2025 NCAA tournament: Former UNC WR calls out Jim Phillips, praises Greg Sankey amid potential Tar Heels snub

Former North Carolina receiver Taylor Vippolis has a bone to pick with ACC commissioner Jim Phillips regarding March Madness. With it being Selection Sunday, Vippolis took to X, formerly Twitter, to voice his opinion that Phillips isn’t doing enough to vouch for his conference.

The ACC currently has three teams in the tournament as locks according to most experts, but the Tar Heels are fighting to get in as the fourth. UNC is currently on the bubble after finishing with a 22-13 (13-7 ACC) record.

In a three-tweet thread, Vippolis argued that Phillips should be making TV appearances to push for the Tar Heels to get a bid. He noted how Greg Sankey has done the same for the SEC, which some believe could get as many as 14 bids, a league record.

“Greg Sankey is on every network telling you how the SEC should get a record 14 bids into the tournament,” Vippolis said. “Meanwhile, Jim Phillips is nowhere to be found while the ACC fights for a fourth spot. The ACC is getting dragged in the PR battle. Over the past month, UNC is a top 15 team on BartTorvik with just two losses to Duke, who is #1. They have a better NET and KenPom ranking then every other bubble team.

“UNC is 1-12 in Quad 1 games, compared to Texas at 7-10, but if you stretch it to include Quad 2 games, UNC is 9-12 to Texas at 10-15. Carolina’s strength of schedule is 12 spots higher than Texas and UNC has a better strength of record.”

Both North Carolina and Texas are among the first four teams out according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s final projections. However, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Vanderbilt are all predicted to make the field as one of the last eight teams in over the Tar Heels.

If things go exactly as Lunardi projects them to, the ACC would get just three teams in (Clemson, Duke and Louisville) while the SEC would get 13. Never mind that UNC took the Blue Devils, which are a projected No. 1 seed, down to the wire in a 74-71 loss in the ACC Tournament.

But because the SEC is widely considered to be the best conference in college basketball, it seems that gives an edge to its bubble teams compared to North Carolina. We’ll have to wait until the committee reveals the bracket at 6 p.m. ET on CBS to figure out whether that is accurate.