NCAA Tournament March Madness

#28 North Carolina

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Projected seed: 6

North Carolina’s profile reads like a team with high-end upside tempered by worrisome inconsistencies, which is why the projection lands where it does. Signature victories over Kansas at home, a rugged road win at Kentucky and a big road triumph at Virginia, along with a neutral-site victory over Ohio State, show the program can beat quality opponents in hostile and neutral settings. That upside is counterbalanced by a neutral loss to Michigan State and troubling road defeats at Stanford, California and SMU that expose defensive lapses and leave the résumé with some damaging blemishes. With a run of conference games ahead against the likes of Duke, Miami, NC State, Syracuse and Louisville the Tar Heels have clear chances to reinforce their case with more road and neutral success or to see their standing slip further, so the current placement reflects both the value of the marquee wins and the cost of the ugly losses.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3Cent Arkansas184W94-54
11/7Kansas14W87-74
11/11Radford257W89-74
11/14NC Central347W97-53
11/18Navy178W73-61
11/25(N)St Bonaventure146W85-70
11/27(N)Michigan St7L74-58
12/2@Kentucky32W67-64
12/7Georgetown93W81-61
12/13SC Upstate298W80-62
12/16ETSU126W77-58
12/20(N)Ohio St40W71-70
12/22East Carolina275W99-51
12/30Florida St101W79-66
1/3@SMU37L97-83
1/10Wake Forest74W87-84
1/14@Stanford81L95-90
1/17@California66L84-78
1/21Notre Dame79W91-69
1/24@Virginia16W85-80
1/31@Georgia Tech12979%
2/2Syracuse7782%
2/7Duke327%
2/10@Miami FL3843%
2/14Pittsburgh10087%
2/17@NC State2436%
2/21@Syracuse7764%
2/23Louisville1952%
2/28Virginia Tech5577%
3/3Clemson2961%
3/7@Duke312%