Time: Sunday, 3 p.m.
Location: Smith Center
Radio: 100.7 FM, WCHL-1360 AM
Television: Raycom/JP
What's at stake: The Tar Heels are essentially guaranteed to get a spring break this year. But if they continue down their current path, they'll be leaving campus a day early for the loathed ACC Tournament play-in game -- once an unthinkable scenario. With Clemson's win against Wake Forest this week, this FSU-UNC matchup becomes more important than it seems. The Tar Heels sit alone in the cellar with Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech each having three conference wins. The two that land on bottom get to play each other March 7, for the right to take on the No. 1 seed 15 hours later. If UNC loses to FSU, loser of five straight, again (the Seminoles won 81-71 without Jason Capel), avoiding the play-in becomes difficult. The Tar Heels have already split with Georgia Tech and have beaten Clemson once with a home finale against the Tigers upcoming. If UNC, which also has dropped five in a row, falls Sunday, it drops to 2-11 in the ACC and two games behind Florida State with N.C. State and Duke on the road and Clemson at home remaining. Is this enough to drive the Tar Heels? Good luck using the play-in game to motivate a North Carolina basketball team that has already lost everything else it once played for.
Prediction: Florida State 71, UNC 70.
Compiled By Mike Ogle
