UNC Basketball: Top Storylines to Follow in Final Weeks of Regular Season

March is just around the corner. With a smattering of games remaining on North Carolina's regular-season schedule, here are the top storylines to follow in the season's final weeks.

Duuuuuuuke

Tar Heels fans may have noticed that UNC has yet to play the Duke Blue Devils this season. In a scheduling gauntlet MTV producers would be proud of, the two biggest rivals in all of college basketball face off against one another twice in the season's final couple of weeks.

The first matchup comes Wednesday night as UNC travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The home-and-home is completed on March 7, the teams' final game, as UNC plays host.

The two are within one game of each other in the ACC standings, both looking up at Virginia and Notre Dame at the moment. But even if these two matches don't decide a conference title, there are no bigger games on the NCAA landscape than Carolina vs. Duke.

Joel Berry's Return

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

The freshman point guard is back from injury after missing seven straight games in January and February.

His first contest back was just to get his legs under him. Against Pitt, his second game since returning, Berry played extremely well. It was arguably the best game of this career.

He played a career-high 28 minutes, tying his career high with eight points. He got to the line, dished out six assists (a career high) and had zero turnovers.

UNC could use a strong finish from Berry. It has been playing short-handed in the backcourt for a few weeks now.

Late-Season Swoon

North Carolina is just 1-3 in its last four ballgames, with the lone win coming over last-place Boston College.

Last time out, the Pitt Panthers walloped Carolina to the tune of 89 points and 64.9 percent shooting from the floor.

The schedule doesn't offer a reprieve yet as the Heels travel to Duke, but after that, there are a number of chances for this team to rack up wins against opponents it is better than.

Of course, that may not matter with the way UNC is currently playing. Other than perhaps hosting Georgia Tech, there is no remaining game on the schedule that North Carolina can hope to win playing at less than full capacity.

Marcus Paige

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

A team often goes only as far as its best player takes it. That is not totally accurate with UNC because of the dominant nature of its interior offense, but Marcus Paige is the focal point of the Heels' shooting.

And Marcus Paige has been playing very poorly.

On the year, he is shooting a measly 40 percent from the floor. During Carolina's recent swoon, Paige is shooting 28.7 percent from three and has gotten to the free-throw line a total of nine times!

It is hard to know for sure if the injuries are irrevocably catching up with him, but this team will always struggle to win if Paige cannot connect from long range. He is the biggest threat the Heels have.

Tournament Seeding

North Carolina is not in peril of missing the NCAA tournament. It has already banked enough quality wins through a tough schedule to play into March.

UNC is currently 10th in the country in RPI (ratings percentage index), with the third-toughest schedule in all the land. Even taking out the ACC factor, the Heels' nonconference RPI and strength of schedule are also very strong.

Team	SOS	NCRP	NCSS	RPI
Virginia	11	4	21	3
Duke	8	1	44	5
North Carolina	3	22	14	10

However, without at least one win over Duke in these final weeks, Carolina is setting itself up for a very poor ACC tournament seed, as well as a higher-than-hoped NCAA seed, barring a long ACC title run.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi has Carolina as a No. 3 seed right now, but it will surely drop if it doesn't add another quality win to the ledger.

The Tar Heels are already down to fifth in the loaded ACC standings, with Clemson and Pitt breathing down their necks. (Syracuse is as well, but it is ineligible for the conference tournament and will not affect UNC's seed.)