By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina jumped four spots to 16 in the NET rankings, the second-highest in the ACC, after the Tar Heels’ second Quad 3 victory.

The jump came after the 77–58 victory over East Tennessee State on Tuesday night. After Wednesday’s games, the Tar Heels slid up to 15.

No. 12-ranked UNC (10–1) now has a better NET ranking than No. 11 Louisville (9–2), which dropped six spots in the NET to 17 after the Cardinals’ 83–62 loss Tuesday at No. 20 Tennessee.

No. 3 Duke (11–0) stayed at 2nd in the NET after rallying from 10 points down in the first half to beat Lipscomb 97–73 at home Tuesday.

The NCAA tournament committee uses the NET rankings as one of its metrics to determine who makes the field and how to seed teams. NET rankings will fluctuate throughout the season, and the only quad designation that matters is where your opponents stand on Selection Sunday, not where they ranked when the game was played.

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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

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The remaining Quad 1 games on the Tar Heels’ schedule are down from 10 to 9 after Clemson fell below the threshold of 30 for home games to be Quad 1 status.

The Tigers (9–3) dropped from 30 to 31 after their 68–61 home win Tuesday over rival South Carolina, then fell to 32 after Wednesday’s games. The March 2 game in the Smith Center currently is Quad 2, but it would not take much for that to change.

One of those nine Quad 1 games is at 3 p.m. Saturday at the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta against Ohio State (8–2), which is 49th in the NET, just ahead of the 50 needed for a neutral-site game to be Quad 1.

With the quirks of the NET, a UNC victory over the Buckeyes could easily knock that down to a Quad 2.

UNC’s other Quad 1 games are:
— Jan. 2 at SMU (9–2; NET ranking of 43).
— Jan. 17 at California (10–1; 63).
— Jan. 23 at No. 24 Virginia (9–1; 21).
— Feb. 7 vs. No. 3 Duke (11–0; 2) and March 7 at Duke.
— Feb. 10 at Miami (10–2; 33).
— Feb. 16 at N.C. State (7–4; 33).
— Feb. 23 vs. No. 11 Louisville (9–2; 17).

The Dec. 22 home game against East Carolina is the only remaining game on the schedule that’s currently a Quad 4 game. The Feb. 14 home game with Pittsburgh was a Quad 4, but moved to Quad 3 when the Panthers’ NET ranking moved to 154 after their 103–63 Wednesday home victory over Binghamton.

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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

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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

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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

Photo by Joshua Lawton