UNC Basketball: Tar Heels crack Top 10 in AP Top 25

The UNC Basketball team cracks the Top 10 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll that was released on Monday afternoon. Find out where they are ranked to begin the upcoming season.

At this time two weeks from now, we will be focusing more on the North Carolina Tar Heels season opener at Wofford on November 6th to begin what we hope is a very exciting season.

When the Tar Heels do head on the road to take on the Terriers, we now know what they will be ranked to open up the season. On Monday, the Associated Press revealed their preseason Top 25 poll which is the first of the 2018-19 season.

UNC will open the year as a Top 10 team, ranked No. 8 in the initial poll and are a spot higher than where they were ranked in the first poll of the 2017-18 season.

Kansas topped the preseason poll receiving 37 first-place votes a year after bowing out in the Final Four to eventual champion Villanova. Kentucky comes in at No. 2 followed by No. 3 Gonzaga, No. 4 Duke, and No. 5 Virginia.

Tennessee (No. 6), Nevada (No. 7), UNC (No. 8), Villanova (No. 9) and Michigan State (No. 10) round out the top 10 in the poll.

The Atlantic Coast Conference leads all conferences with seven teams ranked in the Top 25, including three in the Top 10. In addition to Duke, Virginia and UNC, the ACC also had No. 15 Virginia Tech, No. 16 Syracuse, No. 17 Florida State and No. 22 Clemson ranked.

For the Tar Heels, the early preseason poll means they currently have matchups against 10 teams that are ranked in the preseason Top 25. They will face No. 2 Kentucky, No. 3 Gonzaga, No. 4 Duke (twice), No. 5 Virginia, No. 15 Virginia Tech, No. 16 Syracuse, No. 17 Florida State, No. 19 Michigan, and No. 22 Clemson.

They will also face either No. 10 Michigan State or No. 21 UCLA in the Las Vegas Invitational depending on previous results.

Rankings will likely change between now and the tipoff for a lot of those games but that shows you just how tough UNC’s non-conference and ACC schedule really is this year. The first ranked opponent is set to be either Michigan State or UCLA. They will then play at Michigan and return home to host Gonzaga.

The Tar Heels are also playing Kentucky at a neutral site in Chicago as part of the CBS Sports Classic.

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