Despite a loss to NC State on Saturday in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title game, North Carolina was in a position to get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Despite a very small chance that Iowa State or Tennessee could steal it away from them.
In the end, the Tar Heels did get that No. 1 seed and are slotted in the West Region as they look to make another run to the Final Four. And on Selection Sunday, the Tar Heels were named one of the big winners by the USA TODAY.
Here is what Paul Myerberg had to say about the Tar Heels after Selection Sunday:
It’s not just landing the No. 1 seed in the West Region that makes UNC one of the big winners from the tournament draw. Despite being the weakest of the four top seeds — joining Connecticut in the East, Houston in the South and Purdue in the Midwest — the Tar Heels are in what looks on paper to be the easiest region. UNC is joined at the top of the West by No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Baylor, No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Saint Mary’s, the tournament’s flimsiest top grouping. To get out of the first weekend, the Tar Heels will have to avoid losing to a No. 16 and then beat the winner of No. 8 Mississippi State and No. 9 Michigan State.
North Carolina doesn’t have an easy path to the Final Four with No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Baylor and No. 4 Alabama in their region, but it is a better draw than other teams may have.
And with it being March madness, who knows what can happen.
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