By R.L. Bynum

With plenty of offseason changes and an influx of talent, North Carolina is ranked No. 15 in the preseason Top 25 women’s poll released Tuesday.

The Tar Heels were ranked No. 16 in last season’s preseason poll, but that turned out to be their highest rank of the season. They were unranked from the first February poll until the end of the season after coming in at No. 24 on Jan. 29.

UNC, which went 20–13 and made the NCAA tournament, is one of six ACC teams in the poll. The others are No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 9 N.C. State, No. 11 Duke, No. 17 Louisville and No. 19 Florida State. Stanford, Miami, Georgia Tech and Syracuse also got votes.

Reigning national champion South Carolina is No. 1, followed by No. 2 UConn, No. 3 USC, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 UCLA. The Gamecocks are preseason No. 1 for the fourth time in five seasons. Last season, they were No. 6 in the first poll.

UNC has eight (and possibly nine) games against ranked teams: UConn in Greensboro on Nov. 15, No. 22 Kentucky in Chapel Hill on Dec. 5, Notre Dame at home on Jan. 5, Duke on Jan. 9 and Feb. 27, Florida State at home on Jan. 26, N.C. State at home on Feb. 16 and at Louisville on Feb. 23. The Tar Heels could face No. 12 Baylor or No. 25 Indiana on Nov. 25 on the second day of the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Carolina opens the season at Carmichael Arena at 11 a.m. on Nov. 4 against Charleston Southern.

AP Top 25

Rank	Team (first-place votes)	Poll points	Previous
1	South Carolina (27)	745	1
2	UConn (2)	708	3
3	Southern California (1)	697	5
4	Texas	641	7
5	UCLA	628	10
6	Notre Dame	614	11
7	LSU	549	6
8	Iowa State	521	25
9	N.C. State	510	4
10	Oklahoma	441	21
11	Duke	439	17
12	Baylor	422	13
13	Kansas State	390	19
14	Ohio State	372	16
15	North Carolina	285	NR
16	West Virginia	277	24
17	Louisville	250	NR
18	Maryland	227	NR
19	Florida State	191	NR
20	Ole Miss	165	NR
21	Creighton	152	23
22	Kentucky	108	NR
23	Nebraska	106	NR
24	Alabama	67	NR
25	Indiana	46	12

Others receiving votes: Iowa 37, TCU 30, Utah 24, Illinois 23, Stanford 17, Michigan St. 16, Gonzaga 16, Vanderbilt 12, South Dakota St. 7, Miami 4, Tennessee 3, Fairfield 3, Middle Tennessee 3, Georgia Tech 2, Syracuse 1, Princeton 1.

Year	No.	Players	Pos.	Height
Freshman	5	Liza Astakhova (LEE-zah uh-STAH-koh-vuh)	W	6–2
Freshman	7	Nyla Brooks	W	6–1
		Brooks brings dazzling skills, confidence to UNC
Freshman	3	Taliyah Henderson	W	6–1
		Long wait, journey for 5-star freshman Henderson after second knee surgery nearly over
Freshman	26	Taissa Queiroz	G	6–1
		Queiroz came to USA from Brazil to chase her dreams
Sophomore	17	Elina Aarnisalo (EH-lee-nah AHR-nee-sah-loh)	G	5–10
		Aarnisalo brings flash, IQ and pro experience to backcourt
Sophomore	0	Lanie Grant	G	5–9
Sophomore	34	Blanca Thomas	C	6–5
Sophomore	1	Jordan Zubich	G	5–11
RS sophomore	21	Ciera Toomey	F	6–4
RS sophomore	4	Laila Hull	W	6–1
Junior	10	Reniya Kelly	PG	5–7
Junior	15	Sydney Barker	PG	5–6
Senior	2	Nyla Harris	F	6–2
		It was hard for Harris to say ‘no’ to UNC again
Senior	24	Indya Nivar	G	5–10

Class of 2025

Player	Rating	ESPN rank	Position	Height	Hometown
Nyla Brooks	Five star	No. 13	Wing	6–2	Alexandria, Va.
Taliyah Henderson	Five star	No. 27	Wing	6–1	Vail, Ariz.
Taissa Queiroz	Four star	No. 77	Guard	6–1	Santa Rosa, Calif.
Liza Astakhova	—	—	Wing	6–1	Moscow, Russia

Date	Day/month	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
30	Thursday	L, 91–82	No. 3 South Carolina in Atlanta	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 90–42	vs. N.C. Central	1–0
6	Thursday	W, 71–37	vs. Elon	2–0
			WBCA Challenge Las Vegas
13	Thursday	L, 78–60	vs. No. 4 UCLA	2–1
15	Saturday	W, 82–68	vs. Fairfield	3–1
			———————————
20	Thursday	W, 85–50	at N.C. A&T	4–1
23	Sunday	W, 94–48	vs. UNCG	5–1
			Cancun Challenge Cancun, Mexico
27	Thursday	W, 83–48	vs. South Dakota St.	6–1
28	Friday	W, 85–73	vs. Kansas State	7–1
29	Saturday	W, 80–63	vs. Columbia	8–1
	December		ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge
4	Thursday	W, 79–64	at No. 2 Texas	8–2
			———————————
7	Sunday	W, 82–40	vs. Boston Univ.	9–2
14	Sunday	L, 76–66, OT	vs. No. 16 Louisville	9–3, 0–1 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 84–34	vs. UNCW	10–3
21	Sunday	Noon	vs. Charleston Southern	ACCN Extra
29	Monday	8 p.m.	at Boston College	ACCN
	January
1	Thursday	Noon	vs. California	ACCN
4	Sunday	1 p.m.	vs. Stanford	ESPN
11	Sunday	1 p.m.	at No. 20 Notre Dame	ESPN
15	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Miami	ACCN Extra
18	Sunday	2 p.m.	at Florida State	The CW
22	Thursday	8 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
25	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	The CW
	February
2	Monday	6 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN2
5	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ACCN
8	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
12	Thursday	6 p.m.	vs. SMU	ACCN
15	Sunday	1 p.m.	at Duke	ABC
19	Thursday	6 p.m.	at Virginia Tech	ACCN
22	Sunday	Noon	vs. Pittsburgh	ACCN
26	Thursday	7 p.m.	at Virginia	ACCN Extra
	March
1	Sunday	Noon	vs. Duke	ESPN
			ACC tournament
4–8	Wed.-Sun		Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga.
			NCAA tournament
20–24	Fri.-Mon.		First, second rounds
27–30	Fri.-Mon.		Regionals Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif.
	April
3, 5	Fri., Sun		Final Four Phoenix