By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — The only way to help your NCAA tournament resume in a Quad 3 game is to win convincingly, and that’s exactly what North Carolina did with its 97–73 victory on a snowy Wednesday night at the Smith Center over N.C. State.
Carolina, whose NET ranking was 47th after Saturday’s 88–82 win at Syracuse but fell to 50th since then, went up five spots to a NET ranking of 45 after the victory over the Wolfpack. That’s the highest since Feb. 9, the day after UNC’s 67–66 home win over Pittsburgh. After Thursday’s games, though, it slipped to 46th
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 1–10; 1 game 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 5–0; 1 game left): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC is 6–1; 2 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
Whether the Tar Heels are now on a path that can get them into the NCAA field isn’t clear, but Coach Hubert Davis likes the progress.
“Turning a corner? I don’t know, but I know that we played well,” he said. “I know that our practices over the last week have been very spirited, and it’s been the best practices we’ve had all season in terms of competitiveness. And we’ll do that Thursday and Friday in preparation for a really good Virginia team.”
RJ Davis says that the team saw what it could do with the proper intensity.
“We all took it upon ourselves to compete and we saw what happened,” he said. “When we did that we were able to get stops. You should have fun competing.”
After Thursday’s games, only four of 103 bracket projections listed on Bracket Matrix included Carolina.
In Tuesday projections, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS’ Jerry Palm had UNC as the fourth team in their “First four out” lists.
After Saturday’s Quad 3 home game (ESPN2) at 4 p.m. against Virginia (13–13, 6–9; NET ranking of 105), UNC gets a better chance to improve its NCAA tournament resume with Monday’s 7 p.m. visit (ESPN) to Florida State (16–10, 7–8; NET ranking of 88) for its last Quad 2 game of the regular season.
Following the game with the Seminoles, the Tar Heels can’t afford losses at home on Saturday, March 1, to Miami (6–20, 2–13; 210th in the NET) in a Quad 4 game or on Tuesday, March 4, at Virginia Tech (11–15, 6–9; 167th) in a Quad 3 game before the regular-season final on Saturday, March 8 against No. 3 Duke (23–3, 15–1; 2nd).
UNC’s NCAA resume
(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 46
Highest NET: 25 on Dec. 2
Lowest NET: 51 on Feb. 10
Average opponent NET: 91
Average NET win: 135
Average NET loss: 27
NET strength of schedule: 29
KenPom: 45
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 34
KPI: 52
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 48
UNC quad schedule breakdown
(Through Thursday’s games)
| Opponent | NET ranking | Quad designation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elon | 155 | 3 | Win |
| At Kansas | 22 | 1 | Loss |
| American | 235 | 4 | Win |
| At Hawai’i | 196 | 3 | Win |
| (N) Dayton | 75 | 2 | Win |
| (N) Auburn | 1 | 1 | Loss |
| (N) Michigan State | 18 | 1 | Loss |
| Alabama | 6 | 1 | Loss |
| Georgia Tech | 119 | 3 | Win |
| La Salle | 229 | 4 | Win |
| (N) Florida | 4 | 1 | Loss |
| (N) UCLA | 28 | 1 | Win |
| Campbell | 179 | 4 | Win |
| At Louisville | 27 | 1 | Loss |
| At Notre Dame | 105 | 2 | Win |
| SMU | 38 | 2 | Win |
| At N.C. State | 134 | 2 | Win |
| California | 126 | 3 | Win |
| Stanford | 85 | 3 | Loss |
| At Wake Forest | 60 | 1 | Loss |
| Boston College | 208 | 4 | Win |
| At Pittsburgh | 50 | 1 | Loss |
| At Duke | 2 | 1 | Loss |
| Pittsburgh | 50 | 2 | Win |
| At Clemson | 25 | 1 | Loss |
| At Syracuse | 147 | 2 | Win |
| N.C. State | 134 | 3 | Win |
| Virginia | 103 | 3 | |
| At Florida State | 88 | 2 | |
| Miami | 207 | 4 | |
| At Virginia Tech | 166 | 3 | |
| Duke | 2 | 1 |
ACC standings
| Team | League | Overall | NET |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 3 Duke | 15–1 | 23–3 | 2 |
| No. 18 Clemson | 13–2 | 21–5 | 25 |
| No. 25 Louisville | 13–2 | 20–6 | 27 |
| SMU | 11–4 | 20–6 | 38 |
| Wake Forest | 11–4 | 19–7 | 60 |
| North Carolina | 9–6 | 16–11 | 46 |
| Stanford | 8–7 | 16–10 | 85 |
| Florida State | 7–8 | 16–10 | 88 |
| Pittsburgh | 7–8 | 16–10 | 50 |
| Georgia Tech | 7–8 | 13–13 | 119 |
| Virginia | 6–9 | 13–13 | 103 |
| Virginia Tech | 6–9 | 11–15 | 166 |
| California | 5–10 | 12–14 | 126 |
| Notre Dame | 5–10 | 11–15 | 105 |
| Syracuse | 5–11 | 11–16 | 147 |
| N.C. State | 3–12 | 10–16 | 134 |
| Boston College | 3–12 | 11–15 | 208 |
| Miami | 2–13 | 6–20 | 207 |
Wednesday’s results
North Carolina 97, N.C. State 73
SMU 97, Notre Dame 73
Florida State 74, Miami 66
Saturday’s games
Florida State at No. 25 Louisville, noon, The CW
Wake Forest at N.C. State, 2 p.m., ESPN2
Georgia Tech at Boston College, 2 p.m., ACCN
Pittsburgh at Notre Dame, 2:15, The CW
Virginia at North Carolina, 4 p.m., ESPN
No. 18 Clemson at SMU, 4 p.m., ACCN
Virginia Tech at Miami, 6 p.m., ACCN
No. 3 Duke vs. Illinois in New York, Fox
California at Stanford, 10 p.m., ESPN2
Monday’s game
North Carolina at Florida State, 7 p.m., ESPN
Tuesday’s games
No. 3 Duke at Miami, 7 p.m., ESPN
Georgia Tech at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m., ACCN
No. 25 Louisville at Virginia Tech, 9 p.m., ACCN
Wednesday’s games
Notre Dame at No. 18 Clemson, 7 p.m., ACCN
N.C. State at Syracuse, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Virginia at Wake Forest, 9 p.m., ESPNU
Boston College at Stanford, 9 p.m., ACCN
SMU at California, 11 p.m., ESPNU
| Date | Month/day | Time/ score | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 15 | Tuesday | W, 84–76 | at No. 19 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. 17 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. 11 Michigan State | 4–3 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 4 | Wednesday | L, 94–79 | vs. No. 2 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. 3 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 | L, 73–65 | at Pittsburgh | 13–9, 6–4 |
| February | ||||
| 1 | Saturday | L, 87–70 | at No. 3 Duke | 13–10, 6–5 |
| 8 | Saturday | W, 67–66 | vs. Pittsburgh | 14–10, 7–5 |
| 10 | Monday | L, 85–65 | at No. 23 Clemson | 14–11, 7–6 |
| 15 | Saturday | W, 88–82 | at Syracuse | 15–11, 8–6 |
| 19 | Wednesday | W, 97–73 | vs. N.C. State | 16–11, 9–6 |
| 22 | Saturday | 4 p.m. | vs. Virginia | ESPN2 |
| 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 | ESPNU |
| 8 | Saturday | 6:30 | vs. No. 3 Duke | ESPN |
| 11– 15 | Tues.–Sat. | ACC tournament Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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