The Matt Doherty era marks the only time in the past 50 years that UNC basketball has come up short of an NCAA Tournament invite twice in a span of three seasons. Barring a dramatic turnaround or automatic bid via an ACC Tournament title, Hubert Davis and his Tar Heels will match that particular failure.

ALSO READ: Injury Sidelines UNC Forward, Not Ruled Out for Duke Game

That said, the NCAA NET Rankings, a metric to evaluate teams for March Madness invites and seeding, has been relatively kind to the 2024-25 Tar Heels (13-9, 6-4 ACC) despite losses in three of their past four outings.

After falling on the road, 73-65, to the Pitt Panthers (14-6, 5-4 ACC) on Tuesday night, UNC slid only two notches to No. 42 overall on Wednesday. And the Tar Heels, now 1-8 in Quad 1 games, have a chance to boost their stock considerably when they travel 10 miles up Tobacco Road to square off against the archrival Duke Blue Devils at 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday (ESPN).

Duke (18-2, 10-0 ACC), sitting No. 2 in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll, checks in at No. 3 in the NCAA NET Rankings. While the Tar Heels will also get a chance to knock off the Blue Devils in Chapel Hill at the end of the regular season on March 4, it’s worth noting that Hubert Davis’ fourth UNC basketball collection has no other scheduled contests against teams currently appearing in the top 25.

Louisville (16-5, 9-1 ACC), No. 25 NET, is the only other ACC representative in the top 25. The Cardinals beat UNC, 83-70, at home on Jan. 1 in their lone meeting this season.

ALSO READ: Ex-UNC Guard Caleb Love Fuels Huge Victory Via 60-Foot Prayer

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