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NCAA Tournament: Where UNC basketball stands on bubble ahead of Louisville

By Zack Pearson

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 16: Head coach Hubert Davis of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts during the second half of their game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at the Dean E. Smith Center on February 16, 2022 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Pittsburgh won 76-67. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 16: Head coach Hubert Davis of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts during the second half of their game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at the Dean E. Smith Center on February 16, 2022 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Pittsburgh won 76-67. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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The UNC basketball program is entering the final two weeks of the regular season right on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament and have to do whatever they can do to earn wins here down the stretch.

After losing to Duke a few weeks back, UNC responded well by winning a few games in a row to get back on the bubble. However, a Quad 3 loss at home to Pitt on Wednesday set them back a bit and now they have work to do. The win over Virginia Tech helped North Carolina in terms of getting a Quad 1 win but now they only have one more chance at that, the season finale against Duke. They could potentially get one in the ACC Tournament but that’s no guarantee either.

So where do the Tar Heels stand?

Going into Monday’s game against Louisville, UNC is sitting in the position of one of the “last four byes” per Joe Lunardi of ESPN. That’s up from being a “last four in” ahead of Saturday’s win at Virginia Tech.

UNC is also on the top line of those last four byes, ahead of TCU, Indiana, and Creighton:

UNC appears to be in good shape, right? Well, it certainly feels like it according to Lunardi but others aren’t as friendly with their predictions.

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has UNC as one of the first four out on his lastest mock bracket on Monday, the USA Today has them there as well. But the thing about Monday’s game against Louisville is that a win doesn’t really help UNC much as the Cardinals are not a Quad 1 opponent and a loss pretty much dooms their hopes of the tournament. That’s not to say that UNC shouldn’t win the game because they need it but a loss does more bad than a win would do good.

Still, UNC just has to take care of business in front of them and hope they can win a few ACC Tournament games along the way.

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