UNC Basketball: Where Tar Heels stand in latest Bracketology

ESPN’s latest 68-team bracket projection features the new-look UNC basketball program as the 5-seed in the East Region.

The North Carolina Tar Heels had a unique offseason that featured a mass exodus of post players and the retirement of their three-time national title-winning head coach. And while the sky may have seemed as if it were falling for a brief period, the hiring of former assistant coach Hubert Davis and his work on the NCAA transfer market quickly righted the ship in Chapel Hill.

After getting commitments from Virginia Cavaliers sophomore wing Justin McKoy, rising Marquette sophomore big man Dawson Garcia and four-year Oklahoma Sooners starter Brady Manek, the Tar Heels had the look of a team that could compete under the direction of their first-year head coach and his new-look staff.

Thanks to that, and a returning core that includes Armando Bacot, Caleb Love and Kerwin Walton, the Tar Heels have a fairly favorable position in ESPN’s updated Bracketology. They’re currently the No. 5 seed in the East Region, a quadrant that boasts the Texas Longhorns as the top seed and the Purdue Boilermakers as the 2-seed. Fellow ACC program and arch rival Duke is the 3-seed, and Alabama is the four.

The Tar Heels’ current positioning would pit them against the winner of the Seton Hall/Iowa play-in game, a matchup that North Carolina fans would probably rather not see in the NCAA Tournament’s first round. But these are, of course, projected spots for a tournament that is still better than six month away, without so much as a single game being played yet. But it’s still fun to follow these things, and see what the national pundits have to say.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the UNC basketball program.