UNC Basketball: Where Tar Heels stand in latest Bracketology

Here’s where the Tar Heels stand in ESPN’s latest Bracketology

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi released his 21st Bracketology of the season on Friday, and his latest projections feature very little movement among the tournament’s top 16 teams.

Duke, Virginia, Gonzaga and Tennessee all remained 1-seeds in Lunardi’s latest version of the bracket. Virginia hasn’t lost since a February 9th meeting with Duke — the second of two losses to the Blue Devils this season — while Gonzaga hasn’t lost since a 103-90 defeat on December 15th to North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Former Associated Press No. 1 team Tennessee rebounded from a blowout loss to Kentucky last week with a 58-46 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday. Duke held onto its top seed despite a blowout home loss to North Carolina early in the week — a game in which star freshman and likely No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Zion Williamson, went down with a knee injury just 36 seconds into the game.

Michigan, Kentucky, Michigan State and North Carolina each held on to their spots among the 2-seeds this week. After a 17-point home win over Tennessee on Saturday, Kentucky won a hard-fought game over Missouri in Columbia on Tuesday. In-state rivals Michigan and Michigan State had undefeated weeks ahead of a showdown between the two teams in Ann Arbor on Sunday afternoon. After beating the Blue Devils in Durham on Wednesday, the Tar Heels look to stay hot against 16th-ranked Florida State on Saturday.

Marquette, Purdue, Houston and Kansas are 3-seeds going into the weekend. The Jayhawks have a game against Texas Tech in Lubbock on Saturday night that has major Big 12 regular season title implications. Kansas is 9-4 in conference play, and trailing the league-leading K-State Wildcats by a game with just two weeks left until postseason tournaments begin. The Red Raiders are a 4-seed this week, along with LSU, Iowa State and Wisconsin. They’re followed by 5-seeds Maryland, Nevada, Florida State and Louisville.

The ACC, Big 10, Big 12 and SEC all have eight teams in the field. The Big East is in second-place with five teams in the bracket. The American Athletic Conference is represented by four teams, while the Pac-12 has just two.