UNC Basketball Pads Record, Becomes ACC's First No. 1 Seed This Decade

UNC basketball has a comfortable lead over all other programs in terms of all-time No. 1 seeds.

Photo credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Entering this year's Selection Sunday, 2019 was the last time the ACC produced a No. 1 seed. That year, the UNC basketball team and archrival Duke represented the conference on the top line.

Now, the Tar Heels (27-7), who were riding an eight-game winning streak before falling to NC State in Saturday night's ACC Tournament finale, have the honor as the first ACC squad to land a No. 1 seed this decade. Third-year head coach Hubert Davis and his bunch are the top dog in the NCAA Tournament's West region.

UNC is headed to Charlotte to face No. 16 seed Howard or Wagner on Thursday. If the Tar Heels prevail in that matchup, they'll face the winner between No. 8 seed Mississippi State and No. 9 seed Michigan State on Saturday.

Arizona is the No. 2 seed in UNC's region, then No. 3 seed Baylor and No. 4 seed Alabama to round out the top four.

Four other ACC teams received an invite to this year's Big Dance: No. 4 seed Duke in the South region, No. 6 seed Clemson in the West, No. 10 seed Virginia in the Midwest, and No. 11 seed NC State in the South.

This marks the Tar Heels' record 18th No. 1 seed, and it's worth mentioning that all five of the program's NCAA championship teams during the seeding era (no such thing existed in 1957) held that distinction. Next on that list are fellow bluebloods Kansas (15), Duke (14), and Kentucky (12).

No other schools boast double-digit No. 1 seeds.

Reigning national champion UConn, on the top line in the East region this go-round, has the most among the other three No. 1 seeds with six.

The last No. 1 seed to cut down the nets in April was Kansas in 2022 after the Jayhawks knocked off No. 8 seed UNC in the title bout.

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