By R.L. Bynum

The NET rankings at the beginning of December are less reliable, but the first release on Monday shows that the No. 16-ranked North Carolina’s men’s basketball team has plenty of work to polish its NCAA tournament resume.

The Tar Heels (6–1), who peaked at 25th on Dec. 2 last season, are 26th in the first NET rankings (translating to a No. 7 seed) after splitting a pair of Quad 1 games, winning in its lone Quad 2 game (St. Bonaventure), and going 4–0 in Quad 4 games. Earning a better ranking has been difficult with that many Quad 4 games.

The NET rankings usually fluctuate a lot early in the season because they are descriptive, meaning that they measure what teams have done so far in terms of results, efficiency and strength of schedule.

It’s a sorting tool that the NCAA tournament committee uses as one of its metrics to determine who makes the field and how to seed teams. The only quad designation that matters is where your opponents stand on Selection Sunday, not where they ranked when the game was played.

In prescriptive rankings that predict future success, UNC is 23rd in Bart Torvik’s T-Rank, 31st in KenPom and 49th in ESPN’s Basketball Power Index.

The Tar Heels will have a chance to move up on the NET rankings in a Quad 1 game at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in the ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge against No. 18 Kentucky (5–2), which is 15th in the first NET rankings.

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NCAA quadrant system

Quadrant 1 (UNC is 3–2; 10 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; 3 games left): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC is 4–0; 2 games left): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (UNC is 6–0; no games left): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower

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UNC’s less-challenging schedule compared to last season means every Quad 1 game will be important.

The Tar Heels played 14 Quad 1 games last season (going 1–13), but will play only 11 games this season that are currently classified as Quad 1. That would be the fewest since UNC played 12 in 2019–20 and 2020–21.

Carolina has three other non-conference games currently classified as Quad 1 in addition to Kentucky:
— The 87–74 home win Nov. 7 win over No. 21 Kansas (NET ranking of 19),
— The 74–58 Thursday loss in Fort Myers, Fla., to No. 7 Michigan State (9) and
— The CBS Sports Classic meeting in Atlanta on Dec. 20 against Ohio State (39).

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In ACC play, UNC has eight games currently classified as Quad 1:
— Jan. 3 at SMU (NET ranking of 39),
— Jan. 17 at California (52),
— Jan. 24 at Virginia (31),
— Feb. 7 home game and March 7 road game against No 3 Duke (2),
— Feb 10 at Miami (38),
— Feb 17 at N.C. State (40) and
— Feb. 23 home game against No. 7 Louisville (9)

The March 3 home game against Clemson (34) could also be Quad 1 if the Tigers improve by four spots.

The ACC has the fourth-best average NET ranking of 71.67, behind the SEC (50.38), the Big 12 (60.19) and the Big Ten (69.33).

Elliot Cadeau’s No. 2-ranked Michigan team is first in the NET rankings and No. 17-ranked Vanderbilt, with Tyler Nickel and Jalen Washingon, fourth and Ian Jackson’s St. John’s team 23rd.

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UNC’s NCAA résumé

(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 23
High NET: 13 (2 days)
Low NET: 26 (2 days)
Average opponent NET: 144
Average NET win: 162
Average NET loss: 19
NET strength of schedule: 71
KenPom: 33
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 36
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 27

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UNC quad schedule breakdown

(Through Sunday games)

Date	Opponent	NET ranking	Current quad designation	Outcome
N3	Central Arkansas	235	4	Win
N7	Kansas	22	1	Win
N11	Radford	262	4	Win
N14	N.C. Central	341	4	Win
N18	Navy	184	4	Win
N25	(N) St. Bonaventure	128	3	Win
N27	(N) Michigan State	14	1	Loss
D2	At Kentucky	35	1	Win
D7	Georgetown	135	3	Win
D13	USC Upstate	280	4	Win
D16	ETSU	113	3	Win
D20	(N) Ohio State	39	1	Win
D22	East Carolina	303	4	Win
D30	Florida State	133	3	Win
J3	At SMU	24	1	Loss
J10	Wake Forest	63	2	Win
J14	At Stanford	73	1
J17	At California	71	1
J21	Notre Dame	74	2
J24	At Virginia	16	1
J31	At Georgia Tech	146	3
F2	Syracuse	67	2
F7	Duke	4	1
F10	At Miami	33	1
F14	Pittsburgh	111	3
F17	At N.C. State	31	1
F21	At Syracuse	67	1
F23	Louisville	18	1
F28	Virginia Tech	59	2
M3	Clemson	28	1
M7	At Duke	4	1

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Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 6 Duke	5–0	16–1	3
No. 22 Clemson	5–0	15–3	28
Miami	4–0	15–2	32
No. 16 Virginia	4–1	15–2	16
N.C. State	3–1	12–5	31
Syracuse	3–1	12–5	65
Stanford	3–2	14–4	69
No. 14 North Carolina	2–2	14–3	22
No. 24 SMU	2–2	13–4	25
Virginia Tech	2–3	13–5	59
No. 20 Louisville	2–3	12–5	20
Notre Dame	1–3	10–7	76
Wake Forest	1–3	10–7	61
Pittsburgh	1–3	8–9	111
California	1–4	13–5	67
Georgia Tech	1–4	10–8	142
Boston College	0–4	7–10	184
Florida State	0–4	7–10	132

* — Through Tuesday games
Tuesday’s results
No. 22 Clemson 74, Boston College 50
Miami 81, Notre Dame 69
No. 16 Virginia 79, No. 20 Louisville 70
Syracuse 94, Florida State 86
Wednesday’s results
Stanford 95, No. 14 North Carolina 90
Pittsburgh 89, Georgia Tech 66
SMU 77, Virginia Tech 76
No. 6 Duke 71, California 56
Saturday’s games
No. 16 Virginia at SMU, noon, ESPN2
Notre Dame at Virginia Tech, noon, ACC Network
Georgia Tech at N.C. State, noon, The CW
Syracuse at Boston College, 2 p.m., ACC Network
Miami at No. 22 Clemson, 2:15, The CW
No. 14 North Carolina at California, 4 p.m., ACC Network
No. 6 Duke at Stanford, 6 p.m., ACC Network
Wake Forest at Florida State, 6 p.m., ESPN
No. 20 Louisville at Pittsburgh, 8 p.m., ESPN2
Tuesday’s games
N.C. State at No. 22 Clemson, 7 p.m., ACC Network
Florida State at Miami, 7 p.m., ESPNU
SMU at Wake Forest, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Wednesday, Jan. 21, games
Notre Dame at No. 14 North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Pittsburgh at Boston College, 7 p.m., ACC Network
Virginia Tech at Syracuse, 9 p.m., ACC Network

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Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 11 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. 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. 12 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	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 p.m.	at No. 16 Virginia	ESPN
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 6 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. 20 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 22 Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte

Photo courtesy of Intersport