The North Carolina Tar Heels wrapped up the 2025 calendar year with a win over Florida State, beginning the ACC schedule with a big win on Tuesday. Now, as we enter 2026, the Tar Heels will play out the rest of that ACC schedule in hopes of contending for a title.
Going into this calendar year, UNC is 13-1 overall with their only loss coming to Michigan State on a netural court on Thanksgiving. Other than that, they have passed the test of a tough non-conference schedule. While it may feel a little too early to start thinking about the NCAA Tournament, non-conference games are a big part of the resume.
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For the Tar Heels, their resume is good as it stands right now. And ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has recently updated his Bracketology for the end of December, putting the Tar Heels as a top 16 seed.
Lunardi has North Carolina as a No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region, facing off against Arkansas State. Also in UNC’s bracket is No. 5 Texas Tech and No. 12 Utah Valley. The No. 1 seed is Michigan, while Vanderbilt is No. 2 seed and Houston as the No. 3 seed.
A total of six ACC teams are in the mock bracket as Duke, SMU, Clemson, NC State and Virginia join the Tar Heels in the field. That’s a big improvement from last season as the conference is playing a lot better this season.
Now, there is a long ways to go in this season and things will change but this is a good sign early on in the season for the Tar Heels and the conference.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Basketball: Tar Heels move up in December Bracketology
