By WRAL staff

Raleigh, N.C.

The NCAA Championship is now on and we have multiple teams from the Tobacco Road region participating once more.

The men’s tournament first-round matchups were revealed on Sunday night by the NCAA selection committee.

As tournament play commences, the Triangle teams’ schedule, locations, and opponents will be determined. The games will air on CBS, truTV, TNT, and TBS.

On Thursday, the University of North Carolina will go to Charlotte.

The state of North Carolina achieved a top position in the West region by securing the No. 1 seed in both the ACC regular season and tournament. The University of North Carolina maintained a top 10 ranking for a majority of the season and will have the advantage of playing their first two games near their home turf.

The University of North Carolina’s basketball team, with a record of 27 wins and 7 losses, is scheduled to face the victor of the preliminary game between Howard and Wagner this Thursday at Spectrum Center in Charlotte. The game will be televised on CBS at 2:45 p.m. If the Tar Heels emerge victorious, they will advance to play against the winner of the Mississippi State and Michigan State game on Saturday in the 8th versus 9th seed matchup.

UNC is a top seed for the first time since 2019.

Arizona, the second seed in the West, is currently led by former UNC player Caleb Love who is averaging a personal best of 18.1 points per game and was selected as a first-team member for All-Pac-12.

NC State back in the Steel City Thursday

The Wolfpack (22-14) are in the spotlight following a remarkable streak of five consecutive victories in the ACC Tournament, making history as the first 10th seed to claim the title.

On Thursday, March 21 at 9:40 p.m., NC State, who was ranked as an 11 seed in the South region, will take on Texas Tech (23-10) who is seeded sixth in Pittsburgh at PPG Paints Arena on CBS. The victorious team will advance to play the winner of the (3) Kentucky and (14) Oakland game on Saturday.

The team from State went to Pittsburgh in 2015 for the NCAA Tournament. They won against LSU with a buzzer-beater, 66-65, and surprised everyone by beating top-seeded Villanova 71-68 in the round of 32.

On Friday, Duke will be in Brooklyn.

Duke (24-8) earned a No. 4 seed in the South region and will face No. 13 seed Vermont (28-6) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Friday, March 22 at 7:10 p.m. on CBS. Vermont won the America East Conference. If Duke wins, the Blue Devils will play the winner of (5) Wisconsin and (12) James Madison on Sunday.

Duke’s recent defeat to NC State in the ACC quarterfinal resulted in them being awarded the No. 2 seed and a double bye in the upcoming ACC Tournament.

This will be Duke’s first visit to the Barclays Center since the 2022 ACC Tournament, where they lost to Virginia Tech 82-67 in the championship game. In 2017, Duke was victorious in the ACC Tournament at the Barclays Center.

UConn, Houston, UNC and Purdue are all No. 1 seeds. The ACC had five teams reach the tournament, with Virginia and Clemson also earning bids. The Big 12 and SEC each had eight teams selected and Big Ten and Mountain West conferences finished with six selections each.

Source: wralsportsfan.com