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The easy explanation for how North Carolina’s women’s basketball team extended its season Saturday: Deja Kelly drove down the left side of the lane and banked in a shot with 2.3 seconds left as Mimi Reid of St. John’s fouled her to break a tie. She finished the three-point play.
In many NCAA tournament matchups, neither team is familiar with the other. On Saturday, former Pittsburgh star Jayla Everett will know No. 20 Carolina and the No. 6-seed Tar Heels will know the talented forward, who led No. 11 seed St. John’s to its first NCAA tournament berth in seven years.
While the loyal Carolina women’s basketball fans were outraged and surprised that the NCAA didn’t make the Tar Heels a host school in the NCAA tournament, the players and the coaching staff shrugged and looked ahead. Juniors Deja Kelly and Alyssa Ustby admitted at a press conference Friday in Columbus, Ohio, that they were bummed because projections suggested that the No. 20-ranked Tar Heels would be able to play the first two rounds at Carmichael Arena.
CHAPEL HILL — The NCAA women’s basketball tournament selection committee egregiously underseeded North Carolina for the second consecutive season, but it’s just the latest of a few curious decisions the program has endured in the last 20 years.
CHAPEL HILL — A year after the NCAA selection committee denied North Carolina’s women a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament and the perk of hosting most thought was deserved, the Tar Heels were again underseeded. Most projections had the Tar Heels a No. 4 seed, but they will be a No. 6 and play first-round games in Columbus, Ohio, with a trip to Seattle following that if they get two wins in Columbus.
The No. 19 North Carolina women will likely host first- and second-round NCAA tournament games next weekend. Only a big run by Oklahoma in this weekend’s Big 12 Tournament could have prevented that, but the Sooners lost in the semifinals Saturday. Charlie Creme, who projects brackets for ESPN, said in a media availability on Friday that he has the Tar Heels (21–10) as the No. 15 overall seed, giving them a bit of a buffer since the top 16 seeds host first- and second-round games. His No. 16 seed is Villanova (17–3).
North Carolina, which fell one spot to No. 19 in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll, may have done enough to earn a top 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, meaning games at Carmichael Arena in the first two rounds. With all of the major conference tournaments complete, ESPN projects the Tar Heels (21–10) as a No. 4 seed.
GREENSBORO — Days after No. 18 North Carolina finished off a regular-season sweep of Duke, the two will go at it again. Carolina junior Alyssa Ustby wouldn’t want it any other way, as the rivals will face off at 6 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.
GREENSBORO — Carolina shot itself into a third battle with Duke behind one of the Tar Heels’ best perimeter shooting halves of the season. Related: It’s good for No. 18 UNC to have the inside-outside combination of Eva Hodgson and Alyssa Ustby back.
When the No. 18 Carolina women play Thursday in the second round of the ACC Tournament, it will only be the third game this season with their top 11 players. That made the journey for Coach Courtney Banghart’s fourth Tar Heels team challenging. But, along the way, it developed depth that has made UNC one of the most versatile teams heading into the event at the Greensboro Coliseum.
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