It doesn’t help that the UNC basketball strength of schedule drops almost every time the Tar Heels (18-11, 11-6 ACC) take the court against foes in their relatively weak conference. After all, Friday’s latest ESPN NCAA Bracketology foresees only three ACC teams in the NCAA Tournament.

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Even so, UNC is firmly on the bubble.

In fact, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Tar Heels, riding a four-game winning streak and prevailing by double-digit points in each of their past three contests, second in his “First Four Out” column, sitting below only the Georgia Bulldogs.

The three ACC squads in Lunardi’s projected field are the No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devils, No. 5 seed Clemson Tigers, and No. 7 seed Louisville Tigers. Meanwhile, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and SMU Mustangs are the top two, respectively, in the “Next Four Out” group.

Fourth-year UNC basketball head coach and his staff are currently preparing the Tar Heels to host the Miami Hurricanes (6-22, 2-15 ACC) in the Dean E. Smith Center at noon ET Saturday (ESPN).

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