Miami | 0–9 | 4–16 | 240 |
Saturday’s results
North Carolina 102, Boston College 96, OT
SMU 63, N.C. State 57
Pittsburgh 66, Syracuse 73
No. 2 Duke 63, Wake Forest 56
Clemson 72, Virginia Tech 57
Notre Dame 74, Virginia 59
Stanford 78, Florida State 71
California 98, Miami 94, OT
Monday’s game
N.C. State at No. 2 Duke, 8:30, ESPN
Tuesday’s games
Wake Forest at No. 25 Louisville, 7 p.m., ACCN
Georgia Tech at Notre Dame, 9 p.m., ACCN
North Carolina at Pittsburgh, 9 p.m., ESPN
Wednesday’s games
Virginia Tech at Florida State, 7 p.m., ACCN
Virginia at Miami, 7 p.m., ESPNU, 7 p.m.
California at SMU, 9 p.m., ACCN
Syracuse at Stanford, 11 p.m., ESPNU
Next Saturday’s games
Pittsburgh at Wake Forest, noon, ESPN2
Clemson at N.C. State, 1:30, The CW
Florida State at Boston College, 2 p.m., ACCN
No. 25 Louisville at Georgia Tech, 3:45, The CW
Virginia Tech at Virginia, 4 p.m., ACCN
Stanford at SMU, 6 p.m., ACCN
North Carolina at No. 2 Duke, 6:30, ESPN
Notre Dame at Miami, 8 p.m., ESPN2
Syracuse at California, 10 p.m., ESPN2
| Date | Month/day | Time/ score | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 15 | Tuesday | W, 84–76 | at No. 24 Memphis | Exhibition |
| 27 | Sunday | W, 127–63 | vs. Johnson C. Smith | Exhibition |
| November | ||||
| 4 | Monday | W, 90–76 | vs. Elon | 1–0 |
| 8 | Friday | L, 92–89 | at No. 12 Kansas | 1–1 |
| 15 | Friday | W, 107–55 | vs. American | 2–1 |
| 22 | Friday | W, 85–69 | at Hawai’i | 3–1 |
| Maui Invitational | ||||
| 25 | Monday | W, 92–90 | Dayton | 4–1 |
| 26 | Tuesday | L, 85–72 | No. 1 Auburn | 4–2 |
| 27 | Wednesday | L, 94–91, OT | No. 8 Michigan State | 4–3 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 4 | Wednesday | L, 94–79 | vs. No. 4 Alabama | 4–4 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Saturday | W, 68–65 | vs. Georgia Tech | 5–4, 1–0 ACC |
| 14 | Saturday | W, 93–67 | vs. LaSalle | 6–4 |
| Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte | ||||
| 17 | Tuesday | L, 90–84 | No. 5 Florida | 6–5 |
| CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden | ||||
| 21 | Saturday | W, 76–74 | UCLA | 7–5 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 29 | Sunday | W, 97–81 | vs. Campbell | 8–5 |
| January | ||||
| 1 | Wednesday | L, 83–70 | at Louisville | 8–6, 1–1 |
| 4 | Saturday | W, 74–73 | at Notre Dame | 9–6, 2–1 |
| 7 | Tuesday | W, 82–67 | vs. SMU | 10–6, 3–1 |
| 11 | Saturday | W, 63–61 | at N.C. State | 11–6, 4–1 |
| 15 | Wednesday | W, 79–53 | vs. California | 12–6, 5–1 |
| 18 | Saturday | L, 72–71 | vs. Stanford | 12–7, 5–2 |
| 21 | Tuesday | L, 67–66 | at Wake Forest | 12–8, 5–3 |
| 25 | Saturday | W, 102–96, OT | vs. Boston College | 13–8, 6–3 |
| 28 | Tuesday | 9 p.m. | at Pittsburgh | ESPN |
| February | ||||
| 1 | Saturday | 6:30 p.m. | at No. 2 Duke | ESPN |
| 8 | Saturday | 4 p.m. | vs. Pittsburgh | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 10 | Monday | 7 p.m. | at Clemson | ESPN |
| 15 | Saturday | 6 p.m. | at Syracuse | ESPN |
| 19 | Wednesday | 7 p.m. | vs. N.C. State | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 22 | Saturday | 4 p.m. | vs. Virginia | ESPN |
| 24 | Monday | 7 p.m. | at Florida State | ESPN |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Saturday | Noon | vs. Miami | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 4 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at Virginia Tech | ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU |
| 8 | Saturday | 6:30 | vs. No. 2 Duke | ESPN |
| 11– 15 | Tues.–Sat. | ACC tournament Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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