Who will UNC play — and where — in the NCAA Tournament? Tar Heels learn their fate

Andrew Carter
·2 min read
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Caleb Love made one of the most memorable shots of any player at North Carolina — the one in the final moments of a 2022 NCAA Tournament semifinal that pushed the Tar Heels toward a victory against Duke. The one that ended, once and for all, Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching career.

Now Love, who transferred from UNC to Arizona after last season, might just stand in the way of these current Tar Heels, and another trip to the Final Four. UNC on Sunday learned it had earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, in the West Region.

The No. 2 in the West? Arizona, where Love this season received Pac-12 Player of the Year honors.

And they say the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee doesn’t place teams in the bracket based on the possibility of attractive television match-ups. Those semi-annual potential UNC-Kansas match-ups helped dispense that myth.

So, too, does the prospect of UNC and Arizona in a regional final, with Love facing his old team, and his old backcourt mate in RJ Davis. While Love earned Pac-12 Player of the Year honors, Davis was named the ACC Player of the Year.

They arrived at UNC in 2020, in the same recruiting class.

As anticipated, the Tar Heels will begin tournament play in Charlotte on Thursday. They’ll play the winner of a Tuesday play-in game between 16th-seeded Howard and Wagner.

If the Tar Heels advance – and No. 1 seeds have lost only twice against No. 16s – then UNC would play either eighth-seeded Mississippi State or No. 9 seed Michigan State. Alabama is the No. 4 seed in the West, and could play against UNC in the Sweet 16, and Baylor is the No. 3.

Upon the release of the tournament bracket, though, the intrigue of the West became immediately clear. After weeks of wondering if the pairing might come to fruition, there it was, officially: the prospect of UNC and Arizona playing each other for a chance at the Final Four. The prospect that, to advance that far, the Tar Heels might need to go through their old teammate.