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 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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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

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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Team	League	Overall	NET*	WAB*
No. 1 Duke	17–1	29–2	1	2
No. 10 Virginia	15–3	27–4	13	11
Miami	13–5	24–7	32	28
No. 19 North Carolina	12–6	24–7	23	19
Clemson	12–6	22–9	36	33
No. 24 Louisville	11–7	22–9	14	25
N.C. State	10–8	19–12	35	45
Florida State	10–8	17–14	69	74
California	9–9	21–10	65	49
Stanford	9–9	20–11	59	51
SMU	8–10	19–12	39	50
Virginia Tech	8–10	19–12	53	52
Wake Forest	7–11	16–15	64	81
Syracuse	6–12	15–16	83	92
Pittsburgh	5–13	12–19	109	146
Notre Dame	4–14	13–18	93	121
Boston College	4–14	11–20	159	217
Georgia Tech	2–16	11–20	167	210

* — Through Sunday games
Saturday’s results
No. 1 Duke 76, No. 19 North Carolina 61
Boston College 77, Notre Dame 69
Clemson 79, Georgia Tech 76
No. 24 Louisville 92, Miami 89
Florida State 92, SMU 78
Stanford 85, N.C. State 84
Wake Forest 80, California 73
Pittsburgh 71, Syracuse 69, OT
END OF REGULAR SEASON
ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday through Saturday

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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 Intersport