The North Carolina Tar Heels needed to bounce back in a hurry after losing to Louisville on New Year's Day. They did just that by beating Notre Dame on the road and then taking care of business against SMU at home.
It may have saved UNC's season, for now.
Ahead of Saturday's game in Raleigh, the Tar Heels are still on the bubble for the 2025 NCAA Tournament. But the good news is that they have moved up in terms of where they are on the bubble per Joe Lunardi.
In his latest Bracketology ahead of Saturday's game, Lunardi has the Tar Heels still on the bubble but they now have one of the last four byes in the field.
That's an improvement of where they were at which was the last four in section after that loss to Louisville. He has them as a No. 10 seed, matched up with Baylor in the South Region.
Joining UNC on that "last four bye" line are Cincinnati, Texas Tech, and Arkansas. The last four in line includes Dayton, a team UNC already beat, plus Vanderbilt, Missouri and Indiana.
North Carolina's next opponent, NC State, is currently not in the field going into this game. So it's really a game that UNC needs to win.
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