UNC Basketball: Tar Heels move up in bracket projections with win over FSU

Last Saturday the loss to Duke seemed like a Doomsday scenario for the UNC basketball program, or at least to fans in terms of their NCAA Tournament projections. The 20-point loss left sour taste and their NCAA Tournament chances took a bit of a hit as well.

But since then, North Carolina has gone 2-0 with a road win at Clemson and then a big win at home over Florida State. They also have a Quad 1 win now due to Michigan’s rise in the NET rankings with a win over Purdue.

So where does UNC stand now with Selection Sunday just a month away?

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi released his updated bracket projections following Saturday’s game and going into Sunday. The win did move UNC up a bit as they went from one of the last four into one of the last four byes.

Joining UNC on the line of the first four byes is Wake Forest, Loyola Chicago and San Francisco following Saturday’s games. The Demon Deacons joined UNC on the loss after a loss to Miami as the Hurricanes replaced them in that spot with the win.

Right now, UNC is in good shape going into the final six games of their season and just need to take care of business. Of those remaining six games, they should be favored in all but one, the last game of the year when they head to Durham to take on Duke in early March. However, UNC can’t overlook any of these opponents especially the road games as they really need to finish this regular season and then ACC Tournament strong.

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