March Madness is officially here, and the North Carolina Tar Heels are officially on the hunt for their seventh NCAA title. The field is pretty tough this year, particularly when looking at the projected one seeds. Michigan, Arizona, Duke, and Florida are all teams that very well could win the whole dang thing, but could the Heels make a push as well? Well, things look a bit bleak without Caleb Wilson, but the NCAA Tournament doesn’t always make sense, right? That’s part of the madness.
The good news
for the Tar Heels is that they do not have to sweat out whether or not they will make the NCAA Tournament. Per Bracket Matrix, UNC is projected as a five seed when looking at average seeding. Some of the predictions have looked a bit more chaotic than they did before the Duke game — there are a lot more predictions that the Heels will be a six seed, and there’s even a source that thinks they will be a seven. It’s an interesting change after taking a loss to the number one team in the country at home, but regardless, that is where we sit at the moment.
Should UNC end up a five seed, they will have to potentially face the one seed if they were to make it to the Sweet Sixteen. If they slip to the six seed, they would face the two seed, giving them a slightly better break. Even without Caleb Wilson, UNC could beat a couple of the teams projected as a two seed, but UConn or Houston would be tough. There is also an argument that could be made that they could beat Michigan if that ended up being the one seed in their bracket, but everything else feels a bit daunting. That is a long way of saying: if things work out in Carolina’s favor, they could potentially make it to the Elite Eight. If they end up facing the Sweet Sixteen, chances are decent that the road ends there.
As far as betting odds go, Vegas currently gives UNC the 24th-best odds of making it to the Final Four per FanDuel Sportsbook. There are some interesting teams that are ahead of them in the betting odds — Kansas, Virginia and Kentucky are favored higher despite the fact that the Heels beat all of them. The Final Four does feel like a long shot for the Heels, but perhaps some tournament magic will help propel them like it did during the 2021-22 season.
What do you think of where the Heels currently land in the Bracketology predictions? Which seed are you rooting for them to land? Let us know in the comments below.
