ESPN Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi tried to pop the bubble for the North Carolina Tar Heels time and time again, all the way up to their ACC Tournament semifinal loss to rival Duke. He remained adamant after that fact that, with only one Quad 1 win on their resumé, that UNC was not going to be participating in March Madness.
To be fair, Lunardi was not alone in that sentiment, but he also might've been the biggest voice on the biggest platform who continued to double down on it even after the Tar Heels were the last team in the field of 68 for the 2025 NCAA Tournament. He was also not moved when UNC dominated San Diego State in their First Four matchup to set up Friday's clash with No. 6 seed Ole Miss.
That's where North Carolina's run in March Madness run ended, however. UNC fell into a 22-point deficit at one point against the Rebels and, while they fought back and nearly completed a ridiculous comeback, the Heels ultimately fell short.
And after the fact, Lunardi was quick to dance on North Carolina's graves, taking to X/Twitter and saying that no team in the NET Rankings era had ever earned an at-large berth with just one Quad 1 win and that now the team that did that was out of the NCAA Tournament.
Only one team in the NET era has ever gotten an at-large bid with just a single Quad 1 win. Two games later, North Carolina still has only one Q1 win.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 21, 2025
One problem with that statement: It's in no way factual.
Joe Lunardi's final shot at UNC Tar Heels completely ignores the facts
Not only is North Carolina not the only at-large team with just one Quad 1 win to get into the NCAA Tournament, they weren't even the only one this season! The Xavier Musketeers also fit that billing and earned a First Four spot in their own right. Furthermore, Xavier also followed the same path as the Tar Heels, getting out of Dayton but then falling in the First Round against a No. 6 seed, Illinois in the Musketeers' case.
It'd be one thing if Lunardi was forgetting a team from a couple of years ago or longer that snuck into the field of 68 in March Madness only to get quickly bounced with one Quad 1 win. It's another thing entirely to be a Bracketology expert — one who some would argue is the biggest name in that field — not one week removed from Selection Sunday and completely ignore the fact that Xavier was in the same boat as UNC just to take an unnecessary shot at the Tar Heels.
Lunardi's anti-North Carolina bias over the past few months has been maddening in itself, but this certainly takes the cake. He went out of his day, a fun day of NCAA Tournament action to boot, to continue that agenda with a shot at the Tar Heels. That's just laughably bad form.
Does UNC deserve plenty of criticism? Absolutely! This was a preseason Top 10 team that had to ride it out on the bubble to get in the field because they vastly underperformed. Even against Ole Miss on Friday, they underperformed in the first half to force the need for a near-comeback. This was a team that left pounds of meat on the bone in terms of what they should've been able to accomplish.
You can criticize this team without ignoring the facts, though. That's a lesson that Lunardi might need to refresh himself on.