By R.L. Bynum
Carolina moved up a spot to No. 9 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll Monday after winning at Virginia 54–44 in its only game last week.
The ACC-leading Tar Heels (22–6, 14–3 ACC) played the first of three consecutive home games Monday, beating Miami (15–4, 6–12) 75–71.
UNC, ranked for the 953rd time in AP poll history (the second-most), leapfrogged over Duke (21–6, 12–4), which fell two spots to No. 10 after rolling to an 84–55 road win over Miami but losing 83–79 at Wake Forest.
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Nine consecutive weeks in the top 10 is Carolina’s longest streak in one season since the 2016 Final Four team was No. 9 or better — peaking at No. 2 — in the last 13 polls. The Tar Heels were in the top 10 for 13 straight weeks over two seasons from Jan. 28, 2019, to Dec. 2, 2019.
Carolina is in the top 10 for the 701st time, the third-most all-time, and the 12th time this season.
UNC went from 1,044 poll points last week to 1,130, the most since garnering 1,352 when the Heels were ranked No. 3 on Feb. 5.
Ranking Carolina the highest at No. 4 was Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star, and ranking it the lowest at No. 12 was Brian Holland of WVLA-TV/WGMB-TV in Baton Rouge, La.
JB Ricks of Spectrum News was one of four who voted UNC No. 5. Ten voters had the Heels No. 6, nine voted them No. 7 and 15 had them No. 8. Kate Rogerson of WTVD and Rodd Baxley of The Fayetteville Observer were two of the 18 voters who had UNC No. 9.
In other metrics, UNC is 3rd in KPI, 8th in KenPom, 9th in the NET rankings, 10 in T-Rank and 11th in BPI.
On Bracket Matrix, the average of 100 bracket projections has UNC as the top No. 2 seed, with eight projecting the Tar Heels as a No. 1 seed and three projecting them as a No. 3 seed. The margin between UNC and Caleb Love’s Arizona team, projected as the fourth No. 1 seed, is much higher (1.11–1.94) than UNC’s margin over Tennessee (1.94–1.99) for the top No. 2 seed.
One of the projections with UNC as a No. 1 seed is from Jerry Palm at CBS, whose updated Monday projection has the Tar Heels the top seed in the West Regional at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, with Arizona as the No. 2 seed. As with every projection, Carolina would play first- and second-round games at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center.
Houston (24–3) moved up a spot to supplant UConn (25–3) as the No. 1 team after wins over No. 6 Iowa (73–65) and No. 11 Baylor (82–76 in overtime). The Huskies lost 85–66 to Creighton (which moved up three spots to No. 12) before beating Villanova 87–54 and fell two spots to No. 3.
The only other team in the top 10 of last week’s poll to lose was Arizona (21–6), which slipped two spots to No. 6 after losing 77–74 at home to Washington State but winning at home against Washington 91–75.
AP Top 25
| Ranking | Team (1st-place votes) | Record | Poll points | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houston (53) | 24–3 | 1,540 | 2 |
| 2 | Purdue (4) | 25–3 | 1,460 | 3 |
| 3 | UConn (5) | 25–3 | 1,459 | 1 |
| 4 | Tennessee | 21–6 | 1,338 | 3 |
| 5 | Marquette | 21–6 | 1,243 | 7 |
| 6 | Arizona | 21–6 | 1,188 | 4 |
| 7 | Kansas | 21–6 | 1,156 | 9 |
| 8 | Iowa State | 21–6 | 1,155 | 6 |
| 9 | North Carolina | 21–6 | 1,130 | 10 |
| 10 | Duke | 21–6 | 976 | 8 |
| 11 | Auburn | 21–6 | 862 | 14 |
| 12 | Creighton | 20–8 | 783 | 15 |
| 13 | Illinois | 20–7 | 726 | 12 |
| 14 | Alabama | 19–8 | 695 | 13 |
| 15 | Baylor | 19–8 | 689 | 11 |
| 16 | Kentucky | 19–8 | 649 | 17 |
| 17 | Saint Mary’s | 23–6 | 646 | 18 |
| 18 | South Carolina | 22–5 | 471 | 20 |
| 19 | Washington State | 21–7 | 361 | 21 |
| 20 | San Diego State | 21–7 | 305 | 19 |
| 21 | Dayton | 21–5 | 261 | 16 |
| 22 | Utah State | 22–5 | 207 | NR |
| 23 | Gonzaga | 22–6 | 184 | NR |
| 24 | Florida | 19–8 | 140 | NR |
| 25 | South Florida | 21–5 | 127 | NR |
Others receiving votes: BYU 92, Texas Tech 65, Clemson 45, TCU 45, Wake Forest 44, Wisconsin 42, Nevada 25, Colorado St. 20, Arizona St 17, New Mexico 10, FAU 8, Oklahoma 7, Nebraska 7, Mississippi St. 5, Washington 4, Appalachian St 3, Northwestern 1, Boise St. 1, McNeese St. 1, Indiana St 1, Loyola Chicago 1.
| Team | League | Overall | NET* | WAB* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 1 Duke | 17–1 | 29–2 | 1 | 2 |
| No. 10 Virginia | 15–3 | 27–4 | 13 | 11 |
| Miami | 13–5 | 24–7 | 32 | 28 |
| No. 19 North Carolina | 12–6 | 24–7 | 23 | 19 |
| Clemson | 12–6 | 22–9 | 36 | 33 |
| No. 24 Louisville | 11–7 | 22–9 | 14 | 25 |
| N.C. State | 10–8 | 19–12 | 35 | 45 |
| Florida State | 10–8 | 17–14 | 69 | 74 |
| California | 9–9 | 21–10 | 65 | 49 |
| Stanford | 9–9 | 20–11 | 59 | 51 |
| SMU | 8–10 | 19–12 | 39 | 50 |
| Virginia Tech | 8–10 | 19–12 | 53 | 52 |
| Wake Forest | 7–11 | 16–15 | 64 | 81 |
| Syracuse | 6–12 | 15–16 | 83 | 92 |
| Pittsburgh | 5–13 | 12–19 | 109 | 146 |
| Notre Dame | 4–14 | 13–18 | 93 | 121 |
| Boston College | 4–14 | 11–20 | 159 | 217 |
| Georgia Tech | 2–16 | 11–20 | 167 | 210 |
* — Through Sunday games
Saturday’s results
No. 1 Duke 76, No. 19 North Carolina 61
Boston College 77, Notre Dame 69
Clemson 79, Georgia Tech 76
No. 24 Louisville 92, Miami 89
Florida State 92, SMU 78
Stanford 85, N.C. State 84
Wake Forest 80, California 73
Pittsburgh 71, Syracuse 69, OT
END OF REGULAR SEASON
ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday through Saturday
| Date | Month/day | Scores | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 17 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 11 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 9 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | W, 71–68 | vs. No. 1 Duke | 19–4, 7–3 |
| 10 | Tuesday | L, 75–66 | at No. 25 Miami | 19–5, 7–4 |
| 14 | Saturday | W, 79–65 | vs. Pittsburgh | 20–5, 8–4 |
| 17 | Tuesday | L, 82–58 | at N.C. State | 20–6, 8–5 |
| 21 | Saturday | W, 77–64 | at Syracuse | 21–6, 9–5 |
| 23 | Monday | W, 77–74 | vs. Louisville | 22–6, 10–5 |
| 28 | Saturday | W, 89–82 | vs. Virginia Tech | 23–6, 11–5 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 67–63 | vs. Clemson | 24–6, 12–5 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 76–61 | at No. 1 Duke | 24–7, 12–6 |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte | |
| 12 | Thursday | L, 80–79 | Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson | 24–8 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 19 | Thursday | L, 82–78, OT | First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C. | 24–9 |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
