This matchup has been lying in wait ever since the ACC tournament bracket was finalized. Carolina handily beat Notre Dame in their first game before scraping by Wake Forest in the quarterfinals—despite a period in the second half where they missed 15 out of 16 shots. Meanwhile, Duke came out flat against Georgia Tech, then lost Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown to injuries before pulling away from an underrated Yellow Jackets team. UNC vs Duke: part three is next.
The Heels have crawled just inside the bracket according to the ESPN bracket projections. I’m not 100% convinced a win over Duke cements a bid for the Heels, but with several other bubble teams taking losses it’d probably be enough.