By R.L. Bynum

Carolina is ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll for the 20th consecutive season, but at its lowest position during that span.

The Tar Heels will begin head coach Hubert Davis’ fifth season ranked No. 25, marking the lowest preseason ranking in program history when UNC has made the poll. The previous low was No. 20 in 1995–96; that team finished the season ranked No. 25.

Carolina will face one ranked opponent in an exhibition — No. 8 BYU on Oct. 24 in Salt Lake City — and five ranked teams during the regular season:

— No. 6 Duke (Feb. 7 and March 7)
— No. 9 Kentucky (Dec. 2 on the road)
— No. 11 Louisville (Feb. 23 at home)
— No. 19 Kansas (Nov. 7 at home)
— No. 22 Michigan State (Nov. 27 in Fort Myers, Fla.)

Carolina has only been ranked in the final poll once in the last six years, when it was No. 7 and earned a No. 1 seed in the 2024 NCAA tournament.

The last time UNC wasn’t ranked in the preseason poll was the season after it won the 2005 national championship in 2005–06, when it had the 35th-most votes. The Tar Heels made the poll on Dec. 5 at No. 23, were No. 10 in the final poll and were a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament (losing in the second round to George Mason).

UNC’s 104 poll points were the fewest when it made the poll since only getting 56 on March 7, 2022, when it was also No. 25. N.C. State just missed making the poll, with three fewer poll points than the Tar Heels.

Voting the Tar Heels the highest at No. 18 were WRAL’s Chris Lea, Andy Greder of the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press and Scott Richey of The News-Gazette in Champaign, Ill. Kate Rogerson of WTVD voted UNC No. 25. Twenty-six voters left Carolina off of their ballots.

In the preseason KenPom rankings, the Tar Heels are No. 33, with three ACC teams ahead of them: No. 7 Duke, No. 14 Louisville and No. 32 Clemson.

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AP Preseason Top 25

Rank	Team	Poll points
1	Purdue (35)	1,485
2	Houston (16)	1,459
3	Florida (8)	1,382
4	UConn (2)	1,299
5	St. John’s	1,203
6	Duke	1,123
7	Michigan	1,084
8	BYU	1,078
9	Kentucky	1,056
10	Texas Tech	1,015
11	Louisville	966
12	UCLA	741
13	Arizona	715
14	Arkansas	695
15	Alabama	620
16	Iowa State	616
17	Illinois	567
18	Tennessee	462
19	Kansas	453
20	Auburn	424
21	Gonzaga	387
22	Michigan State	188
23	Creighton	158
24	Wisconsin	136
25	North Carolina	104

Others receiving votes: N.C. State 101, Oregon 98, San Diego State 74, Texas 35, Ohio State 23, Kansas State 13, Ole Miss 11, USC 10, Missouri 8, Washington 7, Vanderbilt 7, Iowa 6, Boise State 4, Mississippi State 3, VCU 2, Saint Mary’s 2, Virginia 2, Baylor 1, Oklahoma 1, Indiana 1

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UNC’s preseason poll history since 2000

Season	Preseason	Final
2000–01	6	6
2001–02	19	—
2002–03	—	—
2003–04	9	18
2004–05	4	2
2005–06	—	12
2006–07	2	4
2007–08	1	`
2008–09	1	2
2009–10	6	—
2010–11	8	7
2011–12	1	4
2012–13	11	—
2013–14	12	19
2014–15	6	15
2015–16	1	3
2016–17	6	6
2017–18	9	10
2018–19	8	3
2019–20	9	—
2020–21	16	—
2021–22	19	—
2022–23	1	—
2023–24	19	7
2024–25	9	—
2025–26	25	?

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Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 9 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. 22 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. 12 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 No. 24 SMU	13–2, 1–1
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 p.m.	at No. 23 Virginia	ESPN
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 20 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte

Photo by Joshua Lawton