It's going to be a long weekend for the UNC basketball program.
After failing to take care of business against rival Duke on Friday night in the ACC Tournament semifinals, the Tar Heels' NCAA Tournament hopes are now in the hands of the selection committee.
Is the overall body of work good enough for North Carolina to sneak into the big dance?
Joe Lunardi believes that, as of Saturday morning, the Tar Heels are right on the cusp but are on the outside looking in.
In his latest ESPN Bracketology, Lunardi lists the UNC basketball program as his "First Team Out." They fell out of the "Last Four In" category after losing to Duke on Friday.
One glaring issue for the Tar Heels is their struggles in Quad 1 games. Of 13 games that rank as Quad 1 contests, North Carolina came out victorious in only one of those games, a factor that the people who believe the Tar Heels aren't a tournament team continue to bring up.
Of course, playing one of the toughest schedules in the country (especially in non-conference play) can help you or hurt you, and in this case, it's drastically hurting the UNC basketball program.
Sure, the Tar Heels got hot down the stretch and started to figure things out. However, it might have been just a little bit too late, as the loss to Duke for a third time this season might ultimately be the dagger in the UNC basketball program's NCAA Tournament hopes.
While it stinks to be in this position, North Carolina just has to hope that other bubble teams suffer losses and that no other "bid stealers" squeak their way into the field of teams.
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