UNC Basketball: Tar Heels shoot up NET rankings

Like many other teams this year, the UNC basketball program has seen their season impacted by COVID-19 in the form of swapping UCLA with Kentucky on the schedule and having their home Atlantic Coast Conference opener postponed.

In fact, UNC had over a week and a half in between games from a win over Appalachian State to their win over Boston College. But there was some good news following UNC’s dominating win over the Eagles on Sunday.

UNC entered Monday ranked No. 35 in the updated NCAA basketball NET rankings up 10 spots from their previous ranking of 45. The Tar Heels jumped a few teams including Belmont, Mississippi State, Montana, Davidson, Minnesota and Oklahoma among others in the rankings.

Despite the 10-3 overall record UNC is 0-3 in Quad 1 games which are against teams ranked 1-30 at home, 1-50 on a neutral court and 1-75 away. The three losses all came on the neutral court against No. 7 Purdue, No. 10 Tennessee and No. 15 Kentucky. However, they are 2-0 in Quad 2 wins, 3-0 in Quad 3 wins and 5-0 in Quad 5 wins.

UNC’s next chance for a Quad 1 win based on these rankings will be on the road on January 22nd when they face Wake Forest. After that, they would have to wait until Feb. 5 for another chance at a Quad 1 win when they host Duke.

The Tar Heels are off to a good start in conference play and should find themselves fighting for a bye come ACC tournament time. But they also have to make sure to take care of business in front of them including chances to get more Quad 1 and Quad 2 victories for their NCAA tournament resume this year.

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