¸Hot-and-cold stretch has Tar Heels dropping in USA Today bracketology..

If you watched the UNC men’s basketball team play from mid-December through late January, chances are many games resulted in convincing UNC victories.

The Tar Heels (19-6, 11-3) rose to become a Final Four contender during this stretch, embarking on a 10-game winning streak. North Carolina started hot by knocking off previously-undefeated Oklahoma, then grabbing its 10th in a row by earning a tough road victory at Florida State.

Since that late-January win in Tallahassee, UNC’s looked a lot more like an at-large NCAA Tournament team. North Carolina’s picked up huge victories against archrival Duke and Miami (FL), but also lost bad games against Georgia Tech, Syracuse and Clemson.

UNC still has a half-game lead over Duke in ACC play, but has dropped to a three seed in the latest USA Today bracketology.

One noticeable area over North Carolina’s last five games is its decrease in defensive production. After not allowing an opponent to score more than 70 points during its long winning streak, every Tar Heel opponent has reached 70 points in each of the past five games.

Most recently, Syracuse shot nearly 63 percent in its upset win on Tuesday. Judah Mintz and JJ Starling both reached the 20-point mark, while no UNC player scored 20.

If North Carolina wants to improve its NCAA Tournament seeding outlook, wins against tough Virginia Tech and UVA squads would be a good start.