By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina has ridden a seven-game win streak into the program’s latest top-10 ranking in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll in 16 seasons.
The Tar Heels (25–4, 13–3 ACC) moved up one spot to a season-high No. 8 in the latest poll after winning 79–75 Sunday at Louisville, which was unranked but now No. 15.
This is the latest in the season that UNC has been ranked in the top 10 since it was No. 9 just over 16 years ago on Feb. 23, 2009. The Tar Heels were ranked No. 2 that season for nine consecutive weeks from Nov. 24 to Jan. 19 and finished 28–7.
It’s the Tar Heels’ highest ranking since they were No. 6 on Dec. 19, 2022, the last time they were in the top 10 in consecutive weeks. That season, UNC was ranked in the top 10 for five consecutive weeks, peaking at No. 6 on Nov. 28.
In the Friday NCAA tournament projections, ESPN’s Charlie Creme has UNC as the No. 3 seed in a Spokane regional, Her Hoops Stats has the Heels as the No. 3 seed in a Birmingham region and CBS Sports also has UNC as a No. 3 seed.
Inexplicably, UNC fell one spot to 15th in the NET rankings after Sunday’s victory. UNC is
Inexplicably, UNC fell one spot to 15th in the NET rankings after Sunday’s victory. UNC is 5–3 in Quad 1 games, 6–1 in Quad 2 games and 14–0 in all other games.
With Sunday’s win, UNC is alone in third place in the ACC, all but clinching an ACC tournament double-bye, and is the only women’s team in the country unbeaten on the road (9–0).
UNC has that latter distinction because ACC leader Notre Dame (24–3, 15–1) suffered a 104–95 double-overtime loss at N.C. State (22–5, 14–2) on Sunday for its first road defeat. That dropped the previously No. 1 Irish to No. 3 and jumped the Wolfpack four spots to No. 9.
Duke (21–7, 12–4), which hosts UNC at 7 p.m. Thursday, fell five spots to No. 16 after losing to the Irish 64–49 and Louisville 70–62 before rebounding Sunday to beat Syracuse 80–49.
Georgia Tech (21–7, 9–7) fell outof the poll after losing 83–68 to N.C. State and 73–70 to Florida State (22–6, 12–4), which returned to the poll at No. 24.
Ohio State (23–4) was the only other team ahead of UNC in last week’s poll to lose. The Buckeyes beat Iowa 86–78 in overtime and Purdue 98–46 but lost to unranked Indiana 71–61 and fell four spots to No. 12.
AP Top 25
| Rank | Team (1st place votes) | Record | Poll points | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas (19) | 26–2 | 756 | 2 |
| 2 | UCLA (11) | 26–1 | 736 | 3 |
| 3 | Notre Dame | 24–3 | 715 | 1 |
| 4 | Southern California | 25–2 | 702 | 4 |
| 5 | UConn | 26–3 | 649 | 5 |
| 6 | South Carolina | 25–3 | 620 | 6 |
| 7 | LSU | 27–2 | 590 | 7 |
| 8 | North Carolina | 25–4 | 529 | 9 |
| 9 | N.C. State | 22–5 | 526 | 13 |
| 10 | TCU | 26–3 | 517 | 10 |
| 11 | Tennessee | 21–6 | 418 | 15 |
| 12 | Ohio State | 23–4 | 406 | 8 |
| 13 | Oklahoma | 21–6 | 382 | 16 |
| 14 | Kansas State | 24–5 | 376 | 12 |
| 15 | Kentucky | 21–5 | 353 | 14 |
| 16 | Duke | 21–7 | 323 | 11 |
| 17 | Baylor | 24–5 | 256 | 19 |
| 18 | West Virginia | 21–6 | 225 | 17 |
| 19 | Maryland | 21–6 | 198 | 21 |
| 20 | Alabama | 22–6 | 196 | 18 |
| 21 | Oklahoma State | 22–5 | 147 | 24 |
| 22 | Creighton | 23–4 | 121 | 23 |
| 23 | Michigan State | 20–7 | 104 | 22 |
| 24 | Florida State | 22–6 | 64 | NR |
| 25 | Louisville | 19–8 | 46 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Georgia Tech 32, South Dakota St. 22, Utah 19, Illinois 14, Richmond 12, California 7, James Madison 5, Mississippi 4, Iowa 2, Harvard 2, Fairfield 1.
| Team | League | Overall | NET* | WAB* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 13 Duke | 16–2 | 21–8 | 10 | 13 |
| No. 12 Louisville | 15–3 | 25–6 | 13 | 10 |
| No. 16 North Carolina | 14–4 | 25–6 | 19 | 14 |
| N.C. State | 13–5 | 20–9 | 23 | 27 |
| Syracuse | 12–6 | 22–7 | 40 | 31 |
| Virginia Tech | 12–6 | 22–8 | 41 | 34 |
| Notre Dame | 12–6 | 20–9 | 24 | 23 |
| Clemson | 11–7 | 20–10 | 44 | 40 |
| Virginia | 11–7 | 19–10 | 36 | 49 |
| California | 9–9 | 18–13 | 53 | 60 |
| Stanford | 8–10 | 19–12 | 42 | 56 |
| Miami | 8–10 | 16–13 | 58 | 65 |
| Georgia Tech | 7–10 | 12–17 | 76 | 109 |
| Florida State | 5–13 | 10–20 | 107 | 138 |
| Wake Forest | 4–14 | 14–16 | 121 | 134 |
| SMU | 2–16 | 9–21 | 220 | 209 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–17 | 8–23 | 262 | 238 |
| Boston College | 1–17 | 5–26 | 247 | 283 |
* — Through Sunday games
Thursday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 82, Virginia 70
No. 12 Louisville 69, Georgia Tech 50
Notre Dame 72, Syracuse 62
Miami 79, Pittsburgh 58
N.C. State 65, Wake Forest 58
No. 13 Duke 80, Florida State 52
Stanford 87, SMU 57
Clemson 70, California 63
Sunday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 74, No. 13 Duke 69
Virginia Tech 83, Virginia 82
Georgia Tech 79, Miami 49
N.C. State 93, Pittsburgh 43
Stanford 85, Clemson 50
Syracuse 90, Boston College 65
Notre Dame 65, No. 12 Louisville 62
Florida State 77, Wake Forest 74, OT
California 78, SMU 34
End of regular season
ACC tournament
Gas South Arena
Duluth, Ga.
March 4–8
| Date | Day/month | Scores | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 30 | Thursday | L, 91–82 | No. 4 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. 2 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. 3 Texas | 8–2 |
| ——————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 82–40 | vs. Boston Univ. | 9–2 |
| 14 | Sunday | L, 76–66, OT | vs. No. 13 Louisville | 9–3, 0–1 ACC |
| 17 | Wednesday | W, 84–34 | vs. UNCW | 10–3 |
| 21 | Sunday | W, 93–74 | vs. Charleston Southern | 11–3 |
| 29 | Monday | W, 90–38 | at Boston College | 12–3, 1–1 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 1 | Thursday | W, 71–55 | vs. California | 13–3, 2–1 |
| 4 | Sunday | L, 77–71, OT | vs. Stanford | 13–4, 2–2 |
| 11 | Sunday | L, 73–50 | at No. 22 Notre Dame | 13–5, 2–3 |
| 15 | Thursday | W, 73–62 | vs. Miami | 14–5, 3–3 |
| 18 | Sunday | W, 82–55 | at Florida State | 15–5, 4–3 |
| 22 | Thursday | W, 54–46 | at Georgia Tech | 16–5, 5–3 |
| 25 | Sunday | W, 77–71, OT | vs. Syracuse | 17–5, 6–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 61–59 | at N.C. State | 18–5, 7–3 |
| 5 | Thursday | W, 53–44 | vs. Clemson | 19–5, 8–3 |
| 8 | Sunday | W, 84–56 | vs. Wake Forest | 20–5, 9–3 |
| 12 | Thursday | W, 94–42 | vs. SMU | 21–5, 10–3 |
| 15 | Sunday | L, 72–68 | at No. 8 Duke | 21–6, 10–4 |
| 19 | Thursday | W, 66–63, OT | at Virginia Tech | 22–6, 11–4 |
| 22 | Sunday | W, 78–50 | vs. Pittsburgh | 23–6, 12–4 |
| 26 | Thursday | W, 82–70 | at Virginia | 24–6, 13–4 |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | W, 72–69 | vs. No. 8 Duke | 25–6, 14–4 |
| ACC tournament | Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga. | |||
| 6 | Friday | W, 85–68 | Quarterfinal vs. Va. Tech | 26–6 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 65–57 | Semifinal vs. No. 13 Louisville | 26–7 |
| NCAA tournament Fort Worth 1 Regional | ||||
| 21 | Friday | W, 82–51 | First round in Chapel Hill: vs. Western Illinois | 27–7 |
| 23 | Sunday | W, 74–66 | Second round in Chapel Hill: No. 17 Maryland | 28–7 |
| 27 | Friday | L, 63–52 | Sweet 16 in Fort Worth, Texas: vs. No. 1 UConn | 28–8 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
