UNC's Seth Trimble: 'We Know We Deserved' 2025 March Madness Bid After First Four Win

For one game at least, North Carolina was able to silence its skeptics with a dominant 95-68 victory over San Diego State in the first four game on Tuesday night.

Tar Heels guard Seth Trimble said after the win "we know we deserved" to be in the 68-team field regardless of the outside noise.

"We know we deserved to be here," he told reporters. "We're not looking to send a message to anybody else. We're just looking to compete as a team and be the team that we know we're capable of being."

When the brackets were announced on Sunday, no team's inclusion generated more discussion than North Carolina. The criticism, to be fair, was more about the selection committee's fairness and process more than anything.

NBC Sports' Nicole Auerbach noted Bubba Cunningham, who was the chairman for the selection committee, is also North Carolina's athletic director.

Some of the discussion did get to be absurd, highlighted by West Virginia governor Patrick Morrissey threatening legal action against the NCAA for including UNC over the Mountaineers.

If you just went by blind resume, it's extremely close between North Carolina and West Virginia. The team had an uninspiring 22-13 record during the season, with one win in 13 games against Quad 1 opponents. West Virginia, to cite one example, was 19-13 overall and 6-10 in quad one games.

North Carolina's strength of record ranks 35th; West Virginia finished at No. 42.

The Tar Heels were able to sneak in and made a strong first impression. They led by as many as 38 points before taking their foot off the gas. RJ Davis scored 26 points on 6-of-6 three-point shooting, and Trimble had 16 points in 27 minutes off the bench.

North Carolina's victory secured it the No. 11 seed in the South Region. It will take on No. 6 Mississippi in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday at 4:05 p.m. ET.