The NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings in NCAA basketball consider game results, strength of schedule, game location, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses to determine a team's overall strength and tournament resume. This is the NCAA's primary sorting tool for evaluating teams. The NET is designed to be most optimal in March, not in early December.
There it is. UNC’s NET is better than anyone else’s on the bubble. The entire NET thing is in place to measure and give defendable and objective criteria to split hairs between bubble teams.
If a team garners 3 or 4 Q1 W’s at home against NET ranked teams in the upper 30’s, that might not weigh much more - if any - than another team losing some Q1 games by single digits, away from home, against NET ranked teams 1-9.
If all of those Q1 losses were too give UNC such a black eye, why was the NET ranking 36? The best amongst the bubbles. How many teams in the tourney have a NET ranking worse than the Tar Heels #36?