UNC enters basketball season ranked No. 1
For the ninth time in school history and first time since 2011, North Carolina will enter the college basketball season ranked No. 1.
The Tar Heels are atop the Associated Press preseason top 25 poll, which was released on Monday. UNC has now been the preseason No. 1 more than any other school in history.
Before Monday, UNC and UCLA had both been the preseason No. 1 eight times.
The Tar Heels, who were tied with Kentucky atop the recently released coaches poll, are one of four ACC teams in the AP top 25. Duke is No. 5, Virginia is No. 6 and Notre Dame is No. 19. Maryland, the former ACC member that last year played its first season in the Big Ten, is No. 3.
The Tar Heels and Terrapins will play each other in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Dec. 1.
UNC returns four starters, including All-American candidate and senior point guard Marcus Paige, and Brice Johnson, a senior forward who was a third-team All-ACC selection a season ago. Also back are junior forward Kennedy Meeks and sophomore wing forward Justin Jackson.
Overall, UNC returns nine of its top 10 scorers from last season, and four players – Paige, Johnson, Meeks and Jackson – who averaged double figures in points.
UNC was also picked last week by the media to finish first in the ACC. Paige was selected as ACC Preseason Co-Player of the year along with Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon.
Andrew Carter: 919-829-8944, acarter@newsobserver.com, @_andrewcarter
Preseason top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ preseason 2015-16 college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, final 2014-15 records, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last year’s final ranking:
Rec. | Pts | Prv | |
1. North Carolina (35) | 26-12 | 1,566 | 15 |
2. Kentucky (10) | 38-1 | 1,520 | 1 |
3. Maryland (14) | 28-7 | 1,487 | 12 |
4. Kansas (5) | 27-9 | 1,410 | 10 |
5. Duke | 35-4 | 1,350 | 4 |
6. Virginia (1) | 30-4 | 1,347 | 6 |
7. Iowa St. | 25-9 | 1,185 | 9 |
8. Oklahoma | 24-11 | 1,088 | 13 |
9. Gonzaga | 35-3 | 1,047 | 7 |
10. Wichita St. | 30-5 | 1,032 | 14 |
11. Villanova | 33-3 | 1,013 | 2 |
12. Arizona | 34-4 | 917 | 5 |
13. Michigan St. | 27-12 | 838 | 23 |
14. California | 18-15 | 757 | – |
15. Indiana | 20-14 | 755 | – |
16. Utah | 26-9 | 499 | 19 |
17. Wisconsin | 36-4 | 433 | 3 |
18. Vanderbilt | 21-14 | 393 | – |
19. Notre Dame | 32-6 | 360 | 8 |
20. UConn | 20-15 | 307 | – |
21. LSU | 22-11 | 268 | – |
22. Baylor | 24-10 | 265 | 16 |
23. Purdue | 21-13 | 236 | – |
24. Butler | 23-11 | 223 | 24 |
25. Michigan | 16-16 | 126 | – |
Others receiving votes: Oregon 116, SMU 112, West Virginia 84, Texas A&M 72, Cincinnati 63, Miami 48, Louisville 46, Georgetown 23, NC State 19, Florida St. 18, Texas 18, Rhode Island 17, Dayton 12, Xavier 12, Providence 10, Iowa 6, BYU 5, Valparaiso 5, Boise St. 4, Old Dominion 3, Oklahoma St. 2, San Diego St. 2, UCLA 2, Cent. Michigan 1, Iona 1, UC Irvine 1, Yale 1.
This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 1:11 PM with the headline "UNC enters basketball season ranked No. 1."