The UNC basketball program may be waking up with good news on the front of Bracketology, after a disappointing defeat at the ACC tournament for the State of Florida.
After losing an ACC tournament semifinal match to the state of Florida on Friday night that was one of the worst official games I have ever seen, Tar Heels may actually be better positioned on the next 68 NCAA field than they were before.
On Saturday morning, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi moved Tar Heels to a 7-seed in Region 4 from his last projection of the NCAA Tournament. Now, let’s not get carried away by this, since Lunardi himself is just a bubble team in the realm of bracketologists. Still, however, it suggests that there is a chance that the Tar Heels will be able to get out of that scary 8/9 line that is scheduled to play against players like Gonzaga, Baylor, Illinois or Michigan in the round of 16 of the tournament.
Other projections from the NCAA Tournament, however, still project Tar Heels as a seed of 9, or in some cases, a seed of 10 after last night’s defeat. The latter could certainly play in favor of the Tar Heels, at least if you are one of those types of people who “are going to avoid the seed in this tournament”.
I, for one, am not ready to see Tar Heels face Gonzaga or Illinois on the first weekend of Big Dance. While Tar Heels, at its best, can compete with any team in the country, I’m not sure if one of its patented slow-start and strong-end games will translate well against a team of that stature in the next NCAA tournament this weekend.
At this point, it is simply very difficult to accurately predict how the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee will feel about this UNC team. What is the place of the tournament for an 18 to 10 team that has never won more than three consecutive games in the season but has had victories over Louisville, Florida State and Virginia Tech in the last month?
Stay in Keeping up throughout the week leading up to the NCAA Tournament to find out what’s new in the UNC basketball program.