NCAA Tournament: Could UNC end up playing first two rounds in Charlotte?

UNC has put themselves in position to grab a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament

What a difference a few weeks makes for a college basketball team.

It was just a few weeks back when the North Carolina Tar Heels suffered their third-straight loss, dropping a road game at Clemson. The Tar Heels were sitting at 5-5 in conference play and a double-bye was almost out of the question.

But then the Tar Heels rallied off five-straight wins and are currently third in the Atlantic Coast Conference, entering the final two weeks of the conference season.

Not only is UNC playing its best basketball of the year but they have given themselves a chance to stay close to home in the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

The Tar Heels are currently a No. 3 seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology and are trending upwards. They sit in the West Region along with No. 1 seed Kansas and No. 2 seed Michigan State.

With the arrow trending upwards, UNC now has a chance to grab a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and that comes close to home.

The No. 2, 15, 7 and 10 seeds in the East Region will play the first two rounds in Charlotte, which is just under 150 miles away from Chapel Hill.

It would give UNC a little bit of an advantage playing that close to home, something that could help them when they meet their first round matchup.

The Tar Heels do have some hurdles to climb if they want to play their first two games in Charlotte, however.

The two seeds ahead of them are Auburn (South), Duke (East), Purdue (Midwest) and Michigan State (West). The obvious hurdle is Duke.

UNC still has one more matchup left with Duke this season, the regular season finale at Durham on March 3. The two teams could also meet up in the ACC Tournament if seeding holds.

Duke currently holds the Charlotte seeding, so UNC would have to jump them in order to land that No. 2 seed. A win on March 3rd and finishing second in the ACC should get them that barring a complete meltdown in the conference tournament.

How important is playing close to home for the Tar Heels? Well, under Roy Williams the Tar Heels are 14-0 when playing their first two rounds in the state of North Carolina.

They also went 2-0 last season while playing in South Carolina.

In Jerry Palm’s Bracketology on CBS Sports, the Tar Heels currently sit as the No. 3 seed in the West Region. Both mock brackets show the Tar Heels as a No. 3 seed, with Palm having them as the second-best three seed in the tournament.

With three games left in the ACC regular season, UNC winning out should put them in prime position to land that No. 2 seed in Charlotte.

The next two games, at Syracuse and vs. Miami, are very winnable and the finale against Duke could be the icing on the cake. If the Blue Devils slip up between now and then, that would also help UNC push for that Charlotte seeding.

Here are some ways UNC can achieve this goal:

• Finish ACC regular season 3-0 with wins over ‘Cuse, Miami & Duke + win an ACC Tournament game.
• Finish no worse than 2-1 plus win two ACC Tournament games.
• Win ACC Tournament with good finish to regular season

Now, none of those are set in concrete but it’s just an idea of what a resume booster it could provide for the Tar Heels’ chances.

These next three weeks are crucial for the Tar Heels who need to come away with at least a 2-1 regular season plus win two games in the ACC Tournament.

Next: Tar Heels climb back into Top 10

Whatever happens, the Tar Heels appear to be playing their best basketball of the season at the right time.