UNC Basketball: Bracketology projections for UNC on Selection Sunday

Keeping It Heel has the latest and most up-to-date Bracketology projections for the UNC basketball program on Selection Sunday.

The North Carolina Tar Heels had an opportunity to better position themselves in the upcoming NCAA Tournament with a deep run in last week’s ACC Tournament, but that run fell short in their conference semifinal matchup with Florida State.

The Tar Heels entered their game with the Seminoles with somewhat of a wide array of projections for the Big Dance. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had them pegged as an 8-seed, while NCAA.com’s Andy Katz had them as a 9-seed. And BracketMatrix.com still hadn’t moved them off the 10-line.

Fast forward a couple of days, and North Carolina is now projecting as a 7-seed in Lunardi’s latest bracket (released early Sunday morning), and a 9-seed among the 68 teams that BracketMatrix.com has slated for the tournament. They’re also a 9-seed according to CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm. They still remain a 9-seed in Katz’s bracket, as he has not updated his over the past 48 hours.

So, with all of the varying projections for the Tar Heels’ upcoming NCAA Tournament seeding, where are they likely to land on Selection Sunday?

Although Lunardi’s bracket projections have the Tar Heels slated in the most favorable position of the bunch, North Carolina fans may not want to pin their hopes on that happening when the field is announced on Selection Sunday. As we’ve stated before, Lunardi himself is just a bubble team when it comes to Bracketology — he ranked 55th among bracketologists from 2015 to 2019. On the other hand, the site that ranked No. 1 among all Bracketology sites during that time span (Bracketville) agrees with Lunardi in the case of the Tar Heels, or at least their most updated bracket from late Friday night did.

The NCAA Selection Committee can be a fickle bunch, and it’s sometimes hard to predict what will come of their hours-long meetings and groupthinks. Have the Tar Heels done enough to deserve a 7-seed in this strange, pandemic-affected season? I believe they have. But will the Selection Committee think so? Andy Katz doesn’t seem to; nor does Jerry Palm or the folks over at BracketMatrix.

North Carolina fans that I’ve spoken to seem to be split on the issue of seeding. The more brazen ones don’t care about seeding. “To be the best you’ve got to beat the best,” they tell me. They’re the group of fans saying bring on Gonzaga and Baylor and Illinois in a potential second round matchup. Others, however, are hoping to avoid that daunting 8/9 seed line like the plague, telling me that they want to see their Tar Heels make the deepest run possible, and one that in their minds, doesn’t include such an early matchup with one of college basketball’s current juggernauts.

One thing that I believe UNC fans can all agree on, though, is that they’re just happy to see their team dancing this season. After a dreadful 14-19 campaign a season ago — and a global pandemic that wiped out the 2020 NCAA Tournament anyway — they’re just glad to be back in March Madness.

We’re just hours ahead of the unveiling of the 2021 NCAA Tournament bracket, and then all of our tournament questions will be answered. Buckle up, Tar Heel fans. It’s about to get exciting.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the 2021 NCAA Tournament, and everything UNC basketball.