After two days spent waiting to learn their NCAA Tournament fate, the ACC regular season champion Tar Heels found out Sunday they will be the No. 1 seed in the South region.
UNC (27-7, 15-5 ACC) is scheduled to take on 16th-seeded Texas Southern in the first round on Friday, with that game set to take place in Greenville, South Carolina instead of Greensboro after HB2 pushed the NCAA to move its postseason events outside the state of North Carolina.
The Tar Heels earned a No. 1 seed for the second straight season, and will be looking to avenge last year’s heartbreaking loss to Villanova in the national championship game.
With a win on Friday, UNC would advance to play the winner of No. 8 Arkansas and No. 9 Seton Hall.
From there, the city of Memphis could await the team for the NCAA South Regional.
Butler and Minnesota–the region’s No. 4 and No. 5 seeds–represent the Tar Heels’ strongest potential opponents in the Sweet 16.
The No. 2 seed in the South, Kentucky, could be waiting for the Tar Heels in the Elite Eight–which would be a rematch of a game the Wildcats won back in December behind 47 points from freshman guard Malik Monk.
Of course, another superstar freshman–6-foot-6 point guard Lonzo Ball–may have something to say about that.
Ball’s UCLA Bruins will bring their high-octane offense to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed in UNC’s region.
Villanova (East), Kansas (Midwest) and Gonzaga (West) are the other No. 1 seeds in the tournament, while the ACC leads all conferences with nine teams among the 68 selected.
History should be on UNC’s side, as the Tar Heels have advanced to at least the Elite Eight in each of the six previous tournaments they were a top seed under head coach Roy Williams–including national championships in 2005 and 2009.
Another interesting tidbit about those title runs is that in each of those two years UNC lost in the Semifinals of the ACC Tournament, just as it did this season.
For the full bracket, click here.
