By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina’s non-conference strength of schedule was ultimately enough to get the Tar Heels into the NCAA tournament field. In the program’s 54th appearance, they’ll play in the First Four as the last team in the field.
UNC (22–13) will meet San Diego State on Tuesday at 9:10 p.m. (truTV) in a battle of No. 11 seeds for the right to advance to Milwaukee’s Fiserve Forum on Friday in the South Region to meet No. 6-seed Ole Miss (22–11) at 4:05 p.m. (TNT). If UNC wins that round of 64 game, it would play on Sunday against the winner of the game between No. 3-seed Iowa State (24–9) and No. 14-seed Lipscomb (25–9).
If Carolina makes it to the second weekend, those games would be in Atlanta at the State Farm Arena.
The decision by the NCAA tournament selection committee, which UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham chairs, came after only 24.3% of the Sunday projections on Bracket Matrix (27 of 111) had the Tar Heels in the field, with most putting the Tar Heels among the first four teams out.
Wins above bubble (WAB) was a metric that helped Carolina make the field. As the last team in the field, the Tar Heels wouldn’t have been in the field if two No. 1 seeds won their conference championship games on Sunday: VCU in the Atlantic 10 tournament and Memphis in the American Athletic tournament.
Three other ACC teams made the field: No. 1-ranked Duke (31–3; No. 1 seed in East Regional), No. 13-ranked Louisville (27–7; No. 8 seed in the South Region) and No. 10 Clemson (27–6; No. 5 seed in the Midwest Region).
The Tar Heels’ late surge with eight wins in the last 10 games was enough to get on the right side of the bubble despite their 1–12 record in Quad 1 games.
UNC schedule
| Date | Month/day | Opponent/event (final ranks) |
|---|---|---|
| October | Exhibitions | |
| 9 | 7 p.m. Friday | vs. USC in Greensboro |
| 18 | 5 p.m. Sunday | vs. Indiana in Indianapolis |
| 27 | Tuesday | vs. Charlotte |
| November | Regular season | |
| 2 | Monday | vs. Western Carolina |
| 6 | Friday | vs. Wofford |
| 10 | Tuesday | vs. Wyoming |
| 13 | Friday | vs. Georgia |
| 20 | Friday | vs. Marshall |
| 23 | Monday | vs. Monmouth |
| 27 | Friday, 7 p.m. | Dick Vitale Invitational vs. West Virginia in Charlotte |
| December | ||
| 1 | Tuesday | ACC/SEC Challenge vs. No. 13 Arkansas |
| 6 | Sunday | vs. Butler |
| 12 | Saturday afternoon | at Georgetown |
| 15 | 7 p.m. Tuesday | Tobacco Road Classic vs. N.C. State in Greensboro |
| 19 | 2:30 Saturday, CBS | CBS Sports Classic vs. Kentucky in New York |
| 21 | Monday | vs. The Citadel |
| 30 | Wednesday | vs. California |
| January | ||
| 2 | Saturday | at Boston College |
| 5 | 7 p.m. Tuesday | at Louisville |
| 9 | Saturday | vs. N.C. State |
| 13 | Wednesday | at Florida State |
| 16 | Saturday | vs. Stanford |
| 19 | Tuesday | vs. No. 17 Virginia |
| 23 | Saturday | at Syracuse |
| 26 | Tuesday | vs. SMU |
| 30 | Saturday | Nashville Hoops Showdown vs. No. 5 Illinois in Nashville, Tenn. |
| February | ||
| 2 | Tuesday | at Notre Dame |
| 6 | Saturday | vs. Georgia Tech |
| 8 | Monday, 7 p.m, ESPN | vs. Louisville |
| 13 | Saturday | at No. 4 Duke |
| 20 | Saturday | at Wake Forest |
| 22 | Monday, 7 p.m, ESPN | vs. No. 24 Miami |
| 27 | Saturday | at Virginia Tech |
| March | ||
| 2 | Tuesday | at Pittsburgh |
| 6 | Saturday | vs. No. 4 Duke |
| 9–13 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament in Greensboro |
Photo by Smith Hardy
