By R.L. Bynum

After escaping Clemson with its third consecutive win, all on the road, North Carolina has earned its highest AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll ranking in more than two years.

The Tar Heels (21–4, 9–3 ACC), unbeaten on the road at 7–0, moved up one spot to No. 12 in the latest poll, released Monday, their best ranking since being No. 11 on Jan. 30, 2023. UNC, which dropped one spot in the NET rankings to 14th after Sunday’s win, has been ranked no lower than 19th this season after going unranked for the final six polls last season.

Charlie Creme’s ESPN bracket projection on Friday has UNC as a No. 3 seed in one of the Spokane regions, hosting first- and second-round games.

UNC, which beat Clemson 53–51 on Sunday, returns home for two challenging games this week — meeting Virginia Tech (16–8, 7–6) at 7 p.m. Thursday (ACC Network Extra) and N.C. State at 2 p.m. Sunday (ESPN).

The Wolfpack (19–4, 11–1) leapfrogged over UNC in the poll, going from No. 14 to No. 10 after beating Duke 89–83 and blowing out Florida State 97–74.

The Blue Devils (19–5, 10–2) went from No. 10 to No. 13 after rebounding from the loss to the Wolfpack with convincing victories over Clemson (74–55) and Miami (90–39). 

The Seminoles (19–5, 9–3) slid from No. 22 to No. 23 after earlier rolling to a 101–68 victory over Virginia.

Notre Dame (21–2, 12–0) moved up one spot to No. 2 after blowout victories over Stanford (96–47) and California (91–52). The Bears (19–6, 7–5) went from No. 21 to out of the poll after also losing 70–63 to Louisville.

Georgia Tech (20–4) is the only other ranked ACC team, moving from No. 17 to No. 19 after wins over SMU (70–69) and Boston College (71–51).

Three teams just ahead of Carolina in last week’s poll lost in addition to Duke:

— Ohio State (20–3) went from No. 8 to No. 9 after losing 65–52 to No. 1 UCLA and 84–63 to Southern Cal.

—TCU (22–3) fell from No. 9 to No. 11 after losing 59–50 to Kansas State.

— The Wildcats (22–3) dropped from No. 12 to No. 14 after an 85–55 loss to Oklahoma.

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AP Top 25

Rank	Team	Record	Poll points (1st-place votes)	Previous
1	UCLA	23–0	775 (31)	1
2	Notre Dame	21–2	733	3
3	Texas	24–2	713	4
4	South Carolina	22–2	687	2
5	LSU	25–1	646	6
6	USC	21–2	628	7
7	UConn	22–3	570	5
8	Kentucky	19–2	521	11
9	Ohio State	20–3	487	8
10	N.C. State	19–4	480	14
11	TCU	22–3	443	9
12	North Carolina	21–4	429	13
13	Duke	19–5	426	10
14	Kansas State	22–3	407	12
15	Tennessee	17–6	316	19
16	Oklahoma	17–6	311	15
17	Maryland	19–5	290	16
18	West Virginia	19–4	258	18
19	Georgia Tech	20–4	257	17
20	Oklahoma State	19–4	156	25
21	Alabama	20–5	146	23
22	Michigan State	18–5	86	20
23	Florida State	19–5	78	22
24	Creighton	20–5	61	NR
25	Baylor	20–5	48	NR

Others receiving votes: California 38, Illinois 22, Vanderbilt 20, Utah 14, South Dakota St. 7, Michigan 6, Richmond 5, Mississippi 4, Columbia 3, Harvard 2, Louisville 1, Grand Canyon 1.

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ACC standings

Team	League	Overall	NET*
Syracuse	1–0	9–1	40
No. 22 Louisville	1–0	9–3	15
No. 19 Notre Dame	1–0	7–2	18
Virginia	1–0	8–3	31
Duke	1–0	4–6	37
No. 12 North Carolina	0–0	9–2	14
Wake Forest	0–0	9–2	124
Stanford	0–0	8–2	33
California	0–0	8–3	62
Miami	0–0	6–3	38
N.C. State	0–0	6–4	39
Pittsburgh	0–0	6–5	243
Georgia Tech	0–0	4–7	116
Virginia Tech	0–1	8–3	57
Clemson	0–1	6–4	53
SMU	0–1	5–6	159
Florida State	0–1	4–7	106
Boston College	0–1	4–9	213

* — Through Thursday games
Thursday’s games
No. 19 Notre Dame 97, Morehead State 48
West Virginia 81, Georgia Tech 50
Sunday’s games
Charleston at Florida State, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Georgia Tech at Wake Forest, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Pittsburgh at Clemson, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
N.C. State at Miami, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
No. 22 Louisville at No. 12 North Carolina, 4 p.m., ACC Network
No. 19 Notre Dame at James Madison, 4 p.m., ESPN+
California at Stanford, 4 p.m., ACCN Extra
East Tennessee State at Virginia Tech, 4 p.m., ACCN Extra
Tuesday’s game
Binghamton at Syracuse, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Wednesday’s games
Clemson at Charleston Southern, 11 a.m., ESPN+
Eastern Kentucky at No. 22 Louisville, 6 p.m., ACC Network
UNCW at No. 12 North Carolina, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Thursday’s games
Virginia Tech at Florida State, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Miami at Wake Forest, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Saint Francis at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Georgia Tech at N.C. State, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
South Dakota State at Duke, 7 p.m., ACC Network

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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	4 p.m.	vs. No. 22 Louisville	ACCN
17	Wednesday	8 p.m.	vs. UNCW	ACCN
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	Noon	vs. Stanford	ESPN or ACCN
11	Sunday	1 p.m.	at No. 19 Notre Dame	ESPN
15	Thursday	TBA	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	TBA	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

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics