With the season on the horizon, where does UNC stand in Joe Lunardi’s first Bracketology projection of the season?
Bracketology already? This early in the season? Yes, this early in the season.
The North Carolina Tar Heels are a week away from kicking off the 2016-17 season in New Orleans against Tulane. On Friday, UNC hosted its only exhibition game of the year playing UNC-Pembrooke and giving fans their first look at the team.
With the season just a week away, ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi has released his first set of NCAA tournament projects for the year.
It’s still early and the projections are probably going to change a lot from now until March but it’s still fun to get a look at how the field could be.
For UNC, Lunardi has them as a two seed in the South Region and playing a familiar opponent in the first round.
Lunardi has UNC taking on 15th seed Florida Gulf Coast, a team the Tar Heels beat in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament as a one seed.
Here are Lunardi’s one seeds for the tournament:
Duke is regarded as the frontrunner in the ACC this season but don’t count out the Tar Heels as both teams should be in the running. Winning the ACC will likely give that team a one seed, with the runner up likely in the two-three range.
In 2016 UNC had a one seed and went all the way to the Final Four. They beat in-conference rival Syracuse in the national semifinal before losing a heartbreaker to Villanova.
This season they are seeking to return to the Final Four and finish what they started.
Check back with Keeping It Heel all week for complete coverage on UNC’s first game against Tulane.
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