North Carolina basketball became beloved around Chapel Hill, but blasted across the college basketball universe. The Tar Heels sneaked inside March Madness on Selection Sunday even despite a dismal quad one record.
UNC is entering the 2025 NCAA Tournament with a 22-13 mark. The Tar Heels lost to Duke on a controversial lane violation Friday during the Atlantic Coast Conference tourney. The loss jeopardized their hopes to make the tournament. Worse for UNC, the Tar Heels went 1-12 against quad one opponents — meaning this North Carolina team struggled against the best 30 teams in the nation.
North Carolina beat out power conference representatives West Virginia (Big 12) and Indiana (Big Ten) to squeak inside the tournament. The ‘Heels will enter as a play-in representative. They’ll get San Diego State on Tuesday as part of the “first four” battles.
Still, UNC sparked some heated online reactions. Including from fans of one of the snubbed teams.
North Carolina NCAA Tournament entry ignites fierce reactions
Some fans, including national representatives, sparked one theory behind UNC’s entry. North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham is on the NCAA Tournament selection committee — as noted by DraftKings.
North Carolina went 1-12 in Q1 games this year.
They were considered to be on the bubble.
Their Athletic Director is the head of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.
They made the tournament.
— DraftKings (@DraftKings) March 16, 2025
Radio personality for Sirius XM Barrett Sallee mentioned that IU delivered a better quad one record over UNC. Indiana went 4-13 against its own quad one competition — but still three more victories compared to the Tar Heels. Sallee wasn’t the only one critical of UNC.
Kentucky On3 basketball writer Daniel Hager ripped North Carolina’s entry, calling its entrance a joke on X.
However, UNC received clarity from ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla. More so involving Cunningham’s involvement.
“Whether North Carolina should be in or not is a good debate. Their AD is the chairman of the selection committee but cannot be in the room when the Tar Heels are discussed,” Franschilla posted on X. “But it’s human nature that it doesn’t hurt UNC’s chances when other members of the committee have spent so much time with him. Not criticizing it but just pointing it out.”
North Carolina’s lone quad one came against UCLA. The same Bruins team that drew the No. 7 seed in the Midwest regional. UNC has the counterargument that it won more games than the snubbed IU and West Virginia. But the ‘Heels still became the biggest heel of Sunday’s selection show.
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