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.

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NCAA quadrant system

Quadrant 1 (UNC is 6–8): 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): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC is 8–0): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (UNC is 5–0): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower

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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.

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UNC’s NCAA résumé

NET ranking: 24
WAB (wins above bubble) rank: 21 (5.37)
High NET: 13 (2 days)
Low NET: 30 (4 days)
Average opponent NET: 93
Average NET win: 113
Average NET loss: 35
NET strength of schedule: 31
KenPom: 29
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 30
Bart Torvik T-Rank: 27

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UNC quad schedule breakdown

(Through Saturday games)

Date	Opponent	NET ranking	Current quad designation	Outcome
N3	Central Arkansas	166	4	Win
N7	Kansas	21	1	Win
N11	Radford	252	4	Win
N14	N.C. Central	342	4	Win
N18	Navy	136	4	Win
N25	(N) St. Bonaventure	143	3	Win
N27	(N) Michigan State	11	1	Loss
D2	At Kentucky	28	1	Win
D7	Georgetown	90	3	Win
D13	USC Upstate	303	4	Win
D16	ETSU	139	3	Win
D20	(N) Ohio State	29	1	Win
D22	East Carolina	267	4	Win
D30	Florida State	62	2	Win
J3	At SMU	37	1	Loss
J10	Wake Forest	67	2	Win
J14	At Stanford	61	1	Loss
J17	At California	68	1	Loss
J21	Notre Dame	94	3	Win
J24	At Virginia	12	1	Win
J31	At Georgia Tech	169	3	Win
F2	Syracuse	86	3	Win
F7	Duke	1	1	Win
F10	At Miami	32	1	Loss
F14	Pittsburgh	104	3	Win
F17	At N.C. State	36	1	Loss
F21	At Syracuse	86	1	Win
F23	Louisville	16	1	Win
F28	Virginia Tech	55	2	Win
M3	Clemson	34	2	Win
M7	At Duke	1	1	Loss
M12	(N) Clemson	34	1	Loss

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ACC tournament

Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday’s first round
No. 15 Pittsburgh 64, No. 10 Stanford 63
No. 11 SMU 86, No. 14 Syracuse 69
No. 13 Wake Forest 95, No. 12 Virginia Tech 89, OT
Wednesday’s second round
No. 7 N.C. State 98, Pittsburgh 88
No. 6 (No. 24 ranked) Louisville 62, SMU 58
No. 8 Florida State 95, No. 9 California 89
No. 5 Clemson 71, Wake Forest 62
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 2 (No. 10 ranked) Virginia 81, N.C. State 74
No. 3 Miami 78, Louisville 73
No. 1 (No. 1 ranked) Duke 80, Florida State 79
Clemson 80, No. 4 (No. 19 ranked) North Carolina 79
Friday’s semifinals
Virginia 84, Miami 62
Duke 73, Clemson 61
Saturday’s championship
Duke 74, Virginia 70

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Date	Month/day	Scores	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. 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. 11 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. ETSU	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	W, 71–70	vs. Ohio State	11–1
			—————————
22	Monday	W, 99–51	vs. East Carolina	12–1
30	Tuesday	W, 79–66	vs. Florida State	13–1, 1–0 ACC
	January
3	Saturday	L, 97–83	at SMU	13–2, 1–1
10	Saturday	W, 87–84	vs. Wake Forest	14–2, 2–1
14	Wednesday	L, 95–90	at Stanford	14–3, 2–2
17	Saturday	L, 84–78	at California	14–4, 2–3
21	Wednesday	W, 91–69	vs. Notre Dame	15–4, 3–3
24	Saturday	W, 85–80	at No. 9 Virginia	16–4, 4–3
31	Saturday	W, 91–75	at Georgia Tech	17–4, 5–3
	February
2	Monday	W, 87–77	vs. Syracuse	18–4, 6–3
7	Saturday	W, 71–68	vs. No. 1 Duke	19–4, 7–3
10	Tuesday	L, 75–66	at No. 25 Miami	19–5, 7–4
14	Saturday	W, 79–65	vs. Pittsburgh	20–5, 8–4
17	Tuesday	L, 82–58	at N.C. State	20–6, 8–5
21	Saturday	W, 77–64	at Syracuse	21–6, 9–5
23	Monday	W, 77–74	vs. Louisville	22–6, 10–5
28	Saturday	W, 89–82	vs. Virginia Tech	23–6, 11–5
	March
3	Tuesday	W, 67–63	vs. Clemson	24–6, 12–5
7	Saturday	L, 76–61	at No. 1 Duke	24–7, 12–6
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte
12	Thursday	L, 80–79	Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson	24–8
		NCAA tournament
19	Thursday	L, 82–78, OT	First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C.	24–9

Photo courtesy of the ACC