UNC Basketball: Tar Heels fall in ESPN’s Way Too Early Rankings

Ah, the way too early rankings for the upcoming college basketball season.

They are put out as soon as the clock hits double zero in the National Championship Game as fans already look forward to the next season of college basketball.

If you’re like us, we were celebrating the North Carolina Tar Heels sixth National Championship as they defeated Gonzaga in Phoenix back in April.

It was a glorious moment and we wanted to soak it all in.

Now we are just under 50 days until the college basketball season and the way too early rankings are starting to be updated. We know who is going where, who is coming back and who has left the programs.

The latest news comes from UNC’s rival down the road in Durham, where Duke landed Marvin Bagley III.

He’s the top prospect in the 2018 class but will likely have an impact in 2017. Bagley III has filed for reclassification to the 2017 class, joining a pretty solid class for the Blue Devils.

Assuming the NCAA lets him play, which is likely, the Blue Devils have soared to the top of Myron Medcalf’s “Way too Early Top 25” rankings.

But what does that mean for UNC?

Well the addition of Bagley moves Duke to the top but it also drops UNC down six spots from No. 7 to No. 13 since the last rankings back in May.

The recent decision of Bagley somehow moved UNC down in the rankings, which were are a little confused on. Medcalf’s last edition was back in May, just a day after Tony Bradley Jr. announced he was staying in the draft.

Here’s what Medcalf had to say about UNC in his latest ranking:

"Listen, we’ll admit when we’re wrong. And we admit our initial ranking of North Carolina was ambitious. We’re still convinced Joel Berry II, the reigning Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA tournament, will enter the season as one of the elite guards in the country. And with Pitt transfer Cameron Johnson (41.5 percent from the 3-point line) in the mix, the Tar Heels will enjoy an incredible backcourt. But the questions surrounding the Luke Maye-led frontcourt generate serious concerns about the team’s capabilities in 2017-18."

Medcalf goes on to talk a little more about UNC’s question marks in the paint, which you can read here.

This year’s top 25 is pretty stacked and going into the season, there is really no true clear favorite to win it all.

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Let’s just hope UNC finishes higher than No. 13 in the polls that count to end the season.