The ACC schedule is good news, bad news for Carolina.
During the Tar Heels’ ragged win over App State, the ACC Network announcers brought up some premature projections of their chances in the 2022 NCAA tournament. A little too early to talk about that for a 9-3 team, but they did.
They unveiled a current ranking of ACC teams where Duke was No. 1, and the Tar Heels were second at No. 49. Only three or four other conference clubs were listed in the top 100. Then they put up Joe Lunardi’s brackets de jour, where the Blue Devils were a No. 1 seed and Carolina was next best at a 7 seed.
All that does not say much about the ACC so far this season, and you know where I’m going.
Hubert Davis’ first team had three and half chances to post high-quality wins in November and December. The three represent Purdue, Tennessee and Kentucky, which Carolina lost by increasing margins. The one-half was Michigan at home, where the unranked Heels pulled a mild upset over the then No. 24 Wolverines.
Now comes 19 consecutive ACC games, beginning with Virginia Tech at the Smith Center next Wednesday. The question is: how many quality wins are there in a conference that is rated sixth overall and right now earns only four spots in Joey Brackets’ field of 68?
Carolina’s next five ACC games are all winnable but based on its still-inconsistent play are all losable. After the Hokies comes a trip to Boston College, which is 7-4 with a home win over Notre Dame in the early conference opener that every ACC team plays with a 20-game schedule, then a visit to South Bend where the Irish upset Kentucky last week.
After that are home games against unusually average Virginia and Georgia Tech, which the Heels have already beaten in Atlanta, followed by road dates at Miami and Wake Forest – both toss-ups right now.
So, the point is, where does Carolina get quality wins with everyone in the ACC besides Duke ranked considerably lower? Sure, there are those two games against the top-line Blue Devils, whom the rest of the league will also be targeting for gold stars on their resumes.
UNC’s best hope is to start 6-0 in the ACC to reach 14-3, which should get some notice.
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