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Whether or not North Carolina plays in the NCAA Tournament that begins next week is determined on how the Tar Heels perform this week in the ACC Tournament inside the Greensboro Coliseum.

The general belief is UNC must win the tournament and earn the league’s automatic bid into the big dance as its only path. Others believe the Heels can still get in if they win two or three games and get some help outside the conference with other fence sitters losing early in their tournaments.

Carolina (19-12, 11-9 ACC) opens as the No. 7 seed and will play at 7 PM on Wednesday night versus Tuesday’s winner between No. 10 Boston College and No. 15 Louisville. With a win, UNC would face No. 2 Virginia on Thursday, and a win there would put Carolina in the semifinals versus either Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Clemson, or NC State. The championship game is Saturday night.

Here are our picks for the entire week:

Armando Bacot will lead the way for Carolina in its ACC Tournament opening win over Boston College before the Tar Heels pickup what could be a key 71-66 win over Virginia thanks to some late free throws from RJ Davis. After two wins, N.C. State ends Carolina's run in a tight battle. Now, Carolina waits anxiously for Selection Sunday. ACCT record 2-1.

The Tar Heels will just about beat Boston College, but will fall in the quarterfinals to UVA, 59-51, ending their season. Armando Bacot and RJ Davis will lead the way. ACCT record: 1-1.

The Tar Heels will get past Boston College with a good team effort. Heels will go into overtime with Virginia and pull it out with big minutes from a bench player due to foul trouble. UNC slips by NC State in the Semi-finals after a big man battle between Armando Bacot and DJ Burns. UNC falls to Duke in the ACC championship to go 0-3 against the Blue Devils this year. ACCT: 3-1.

I believe North Carolina will go 3-1 in the ACC tournament with a loss to Miami in the Championship game. I think Boston College and UVA will be good matchups for the Heels but the guard play of Miami will be too much for UNC to handle. ACCT: 3-1.

So many people have been waiting for the switch to go on for this team, but it appears rather clear that 31 games into the season, the switch just isn’t there. As tempting as it might still be to pick the Heels to go on a run, they just don’t shoot well enough, and that isn’t going to change for four nights. Can Carolina win it? Yes, it’s possible but highly unlikely. Prediction: ACCT record 1-1. UNC beats BC and loses to UVA.

Average THI prediction: 2-1.