UNC Basketball: Tar Heels’ NET ranking following win over Virginia

The UNC basketball program’s NET ranking improved following a victory over the Virginia Cavaliers in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.

The North Carolina Tar Heels knocked off the Virginia Cavaliers on Thursday night to advance to the ACC Tournament semifinal round and sit just one win away from their first conference title game since 2018.

While the Cavaliers are definitely at the tail end of a “down” season, the Tar Heels’ latest win moved them up to No. 29 in the updated NET rankings. They’re up three spots from their previous perch at No. 32 and now rank as one of the nation’s 30 Quad 1 teams, despite having just two Quad 1 wins themselves.

It hasn’t helped the Tar Heels that the Michigan Wolverines, formerly one of three Quad 1 teams that the Tar Heels had beaten, can’t figure out how to string together more than one win at a time and have dropped to No. 34 in the NET rankings.

North Carolina’s semifinal opponent Friday night, Virginia Tech, is ranked similarly at No. 33, and won’t aid the Tar Heels’ current position in the NET all that much. On the other hand, another victory over potential ACC Championship game opponent Duke (No. 10) would bolster the Tar Heels’ NET rankings by a substantial clip.

You might ask why it matters at this point since the Tar Heels are already safely in the field of 68, and I would tell you this: The NCAA Selection Committee has clearly put a ton of emphasis on the NET rankings since its inception in 2018. Stacking wins is obviously an important factor in North Carolina’s bid for a higher seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, but it’s come to a point that NET rankings seem to matter even more than wins if that makes sense.

A win against Virginia Tech on Friday night would give North Carolina an opportunity to do both.

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