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The Athletic came out with its preseason Top 25 men’s basketball rankings Monday morning, with Kansas atop the list, with Marquette No. 2 and Duke No. 3. When it came to assessing the rebuilt North Carolina team, writers CJ Moore and Sam Vecenie, rated the Tar Heels No. 18.
The summer has been full of new experiences for Caleb Love, who first thought he would transfer from Carolina to Michigan and then joined former UNC assistant coach Steve Robinson at Arizona. Not only has Love played his first games in an Arizona uniform this month, although they were just exhibitions, he traveled outside of the country for the first time. The team went on a 10-day tour to Israel and the United Arab Emirates, playing in three exhibitions.
North Carolina and N.C. State may not agree on much, but appear to have the same opinion on expansion. Carolina and State are reportedly two of the four schools opposing the addition of Cal and Stanford into the ACC, leaving the league one vote short of adding those two schools.
For years, Mike Krzyzewski never scheduled true road non-conference games, only playing them in the defunct ACC/Big Ten Challenge. His Duke teams still faced tough opponents away from Cameron Indoor Stadium, but at neutral sites. Many wondered why Krzyzewski didn’t schedule road tests for his team before ACC play. Part of his strategy seemed to be to simulate an NCAA tournament game atmosphere.
Coach Hubert Davis’ reshaped team will get plenty of non-conference tests over a schedule North Carolina announced on Wednesday, including facing UConn, the reigning NCAA champion, and Kentucky in two of five neutral-site events.
Carolina and Kentucky, two of men’s college basketball’s best programs, will meet again next season. The teams will tangle for the 43rd time, playing in Atlanta at the 10th annual CBS Sports Classic. The game will start 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game between UCLA and Ohio State, which starts at 3 p.m.
Cameron Johnson is off to an excellent start playing for the United States basketball team that is preparing for the World Cup. Johnson came off the bench to share team-high scoring honors with 15 points in his debut in a USA uniform, a 117–74 victory over Puerto Rico on Monday night in Las Vegas in an exhibition game.
Unlike some recent seasons, the non-conference women’s basketball home schedule for North Carolina has some sizzle. UNC released its non-conference women’s basketball schedule Monday, and it’s one of the most challenging in years, dotted with national powers.
Carolina’s women’s basketball team can’t face Iowa in the Gulf Coast Showcase until the event’s third day. The Tar Heels, coming off a 22–11 season that ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament, meet Vermont in a first-round game at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 24, the day after Thanksgiving Day, in the event in Estero, Fla.
Carolina’s men’s basketball team will face Northern Iowa in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis, which is set for Nov. 22–24 in the Bahamas, with a possible second-day matchup against Villanova. The Tar Heels will be in the same bracket of the eight-team event with the Villanova-Texas Tech game. On the other side of the bracket, Michigan takes on Memphis and Arkansas meets Stanford.
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