UNC Basketball: Tar Heels get Quad 1 win, still on bubble

The next few weeks are going to be in the spotlight for the UNC basketball program as they have seven more Atlantic Coast Conference games before the tournament. That means seven more chances to improve their tournament resume which needs some help.

Going into Saturday’s game against Florida State, the Tar Heels have won five of their last six games and currently sit at 17-7 overall and 9-4 in conference play. With Michigan’s win over Purdue on Thursday night, North Carolina now also has a Quad 1 win as they are 1-7 in those games. That’s been the big blemish for UNC all season long and a reason why they are still on the bubble.

But even with that new Quad 1 win that was retroactively added, the Tar Heels still sit on the bubble and have some work to do.

In Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology, the Tar Heels are one of four last four teams in joining Miami, BYU, and Creighton. Just a few weeks ago, UNC was one of the last four byes but are behind Loyola-Chicago, Oregon, Oklahoma, and San Francisco right now in that area.

Now, UNC does have some favorable games coming up including Saturday against Florida State, a team that has lost five in a row and are going in the wrong direction at the wrong time. They also have two Quad 1 chances left both road games at Duke and Virginia Tech. If UNC can go 6-1 here in this stretch, they should be in. Even a 5-2 mark here likely gets them in as it should be good enough for a top-four finish in the conference.

The bottom line for UNC right now is they need to win the games they are supposed to win and get at least one more Quad 1 victory. Dropping a game, especially at home, to someone like Florida State could really doom them moving forward.

For more on the UNC Basketball program and the rest of the season, please check back with Keeping it Heel.