North Carolina remains just on the outside of our updated bracketology with only Saturday’s key game against rival Duke left on the schedule before the ACC tournament, needing at least a win against the Blue Devils and perhaps one more victory in the conference tournament to make the 68-team field.
Now up to 19-11 overall and 11-8 in the ACC, good for seventh in the conference, the Tar Heels have won three in a row, including a crucial victory at home against Virginia. That’s been enough to make UNC the first team out of our bracket.
The Tar Heels still have work to do in order to avoid becoming the first national runner-up since Butler in 2011-12 to miss the tournament the following season. UNC is a pitiful 1-8 in Quad 1 games, though it has avoided any bad losses against Quad 3 or Quad 4 competition.
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There’s a newcomer to the field in Arizona State despite Thursday’s loss to UCLA. The 20-10 Sun Devils replace 16-14 Oklahoma State, which has dropped five in a row heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale against Texas Tech.
Last four in
Southern California, Wisconsin, Auburn, Arizona State.
First four out
North Carolina, Michigan, Penn State, Oklahoma State.
Next four out
Utah State, Texas Tech, Clemson, New Mexico.
Conference breakdown
Multi-bid leagues: Big Ten (9), SEC (8), Big 12 (7), ACC (5), Big East (5), Pac-12 (4), Mountain West (3), American Athletic (2).
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA Tournament Bracketology: North Carolina out, Arizona State joins
