The North Carolina Tar Heels earned a No. 1 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, a record 18th in program history. With the final No. 1 seed, UNC is slotted in the West Region, lined up with No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Baylor and No. 4 Alabama.
There are also some big mid-major teams in that region as well.
As we get set for the best few weeks of the year with the tournament beginning this week, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander ranked every team in the field of 68 going into the tournament.
For North Carolina, they were ranked in the top 10 but check in at No. 6 overall:
A year after UNC failed to make the tournament following being the preseason No. 1, Hubert Davis has brought the Tar Heels back to their comfort zone. Which is to say: consistently back in the top 10 of the sport. Two names still here you’ll recognize. The first is Armando Bacot (14.1 ppg, 10.2 rpg), who played a huge role on UNC’s team that made the 2022 national championship game. The other is RJ Davis, a lock First Team All-American who puts up 21.2 points per night and has a knack for how to make the right play in a big spot. UNC also has Stanford transfer Harrison Ingram, who is capable of taking over games in stretches. No program has more Final Fours than UNC’s 21. Does it make it 22 in ’24?
The No. 6 ranking isn’t terrible but they are the only No. 1 seed that isn’t ranked in the top 4. Instead, No. 4 Iowa State and No. 5 Tennessee are ahead of them.
Time will tell if these rankings are correct and UNC will have their work cut out for them.
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