While we are seven months away from the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the ‘way-too-early’ projections for the 2023 bracket are already out.
For the UNC basketball program, the expectation is a No. 1 seed and a Final Four appearance. The Tar Heels return four starters from last season’s National Championship runner-up appearance and add a very good recruiting class in addition to grad transfer Pete Nance.
With the expectations sky high, the Tar Heels have been a lot of analyst’s top-ranked team heading into the preseason.
This week, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi released his updated bracket and had the Tar Heels as a one-seed, behind Gonzaga – who was the top overall seed.
Lunardi had UNC in the East Region playing 16-seed Winthrop in the first round. A potential matchup of Purdue or USC would await North Carolina in the second round.
Other notable teams in the East region are projected to be two-seed Tennessee, three-seed Texas and four-seed Villanova.
The other ACC program in the East is Notre Dame, slated to meet St. Mary’s in the First Four matchup as 11-seeds.
In total, there are seven ACC teams projected in the field, tied for most with the Big Ten, SEC and Big 12.
The other ACC programs are: Duke (3-seed), Virginia (5), Miami (8), Virginia Tech (9), Florida State (11-play in) and Notre Dame (11-play in).
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