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North Carolina fans can exhale. The Tar Heels are heading to the NCAA Tournament, after all.
After a devastating loss to Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals on Friday night, UNC was forced to sit and wonder over the next 48 hours. The Tar Heels nearly erased a giant deficit in the second half in Charlotte, but a lane violation in the final seconds negated a tying free throw that allowed Duke to escape with a victory.
Instead of heading to the ACC final and knowing that an NCAA Tournament spot was certain, there was doubt after whether North Carolina would be taking its rightful, usual place in the NCAA brackets come Sunday. But that doubt was finally erased with elation and relief when North Carolina was picked to play in the First Four in Dayton.
The Tar Heels are a No. 11 seed and will face fellow 11th seed San Diego State in a South Region matchup, with the winner advancing to the main bracket to play No. 6 seed Ole Miss in the first round.
North Carolina finished 22-13 this season and had a solid 13-7 record in the ACC. But that agonizing loss to Duke loomed large as the final gateway to an NCAA Tournament berth. Ultimately, that wasn’t enough to keep UNC out of the bracket.
The Tar Heels are 36th in the NET rankings and 33rd in KenPom’s metrics. Their 1-12 record in Quad 1 games wasn’t enough to keep them from earning a tourney bid.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
