UNC Basketball: Tar Heels approaching bubble status for NCAA Tournament?

The final month or so of the regular season begins on Tuesday night for the UNC basketball program as they head to Louisville to take on the Cardinals riding a three-game win streak.

But even after they went 3-0 last week at home, the Tar Heels have some work to do with their 2022 NCAA Tournament resume.

Going into Tuesday night, UNC doesn’t have a single Quad 1 win on their resume and they have just a few more chances in the regular season barring anything crazy. The Tar Heels have taken care of business at home and are 3-0 in Quad 2 games. But that 0-6 mark in Quad 1 is a big stain and it’s a big reason why their tournament stock is falling.

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi released his updated Bracketology to start off February and the Tar Heels are potentially approaching bubble status. Lunardi has the Tar Heels as a No. 11 seed matching up with No. 6 Xavier in the Midwest Region. But as the No. 11 seed, the Tar Heels are also one of four teams right now as a “last four byes”.

Ouch.

The Tar Heels don’t want any part of a play-in game and they need to avoid the bubble here in the month of February. But how can they do that?

UNC not only needs to take one of the two games against Duke, and/or any potential future Quad 1 game but they need to win the games that they should win as well. They can’t let up and suffer any setbacks by losing to a team like Louisville or Syracuse or even N.C. State down the line this season.

A strong showing in the ACC Tournament would help too. Right now, UNC is in the mix for a top four seed in that tournament which helps but they need to make a run there as well. The good news for UNC is that there is still a month left and the team can get better. They just have to take advantage of that.

For more on the UNC Basketball program and their upcoming games, please make sure to check back with Keeping It Heel.