UNC Baseball: Latest D1Baseball NCAA Bracketology

We are officially two days away from the NCAA baseball selection show. Where is the UNC baseball program in the latest bracket projections?

It’s the last weekend of the college baseball season before the NCAA Tournament selection show, held annually on Memorial Day at noon ET. The UNC baseball program has been making strides in Durham at the ACC Baseball tournament and adding to a resume that will hopefully improve their seed line.

Conference tournaments wrap up today and tomorrow, and then the committee will reveal the sixteen regional host sites and the 64 teams on Monday. As of Saturday Morning, D1Baseball released their field of 64 projections, placing the Diamond Heels as the no. 2 seed in the Nashville regional. Vanderbilt is projected to be the No. 6 National Seed, with No. 3 Kent State and No. 4 Lipscomb joining the regional.

UNC baseball fans may have questions regarding this because the Tar Heels moved into what appears to be a “tougher” regional following their win over no. 2 seed Virginia in the ACC Tournament on Thursday. For reference, Carolina was projected as the No. 2 seed in the No. 15 national seed regional prior to their win over the Cavaliers.

Why is this?

As Pat James points out, it is essential to note that the bracketing principles for college baseball aren’t as traditional as other sports, such as men’s and women’s basketball, because of the factor that host sites play and the tournament format. The ACC is currently projected to have five of the sixteen regional sites, which leaves only eleven sites for the Tar Heels to be placed.

The NCAA will also attempt to keep teams close to home if possible, and the teams with better resumes earn the right to stay close to home first. The Diamond Heels resume isn’t complete though, as they are still competing in the ACC tournament and have an opportunity to pick up more resume-building wins.

Assuming the weather holds off and the ACC can get the semifinal round played today, the Diamond Heels have the opportunity to pick up a win against projected No. 5 national seed Clemson in the semifinals. If they do advance, they would face Wake Forest (currently projected as the No. 1 National seed) or Miami (No. 12 national seed) for the ACC Championship.

An ACC Championship could do wonders for the UNC baseball resume and potentially even play itself into becoming a host site. Is that possible? Maybe not. Clemson swept the Tar Heels just one week ago to end the regular season. But Carolina is playing well in Durham and will certainly look to continue that success into the weekend.

Another thing that fans are flawed when looking at the projections is they just look at their team and its results; it’s important to note that what happens around the rest of the country has an impact on can change projections.

If there are any changes, we will continue to follow updated Field of 64 projections as the weekend progresses.

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