Here are the first round sites in which Duke, UNC, NC State and NC Central could wind up

One thing that's for certain is that Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State and N.C. Central will be among the 68 teams in the NCAA tournament.

N.C. Central earned an automatic bid by winning the MEAC tournament on Saturday, and Duke, UNC and N.C. State have impressive enough wins to earn at-large bids on Sunday.

The thing that's less certain, though, is where each of these teams will be sent for the first and second rounds. The NCAA's Selection Committee chooses where each team will go by first ranking the top-16 teams in the tournament.

The committee tries to send each of those teams to a place as close to home as possible. The highest ranked teams will get first preference.

The current first- and second-round sites are Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Witchita, Kan., Dallas, Boise, Id., Detroit, Nashville and San Diego.

Among the top 16 teams will be Duke (26-7) and UNC (25-10).

Because Virginia (31-2) won the ACC tournament on Saturday and will be the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, it will likely be sent to Charlotte, the closest site to Charlottesville, Va., where the Cavaliers play. Pittsburgh is also a possibility, but less likely. It is nearly the same distance from Charlottesville as Charlotte is, but a little further.

If by some chance that Virginia does go to Pittsburgh, then Duke and UNC could both play in Charlotte. But if the past is any indication of what may happen in the future, Virginia will end up in Charlotte.

In 2015, top-seeded Virginia could have been sent to Pittsburgh or Charlotte, and was sent to Charlotte.

And if Virginia is sent to Charlotte, then that means UNC or Duke will play in Charlotte, not both. The other team will be sent to the next closest site, which is Nashville or Pittsburgh.

Which of those teams plays in Charlotte will be the determination of the Selection Committee based on which team it thinks had the best season.

The Tar Heels beat the Blue Devils two out of the three times the teams played. Each team won on its homecourt, and UNC won in the semifinals of the ACC tournament. UNC is ranked No. 4 in RPI. Duke is ranked No. 5.

"I think they say we got like 14 Quadrant 1 wins, if that means anything, but that's a lot," UNC senior forward Theo Pinson said. "I think that's the most by any team. We got the No. 1 strength of schedule. Everybody is like, 'how do they have nine losses. We played literally every team, so it's going to be tough every night.

"So it's whatever, we'll take whatever we get."

Because N.C. State (21-11) is not among the top 16 teams, it could be sent anywhere.

The Eagles (19-15) are a lock to be sent to Dayton, and will play one of the play-in games for a No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament.

This story was originally published March 11, 2018 at 12:48 AM with the headline "Here are the first round sites in which Duke, UNC, NC State and NC Central could wind up."