Before fourth-year head coach Hubert Davis and his Tar Heels (19-11, 12-6 ACC) hosted the Miami Hurricanes (6-23, 2-16 ACC) on Saturday afternoon, UNC basketball checked in second among the “First Four Out” in ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s forecasted March Madness bracket.

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The Tar Heels defeated the Hurricanes, 92-73, in the Dean E. Smith Center, marking UNC’s fifth straight win and fourth in a row by a double-digit margin. Consequently, they climbed from No. 45 to No. 42 in Sunday’s updated NCAA NET Rankings, a metric used for Selection Sunday in two weeks.

Nevertheless, in Lunardi’s latest bracketology notes on Sunday, he has UNC down one spot to No. 3 among teams projected to miss out on an at-large NCAA Tournament invite at this late juncture in the regular season.

As things stand, Lunardi foresees only three ACC programs reaching the Big Dance: No. 1 seed Duke, No. 5 seed Clemson, and No. 7 seed Louisville. Meanwhile, Wake Forest and SMU are the top two among his “Next Four Out” group.

UNC basketball is now gearing up for a road clash versus the Virginia Tech Hokies (13-16 8-10 ACC) at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday (ESPNU).

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