UNC moves up in AP Top 25 men’s poll, another top-10 matchup with Duke ahead

R.L. Bynum,

By R.L. Bynum

Carolina moved up two spots to No. 7 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll after a pair of victories last week, with another top-10 clash with Duke ahead on Saturday.

League-leading UNC (23–6, 15–3 ACC), which beat Miami 75–71 and N.C. State 79–71 in home games, hosts Notre Dame on senior night Tuesday night in Armando Bacot’s final home game.

The Tar Heels moved up thanks to losses by Marquette (22–7) and Kansas (21–8), who were both ahead of them in last week’s poll. The Golden Eagles fell three spots to No. 8 after an 89–65 loss to Creighton, which moved up two spots to No. 10. The Jayhawks dropped seven spots to No. 14 after a 76–68 loss to BYU (21–8), which went from unranked to No. 20.

Ten 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 702nd time, the third-most all-time, and the 13th time this season.

UNC’s 1,201 poll points are the most since garnering 1,216 three polls ago when the Tar Heels were also ranked No. 7.

JB Ricks of Spectrum News was one of 13 voters with UNC ranked the highest at No. 5. Nick Alvarez of the Alabama Media Group voted the Tar Heels the lowest at No. 10.

Kate Rogerson of WTVD was one of 16 who voted UNC No. 6. Rodd Baxley of The Fayetteville Observer was one of 22 who had the Tar Heels No. 7. Four voters had UNC No. 8 and six voters had the Tar Heels No. 9.

Duke (23–6, 14–4), which visits N.C. State at 7 p.m. Monday night (ESPN) before hosting Carolina at 6:30 Saturday (ESPN), slid up one spot to No. 9 after beating Louisville 84–59 and Virginia 73–48. That means that, like for UNC’s 93–84 win in Chapel Hill on Feb. 3, the Heels and Blue Devils will face each other with both in the top 10. For that game, UNC was No. 3 and Duke No. 7.

Voters had the Blue Devils as high as six (four voters) and as low as No. 17 (one voter).

No other ACC teams even received votes.

Even though neither UNC nor Duke played on Sunday, they swapped positions in the NET rankings after Sunday’s games, with the Tar Heels going from 10th to ninth and the Blue Devils going from ninth to 10th.

Caleb Love’s Arizona team (23–6) moved up one spot to No. 5 after rolling to wins over Arizona State (85–67) and Oregon (103–83).

AP Top 25

RankingTeam
(1st-place votes)		RecordPoll
points		Previous
1Houston (52)26–31,5391
2UConn (6)26–31,4623
3Purdue (4)26–31,4592
4Tennessee23–61,3644
5Arizona23–61,2526
6Iowa State23–61,2128
7North Carolina23–61,2019
8Marquette22–71,0565
9Duke23–61,05110
10Creighton22–898312
11Baylor21–890115
12Illinois22–783413
13Auburn22–774611
14Kansas21–87237
15Kentucky21–871116
16Alabama20–959214
17South Carolina24–557918
18Washington State23–748419
19Gonzaga24–639623
20BYU21–8343NR
21San Diego State22–733820
22Utah State24–528522
23Saint Mary’s24–726817
24South Florida22–515425
25Dayton22–65021

Others receiving votes: Nevada 42, Florida 39, Boise St. 26, Texas 10, Texas Tech 10, Indiana St 9, Appalachian St 6, New Mexico 5, FAU 4, James Madison 4, Princeton 3, Michigan St. 2, Villanova 2, Colorado St. 2, McNeese St. 2, Richmond 1.

ACC standings

TeamLeagueOverall
No. 4 North Carolina17–325–6
No. 11 Duke15–524–7
Virginia13–722–9
Pittsburgh12–821–10
Clemson11–921–10
Syracuse11–920–11
Wake Forest11–919–12
Virginia Tech10–1018–13
Florida State10–1016–15
N.C. State9–1117–13
Boston College8–1217–14
Georgia Tech7–1214–17
Notre Dame7–1312–19
Miami6–1415–16
Louisville3–178–22

Saturday’s games
No. 4 North Carolina 84, No. 11 Duke 79
Virginia Tech 82, Notre Dame 76
Florida State 83, Miami 75
Boston College 67, Louisville 61
Wake Forest 81, Clemson 76
Pittsburgh 81, N.C. State 73
Virginia 72, Georgia Tech 57
ACC tournament
March 12–16, Capitol One Arena, Washington

DateMonth/dayScoreOpponent/event
(current ranks)		Record
October
27FridayW, 117–53vs. St. Augustine’sExhibition
November
6MondayW, 86–70vs. Radford1–0
12SundayW, 90–68vs. Lehigh2–0
17FridayW, 77–52vs. UC Riverside3–0
Battle 4 Atlantis
in the Bahamas
22WednesdayW, 91–69Northern Iowa4–0
23ThursdayL, 83–81, OTVillanova4–1
24FridayW, 87–72Arkansas5–1
ACC/SEC
Men’s Challenge
29WednesdayW, 100–92vs. No. 6 Tennessee6–1
December
2SaturdayW, 78–70vs. Florida State7–1,
1–0 ACC
Jimmy V Classic
in New York
5TuesdayL, 87–67No. 1 Connecticut7–2
CBS Sports Classic
in Atlanta
16SaturdayL, 87–83No. 12 Kentucky7–3
Jumpman Invitational
in Charlotte
20WednesdayW, 81–69Oklahoma8–3
—————————
29FridayW, 105–60vs. Charleston Southern9–3
January
2TuesdayW, 70–57at Pittsburgh10–3, 2–0 ACC
6SaturdayW, 65–55at Clemson11–3, 3–0 ACC
10WednesdayW, 67–54at N.C. State12–3, 4–0 ACC
13SaturdayW, 103–67vs. Syracuse13–3, 5–0 ACC
17WednesdayW, 86–70vs. Louisville14–3, 6–0 ACC
20SaturdayW, 76–66vs. Boston College15–3, 7–0 ACC
22MondayW, 85–64vs. Wake Forest16–3, 8–0 ACC
27SaturdayW, 75–68at Florida State17–3, 9–0 ACC
30TuesdayL, 74–73at Georgia Tech17–4, 9–1 ACC
February
3SaturdayW, 93–84vs. No. 13 Duke18–4, 10–1 ACC
6TuesdayL, 80–76vs. Clemson18–5, 10–2 ACC
10SaturdayW, 75–72at Miami19–5, 11–2 ACC
13TuesdayL, 86–79at Syracuse19–6, 11–3 ACC
17SaturdayW, 96–81vs. Virginia Tech20–6, 12–3 ACC
24SaturdayW, 54–44at Virginia21–6, 13–3 ACC
26MondayW, 75–71vs. Miami22–6, 14–3 ACC
March
2SaturdayW, 79–70vs. N.C. State23–6, 15–3 ACC
5TuesdayW, 84–51vs. Notre Dame24–6, 16–3 ACC
9SaturdayW, 84–79at No. 13 Duke25–6, 17–3 ACC
ACC tournament
Washington
14ThursdayW, 92–67Quarterfinals:
Florida State		26–6
15FridayW, 72–65Semifinals:
Pittsburgh		27–6
16SaturdayL, 84–76Final:
N.C. State		27–7
NCAA tournament
21ThursdayW, 90–62First round in Charlotte:
Wagner		28–7
23SaturdayW, 85–69Second round in Charlotte:
Michigan State		29–7
28ThursdayL, 89–87Sweet 16 in Los Angeles:
No. 19 Alabama 		29–8

Photo via @UNC_Basketball

Published by R.L. Bynum

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