By R.L. Bynum
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — No. 11 North Carolina threw away much of what it gained in the NET rankings by beating No. 4 Duke with its 75–66 loss at Miami on Tuesday night.
The Tar Heels (19–5, 7–4 ACC) had risen to 22 in the NET rankings after Monday’s results but fell to 26 after falling to 5–5 in Quad 1 games. The Hurricanes (19–5, 8–3) only moved up one spot to 36 after moving to 3–3 in Quad 1 games.
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 5–4; 6 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 2–0; 1 game left): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC is 7–0; 1 game left): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (UNC is 5–0; no games left): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower
UNC will get plenty of chances to improve its NCAA resume after Saturday’s 2 p.m. home game (ESPN) against Pittsburgh (9–16, 2–10; 124 NET ranking), which is tied with Notre Dame for last place in the ACC. It’s Carolina’s final Quad 3 game of the regular season.
The three games after facing the Panthers will all be Quad 1:
— Tuesday at N.C. State (18–7, 9–3; 29),
— Saturday, Feb. 21 at Syracuse (13–11, 4–7; 71) and
— Monday, Feb. 23, vs. Louisville (18–6, 8–4; 14)
After the Quad 2 home game on Feb. 28 against Virginia Tech (16–8, 5–6; 55), UNC closes out the regular season with Quad 1 games March 3 vs. Clemson (20–4, 10–1; 30) and March 7 at Duke (22–2, 11–1; 3).
In consensus among the 109 bracket projections listed on Bracket Matrix before the Miami loss, UNC was projected to be the highest No. 5 seed.
On Tuesday before the game, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had UNC as the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Regional, playing first- and second-round games in Tampa.
Regarding the Tar Heels, Lunardi wrote:
“This season, they’re knocking on the door of the top 10, and just gained a coveted 4-seed, despite a profile that’s at least a line or two worse than that. It’s a stark example of the difference between what yours truly thinks and our Bracketology projections, which are always what we think the selection committee would do. It isn’t that UNC is a bad team or can’t make a deep tourney run; we simply don’t often see a No. 24 NET ranking or No. 48 defensive efficiency in the résumé of a top-four seed. Most of the time, I think blind résumés ignore valuable context. In this North Carolina team’s case, a little blindness couldn’t hurt.”
UNC’s NCAA résumé
(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 26
High NET: 13 (2 days)
Low NET: 30 (4 days)
Average opponent NET: 109
Average NET win: 126
Average NET loss: 41
NET strength of schedule: 64
KenPom: 29
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 32
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 28
UNC quad schedule breakdown
(Through Tuesday games)
| Date | Opponent | NET ranking | Current quad designation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N3 | Central Arkansas | 177 | 4 | Win |
| N7 | Kansas | 13 | 1 | Win |
| N11 | Radford | 243 | 4 | Win |
| N14 | N.C. Central | 338 | 4 | Win |
| N18 | Navy | 155 | 4 | Win |
| N25 | (N) St. Bonaventure | 143 | 3 | Win |
| N27 | (N) Michigan State | 11 | 1 | Loss |
| D2 | At Kentucky | 27 | 1 | Win |
| D7 | Georgetown | 94 | 3 | Win |
| D13 | USC Upstate | 284 | 4 | Win |
| D16 | ETSU | 116 | 3 | Win |
| D20 | (N) Ohio State | 41 | 1 | Win |
| D22 | East Carolina | 281 | 4 | Win |
| D30 | Florida State | 95 | 3 | Win |
| J3 | At SMU | 34 | 1 | Loss |
| J10 | Wake Forest | 66 | 2 | Win |
| J14 | At Stanford | 68 | 1 | Loss |
| J17 | At California | 57 | 1 | Loss |
| J21 | Notre Dame | 88 | 3 | Win |
| J24 | At Virginia | 17 | 1 | Win |
| J31 | At Georgia Tech | 151 | 3 | Win |
| F2 | Syracuse | 71 | 2 | Win |
| F7 | Duke | 3 | 1 | Win |
| F10 | At Miami | 36 | 1 | Loss |
| F14 | Pittsburgh | 124 | 3 | |
| F17 | At N.C. State | 29 | 1 | |
| F21 | At Syracuse | 71 | 1 | |
| F23 | Louisville | 14 | 1 | |
| F28 | Virginia Tech | 55 | 2 | |
| M3 | Clemson | 30 | 1 | |
| M7 | At Duke | 3 | 1 |
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 4 Duke | 11–1 | 22–2 | 3 |
| No. 20 Clemson | 10–1 | 20–4 | 30 |
| No. 15 Virginia | 10–2 | 21–3 | 17 |
| N.C. State | 9–3 | 18–7 | 29 |
| Miami | 8–3 | 19–5 | 36 |
| No. 24 Louisville | 8–4 | 18–6 | 14 |
| No. 11 North Carolina | 7–4 | 19–5 | 26 |
| SMU | 6–5 | 17–7 | 34 |
| California | 5–6 | 17–7 | 57 |
| Virginia Tech | 5–6 | 16–8 | 55 |
| Stanford | 4–7 | 15–9 | 68 |
| Syracuse | 4–7 | 13–11 | 71 |
| Florida State | 4–7 | 11–13 | 95 |
| Wake Forest | 2–8 | 11–12 | 66 |
| Boston College | 2–8 | 9–14 | 148 |
| Georgia Tech | 2–9 | 11–13 | 151 |
| Notre Dame | 2–10 | 11–14 | 88 |
| Pittsburgh | 2–10 | 9–16 | 124 |
* — Through Tuesday games
Monday’s result
No. 24 Louisville 118, N.C. State 77
Tuesday’s results
Miami 75, No. 11 North Carolina 66
No. 15 Virginia 61, Florida State 58
SMU 89, Notre Dame 81
No. 4 Duke 70, Pittsburgh 54
Wednesday’s games
Virginia Tech at No. 20 Clemson, ACC Network
California at Syracuse, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Wake Forest at Georgia Tech, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Stanford at Boston College, 9 p.m., ESPNU
Saturday’s games
No. 20 Clemson at No. 4 Duke, noon, ESPN
Georgia Tech at Notre Dame, noon, The CW
California at Boston College, noon, ACC Network
Pittsburgh at No. 11 North Carolina, 2 p.m., ESPN
Florida State at Virginia Tech, 2 p.m., ACC Network
SMU at Syracuse, 2 p.m., The CW
No. 24 Louisville vs. Baylor in Fort Worth, Texas, 4 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Stanford at Wake Forest, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Miami at N.C. State, 4 p.m., ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU
No. 15 Virginia vs. Ohio State in Nashville, 8 p.m., Fox
| Date | Month/day | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. No. 22 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. 9 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. 10 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at No. 25 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. 15 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. 4 Duke | 19–4, 7–3 |
| 10 | Tuesday | L, 75–66 | at Miami | 19–5, 7–4 |
| 14 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | vs. Pittsburgh | ESPN |
| 17 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN |
| 21 | Saturday | 1 p.m. | at Syracuse | ABC |
| 23 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 24 Louisville | ESPN |
| 28 | Saturday | 6:30 or 8:30 | vs. Virginia Tech | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 20 Clemson | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | at No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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