5 biggest March Madness snubs for the 2023 NCAA Tournament

4. Biggest March Madness Snubs – North Carolina Tar Heels

The headlines write themselves about how historically bad it was for North Carolina to go from preseason No. 1 to the NIT. The Tar Heels did themselves no favors by squandering numerous opportunities to add quality wins to their resume but they were listed among the first four teams out of the field by the Selection Committee.

There is some stuff to like on UNC’s resume, including 20 wins and a solid NET ranking of 46. The problem is the fact that the Tar Heels went 1-9 in Quad 1 games with the lone win coming at home against Virginia, which isn’t enough to elevate North Carolina’s resume to at-large worthy.

The main gripe that Hubert Davis’ team has, however, is the fact that they were left out while conference rival NC State was put in with a very similar resume. The Wolfpack were just one spot above the Tar Heels in the NET and have a 1-6 record in Quad 1 games with the victory coming at home against Duke.

When you factor in some bad scheduling from NC State, it makes little sense why the Wolfpack were safely in the field (even avoiding the First Four) while UNC was left out. Winning a few more Quad 1 games, perhaps even just one, may have been enough to give the Tar Heels a shot at avenging last year’s title game loss.