UNC basketball, which began the season at No. 9 in the AP Top 25 Poll, has lost five of its past seven outings and hasn’t been ranked since early December. Even so, Hubert Davis and his Tar Heels (14-11, 7-6 ACC) are still getting mentions in NCAA Tournament bubble discussions.

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As of the latest update to the NCAA Bracketology courtesy of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi on Friday, UNC appears last among the “First Four Out” of the Big Dance. The other three in that column include two more ACC schools in SMU and Wake Forest, along with VCU at the top of the list.

Of course, the Tar Heels can’t afford many more losses if they hope to remain in play for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.

And they certainly can’t afford to lose to the Syracuse Orange (11-14, 5-9 ACC). UNC and Syracuse battle in the JMA Wireless Dome at 6 p.m. ET Saturday (ESPN), the first of seven games left in the Tar Heels’ regular season.

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Stay tuned to North Carolina Tar Heels On SI for more UNC basketball news.