March Madness is back and North Carolina is making its presence felt in the field.

  Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina Central, NC State, Davidson and Greensboro were the six teams from North Carolina who played hard enough to earn a spot in the tournament.

  This will be Dukes 23rd straight NCAA tournament, North Carolina’s eighth straight appearance and North Carolina Central’s second straight visit to the tournament.

   As for the three other teams, they will be coming back to the tournament after not being able to make the field last year.

  Davidson and Greensboro both played their way in by taking home their conference championships with Davidson topping Rhode Island 58-57 and Greensboro defeating East Tennessee State 62-47. As for the Wolfpack of NC State, they were able to build their resume just enough in the final stretch of ACC play to remove themselves from the remaining bubble teams.

  NC Central will kick it off for North Carolina in the first four bracket on March 14, with a matchup against Texas Southern for the 16 seed.

  On March 15, Duke, a two seed, will face Iona, while NC State, a nine seed, will take on Seton Hall.   The Wildcats of Davidson, a 12 seed, will play Kentucky and UNCG, a 13 seed, will face Gonzaga.

   On March 16, North Carolina will face Lipscomb as a two seed.

   Look out for these local teams to make some noise this year and remember to fill out those brackets.