UNC Basketball: UNC women’s team earns 2021 NCAA Tournament bid

Jan 19, 2021; Syracuse, New York, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Courtney Banghart gives instruction to her team in the fourth quarter against the Syracuse Orange at Carrier Dome. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 19, 2021; Syracuse, New York, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Courtney Banghart gives instruction to her team in the fourth quarter against the Syracuse Orange at Carrier Dome. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports /
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The UNC women’s basketball program earned a bid to the 2021 NCAA Tournament

On Monday night, the North Carolina Tar Heels earned a bid to the 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Tar Heels earned the No. 10 seed in the Hemisfair Region, and will take on the seventh-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide on Monday, March 22. The Round of 64 game will take place at 12:00 p.m. EST time at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

The Tar Heels finished the season with a record of 13-10 overall, and 8-9 in conference play. They had big wins over No. 18 Syracuse and No. 4 NC State, the crown jewels of their regular season schedule. They also had a close loss to NC State just a couple of weeks later, as well as a narrow defeat to top-ranked Louisville in late-January.

They face an Alabama Crimson tide team that went 16-9 overall, and 8-8 in SEC play. The Crimson Tide played eight ranked teams this season, and lost to seven of them; most of them in blowout fashion. The only ranked opponent they beat was No. 14 Mississippi State way back in mid-January. After that, they finished the regular season with a record of 4-7, with double-digit losses to Tennessee, Auburn (twice), Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas. They beat Missouri in their first game of the SEC Tournament only to turn around and lose to South Carolina for the third time this season. Needless to say, their tournament resume wasn’t incredibly strong.

The winner of this game will face the winner of the Maryland and Mount St. Mary’s game. The second-seeded Terrapins went 24-2 on the season, and won the Big 10 Tournament Championship game. They enter the NCAA Tournament on a 13-game win streak.

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Check back with Keeping It Heel for more on the UNC women’s basketball team as we approach the team’s first round game against Alabama on Monday.