By R.L. Bynum
The NET rankings can fluctuate wildly early in the season, leading to surprising changes.
That was the case for No. 12-ranked North Carolina (12–1) when the Tar Heels fell four spots to 19 in the NET rankings after Saturday night’s 71–70 Quad 1 victory in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta over Ohio State.
After the 99–51 Monday win over East Carolina (with the third-lowest NET of any UNC opponent at 302), which was only a Quad 4 victory? The Heels moved up to 16, returning their NET ranking to the second-highest in the ACC.
Obviously, the game margins had something to do with how the results changed UNC’s NET ranking.
With the Buckeyes’ NET ranking only dropping to 47 the victory will stay Quad 1 for now. But it would become Quad 2 if that falls below 50.
The consensus of the 32 projections that Bracket Matrix listed on Tuesday is for UNC to be the third-highest No. 4 seed, with nine projecting the Tar Heels as high as a No. 3 seed and one listing them as a No. 6 seed. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has UNC as a 5 seed.
Next up for UNC is a Quad 3 game as the Tar Heels open ACC play at home against Florida State (7–6; NET ranking of 129) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30 (ESPN2).
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.
NCAA quadrant system
Quadrant 1 (UNC is 3–1; 8 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; 5 games left): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC is 2–0; 5 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
UNC has eight remaining Quad 1 games, but the home game against Notre Dame on Jan. 21 moved from Quad 2 to Quad 3 over the weekend after the Irish lost 72–69 at home to Purdue Fort Wayne on Sunday. That dropped the Irish (9–4) in the NET rankings from 61 to 81.
That leaves the Tar Heels with five more Quad 2 games and five more Quad 3 games.
No. 11 Louisville (10–2) is just behind UNC in the NET at 17 after a 94–54 win over Montana.
No. 3 Duke (11–1) fell two spots to 4 after the Blue Devils’ 82–81 loss at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night to No. 19 Texas Tech but moved back up to 3 on Monday.
UNC’s NCAA résumé
(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 16
High NET: 13 (2 days)
Low NET: 26 (2 days)
Average opponent NET: 161
Average NET win: 173
Average NET loss: 12
NET strength of schedule: 76
KenPom: 21
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 29
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 21
UNC quad schedule breakdown
(Through Monday games)
| Opponent | NET ranking | Current quad designation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Arkansas | 238 | 4 | Win |
| Kansas | 15 | 1 | Win |
| Radford | 295 | 4 | Win |
| N.C. Central | 350 | 4 | Win |
| Navy | 207 | 4 | Win |
| (N) St. Bonaventure | 98 | 2 | Win |
| (N) Michigan State | 12 | 1 | Loss |
| At Kentucky | 22 | 1 | Win |
| Georgetown | 140 | 3 | Win |
| USC Upstate | 211 | 4 | Win |
| ETSU | 154 | 3 | Win |
| (N) Ohio State | 47 | 1 | Win |
| East Carolina | 302 | 4 | Win |
| Florida State | 129 | 3 | |
| At SMU | 36 | 1 | |
| Wake Forest | 67 | 2 | |
| At Stanford | 77 | 2 | |
| At California | 45 | 1 | |
| Notre Dame | 81 | 3 | |
| At Virginia | 23 | 1 | |
| Georgia Tech | 191 | 3 | |
| Syracuse | 88 | 3 | |
| Duke | 3 | 1 | |
| At Miami | 35 | 1 | |
| Pittsburgh | 119 | 3 | |
| At N.C. State | 31 | 1 | |
| At Syracuse | 88 | 2 | |
| Louisville | 17 | 1 | |
| Virginia Tech | 62 | 2 | |
| Clemson | 38 | 2 | |
| At Duke | 3 | 1 |
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 0–0 | 12–1 | 45 |
| No. 12 North Carolina | 0–0 | 12–1 | 16 |
| No. 6 Duke | 0–0 | 11–1 | 3 |
| No. 21 Virginia | 0–0 | 11–1 | 23 |
| Miami | 0–0 | 11–2 | 35 |
| Virginia Tech | 0–0 | 11–2 | 62 |
| No. 16 Louisville | 0–0 | 10–2 | 17 |
| SMU | 0–0 | 10–2 | 36 |
| Stanford | 0–0 | 10–2 | 77 |
| Clemson | 0–0 | 10–3 | 38 |
| N.C. State | 0–0 | 9–4 | 31 |
| Notre Dame | 0–0 | 9–4 | 81 |
| Syracuse | 0–0 | 9–4 | 88 |
| Wake Forest | 0–0 | 9–4 | 67 |
| Georgia Tech | 0–0 | 8–4 | 191 |
| Florida State | 0–0 | 7–6 | 129 |
| Pittsburgh | 0–0 | 7–6 | 119 |
| Boston College | 0–0 | 6–6 | 189 |
* — Through Monday games
Sunday’s results
Pittsburgh 80, Penn State 46
N.C. State 76, Ole Miss 62
No. 11 Vanderbilt 98, Wake Forest 67
Purdue Ft. Wayne 72, Notre Dame 69
SMU 99, Central Arkansas 82
Clemson 68, Cincinnati 65
Miami 105, North Florida 67
California 74, Columbia 56
Monday’s results
No. 12 North Carolina 99, East Carolina 51
No. 21 Virginia 95, American 51
Syracuse 77, Stonehill 48
Boston College 72, Fairleigh Dickinson 61
Florida State 87, Jacksonville 63
Saturday’s game
Cal State Northridge at Stanford, 8 p.m., ACCN Extra
Sunday’s games
Le Moyne at Boston College, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cal State Fullerton at SMU, 3 p.m., ACCN Extra
Florida A&M at Georgia Tech, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Tuesday, Dec. 30, games
Florida State at No. 12 North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Pittsburgh at Miami, 7 p.m., ACC Network
No. 16 Louisville at California, 9 p.m, ACC Network
Notre Dame at Stanford, 9 p.m., ESPN2
| 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. 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 | 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. 21 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. 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. 16 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. 6 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo by Adam Hagy/Intersport
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