Why did UNC basketball make the NCAA Tournament, First Four of March Madness?
UNC basketball will be a part of the First Four in Dayton to tip off the 2025 men’s NCAA Tournament.
The 11th-seeded Tar Heels (22-13), who face No. 11 San Diego State (21-9) in Ohio, will need to send a thank-you card to Memphis (29-5).
Keith Gill, vice chair of NCAA selection committee, said Memphis beating UAB in the American Athletic Conference Tournament got UNC into the tournament as the last team to earn an at-large bid. Had Memphis lost, UNC would have been out.
Following the reveal of the 68-team Selection Show on CBS, Gill and Bubba Cunningham explained the selection process. Cunningham, UNC's athletics director, is the chair of the NCAA Division I men's basketball committee. Gill said Cunningham recused himself from discussions about the Tar Heels.
Cunningham was asked about UNC's situation by Seth Davis.
"Obviously, I'm going to defer that question to Keith," Cunningham said. "All the policies and procedures were followed. Keith can address exactly how North Carolina was discussed, because I was not in the room for any of that."
UNC, which lost to No. 1 Duke (31-3) in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, is 36th in the NET rankings and 33rd in KenPom’s metrics. Ultimately, the Tar Heels’ 1-12 record in Quad 1 games wasn’t enough to keep them from earning a bid.
"As the vice chair, I managed all the conversations that we had about North Carolina," Gill said.
"We had quite a few. Our policies require the AD of any school to recuse themselves and actually leave the room for those discussions. They're not allowed to participate in any vote, as well. We followed those. Had lots of discussions about North Carolina. Saturday night, we took our final vote. We voted in four teams in the field on Saturday night. We had a contingency vote, and the contingency vote, that was the last team in the field."
Gill went on to say that contingency vote was "the last team in the field," based on the result of Memphis vs. UAB.
"If Memphis won that game, then that was going to free up a spot in the tournament," Gill said. "And that was going to be North Carolina. If UAB had won, then Memphis was going to be in the tournament, UAB would've been in the tournament and North Carolina would've been the first team out. That process played out today. Memphis won, and that put North Carolina in the field."
The Tar Heels beat UCLA, an NCAA Tournament team, in New York City and had one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation. The Tar Heels lacked wins against top-tier teams, but didn't have any bad losses, according to the metrics.
UNC played 10 teams inside the top 25 on KenPom, including games against three of the top seeds in March Madness – Duke, Auburn and Florida. The Tar Heels also passed the eye test by winning eight of their final 10 games.
Fifth-year guard RJ Davis, who helped the Heels get to the 2022 national championship game, will have one more March Madness experience. If the Tar Heels beat the Aztecs, they'll face No. 6 seed Ole Miss (22-11) in a round of 64 game in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them to rbaxley@fayobserver.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Why did North Carolina make March Madness? Tar Heels can thank Memphis for NCAA berth
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