The 2024 NCAA Tournament grows closer each day and Joe Lunardi is starting to finish up his predictions.

The 1-seeds in Lunardi’s eyes are now North Carolina, UConn, Purdue, and Houston. UConn won the Big East Tournament over Marquette and was the last team standing on the top line among Purdue and Houston.

The Huskies are now Lunardi’s No. 1 overall seed after capturing the Big East Tournament with a dominant title win over Marquette.

Purdue and Houston both lost their conference tournaments. Wisconsin took the Boilermakers to overtime and upset Purdue after Max Klesmit made a shot with 8 seconds left in the B1G Basketball Tournament. The Cougars were throttled by Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament final, losing 69-41 after steamrolling their way through the opposition.

The Tar Heels were already being considered as a 1-seed, but the ACC Tournament may have confirmed it. North Carolina didn’t have many problems against Florida State in the quarterfinals and beat the Seminoles 92-67. Hubert Davis coached his team to the finals after earning a win over Pitt in the semifinal.

The ACC title is between North Carolina and NC State as the heated rivals compete for a chance to take home some hardware before March Madness tips off. The ACC Tournament showed that no one is safe from upsets after the Wolfpack upset Duke in the quarterfinal round.

At the end of the day, North Carolina weathered the storm that was its conference tournament and further made the case as to why it deserved to be a 1-seed. Even if the Tar Heels lose to NC State, Lunardi firmly has them as the final 1-seed over Tennessee and Arizona.

Will Lunardi’s projections prove accurate? The selection show is set for Sunday evening, and fans can track all the latest odds ahead of time with Tradition’s Ohio sports betting links and apps.