By R.L. Bynum

CHARLOTTE — ESPN’s Joe Lunardi changed his view of North Carolina in hours, and Bart Torvik has the Tar Heels comfortably in the field with the view of the Tar Heels is starting to shift as their NET ranking went up four spots to 36th, the highest in nearly two months.

It’s the highest UNC has been in the NET rankings since the Tar Heels were 34th after the Jan. 15 win over California for their fourth consecutive victory.

Lunardi went from saying early Wednesday afternoon in a press availability that North Carolina probably wouldn’t make the field unless the Tar Heels (21–12) beat No. 1 Duke (28–3; 1st in NET) in the ACC tournament semifinals to including them in his projection after their 76–56 second-round victory over Notre Dame at the Spectrum Center.

That win over the Irish was Quad 2 on Wednesday night but fell to Quad 3 overnight when Notre Dame fell below the 100 threshold to 104.

Lunardi had UNC as the second team in his “First four out” list in the bracket he released on Wednesday morning, but has the Tar Heels as the last team in with the bracket that he released Wednesday evening.

Carolina swapped positions in Lunardi’s projection with Ohio State, which went from the last team in the field to the second team on his “First four out” after the Buckeyes’ 77–70 loss to Iowa Wednesday in the Big Ten tournament. Indiana, which Lunardi had as the second team on his “Last four in,” lost to Oregon 72–59 on Thursday afternoon.

NCAA quadrant system

Quadrant 1 (UNC is 2–1; 9 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 1–0; 6 games left): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC is 2–0; 4 games left): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (UNC is 5–0; 1 games left): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower

In his update Wednesday evening, Torvik listed the Tar Heels as the first team in his “Last four in” list and an 11 seed heading to the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.

Joe Rexrode of the Athletic has UNC as the third team in his “Last four in” list and a No. 12 seed headed to the First Four. James Fletcher III’s projection on On3 has the Tar Heels as the last team in the field.

“Obviously you hear the noise, you hear being a bubble team, and me experiencing being the No. 1 seed and not making the tournament,” RJ Davis said. “It’s really just about staying present and understanding that anything is possible, so just be smart and enjoy it.”

Jerry Palm’s Thursday update on CBS has UNC as the first team on his “First four out” list.

To keep its hopes alive, though, UNC must beat Wake Forest (21–10; 68th) at 2:30 Thursday in the ACC tournament quarterfinals.

“Our eyes and our preparation are on what is real, and what is real is our preparation in regards to our play [Thursday] against a very good Wake Forest team,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said.

In the Wednesday update on the Bracket Matrix website, which doesn’t reflect the win over the Irish or Ohio State’s loss, only nine of 96 brackets include UNC.

Before the Notre Dame game, Patrick Stevens of The Washington Post projected UNC as the second team on his “First four on the outside” list.

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.

UNC’s NCAA résumé

(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 15
High NET: 13 (2 days)
Low NET: 26 (2 days)
Average opponent NET: 151
Average NET win: 165
Average NET loss: 10
NET strength of schedule: 92
KenPom: 22
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 34
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 24

UNC quad schedule breakdown

(Through Wednesday’s games)

Opponent	NET ranking	Current quad designation	Outcome
Central Arkansas	240	4	Win
Kansas	13	1	Win
Radford	301	4	Win
N.C. Central	343	4	Win
Navy	208	4	Win
(N) St. Bonaventure	97	2	Win
(N) Michigan State	10	1	Loss
At Kentucky	28	1	Win
Georgetown	111	3	Win
USC Upstate	198	4	Win
ETSU	109	3	Win
(N) Ohio State	47	1
East Carolina	288	4
Florida State	148	3
At SMU	43	1
Wake Forest	59	2
At Stanford	98	2
At California	63	1
Notre Dame	65	2
At Virginia	21	1
Georgia Tech	189	3
Syracuse	96	3
Duke	2	1
At Miami	33	1
Pittsburgh	154	3
At N.C. State	34	1
At Syracuse	`96`	2
Louisville	17	1
Virginia Tech	58	2
Clemson	32	2
At Duke	2	1

Quad designations are according to the current NET rankings. The only designation that matters is the designation on Selection Sunday.

ACC tournament

Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday’s first round
No. 12 Notre Dame 55, No. 13 Pittsburgh 54
No. 15 California 82, No. 10 Virginia Tech 73, 2 OTs
No. 14 Syracuse 66, No. 11 Florida State 62
Wednesday’s second round
No. 8 Georgia Tech 66, No. 9 Virginia 60
No. 5 North Carolina 76, Notre Dame 56
No. 7 Stanford 78, California 73
No. 6 SMU 73, Syracuse 53
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 1 (and No. 1-ranked) Duke 78, Georgia Tech 70
North Carolina 68, No. 4 Wake Forest 59
No. 2 (and No. 13-ranked) Louisville 75, Stanford 73
No. 3 (and No. 10-ranked) Clemson 57, SMU 54
Friday’s semifinals
Duke 72, North Carolina 71
Louisville 76, Clemson 73
Saturday’s championship
Duke 73, Louisville 62

Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 BYU in SLC	Exhib.
29	Wednesday	W, 95–53	vs. Winston-Salem St.	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 94–54	vs. Central Arkansas	1–0
7	Friday	W, 87–74	vs. No. 17 Kansas	2–0
11	Tuesday	W, 89–74	vs. Radford	3–0
14	Friday	W, 97–53	vs. N.C. Central	4–0
18	Tuesday	W, 73–61	vs. Navy	5–0
			Fort Myers Tip-Off
25	Tuesday	W, 85–70	vs. St. Bonaventure	6–0
27	Thursday	L, 74–58	vs. No. 9 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at Kentucky	7–1
			—————————
7	Sunday	W, 81–61	vs. Georgetown	8–1
13	Saturday	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. East Tennessee State	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	3 p.m.	vs. Ohio State	CBS
			—————————
22	Monday	8 p.m.	vs. East Carolina	ACCN
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 23 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 11 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte