All eyes are on the UNC-Duke matchup this Saturday in Chapel Hill. The North Carolina Tar Heels are looking for payback following a loss in early February in Durham.
But more importantly, UNC needs a win to help its NCAA Tournament resume as the regular season is complete.
Going into the week, North Carolina was on the wrong side of the bubble before beating Florida State. The win didn’t do much as the Tar Heels are still on the wrong side going into this Duke game but the consensus is that they are team No. 69 or No. 70 in most mocks right now.
A win over Duke would go a long ways for UNC and likely gets them in the tournament for a few days. They probably still need to win a game in the ACC Tournament and want to avoid having to win it all in Greensboro to make the tournament.
With the game just a day away, let’s take a look at where UNC stands in the updated mock brackets going into the matchup with Duke.
Joe Lunardi; ESPN – 3/3 (First four out)
Projection: First four out
Trending: —
Despite losses by bubble teams, UNC was jumped by Penn State and Arizona State recently. They are Lunardi’s No. 70 team going into this game against Duke.
Jerry Palm (CBS Sports) – 3/3 (First four out)
Projection: First four out
Trending: DOWN
North Carolina is team No. 71 in Jerry Palm’s updated bracket as part of the ‘first four out.’ They are behind both Wisconsin and Oklahoma State.
Bracket Matrix – 3/3 (OUT OF TOURNAMENT)
Projection: First team out
Trending: UP
The Tar Heels are the first team out in the BracketMatrix update on March 3rd which is actually up from where they were last week. The site takes the average of mock brackets all around the web and UNC was in the field in 22 of them.
Kevin Sweeney; Sports Illustrated – 2/14 (First Four Out)
Projection: First four out
Trending: UP
The Tar Heels team No. 70 behind only Wisconsin in the latest update from Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated.
USA TODAY – 3/3 (First four out)
Projection: First four out
Trending: DOWN
With Thursday’s results, Arizona State actually makes the field and is in over UNC after losing to UCLA.
