North Carolina still has work to do to make the NCAA Tournament, but things are trending in the right direction.

On Monday night, the Tar Heels defeated Florida State on the road in their penultimate game of the regular season. It was their 3rd straight victory as they look to build momentum for their Tournament résumé.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi updated his latest bracket projection on Tuesday morning. He now has the Tar Heels as the 1st team out of the field of 68 — an improvement from where they were on Friday.

North Carolina is now 19-11 overall and 11-8 in ACC play on the season.

The Tar Heels will end the regular season on Saturday at home against Duke. They will be looking for revenge after losing to the Blue Devils in Durham earlier in the year.

What this means moving forward

North Carolina still has a good chance to make the Big Dance. However, it likely needs to win against Duke on Saturday in order to be comfortable on Selection Sunday.

Failing a win over Duke, Carolina may need to win multiple games at the ACC Tournament next week. If there are any bid-stealers in other conference tournaments, that could make things more difficult for Carolina.

Here are the teams above UNC on the bubble, according to Lunardi: Memphis, West Virginia, Nevada, Auburn, Mississippi State, Boise State, Wisconsin and Arizona State. Oklahoma State, Clemson and Michigan also remain in the mix.