The UNC Basketball program returns to action this week as they take on Michigan in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. But when the Tar Heels and Wolverines take the court it will be No. 24 Michigan at unranked North Carolina.
For the second-straight week, North Carolina is unranked in the Associated Press Top 25 as they dropped out last week after two-straight losses. UNC did receive 9 votes in the poll but that’s down from 75 last week.
To make matters worse, UNC’s rival Duke has climbed to the top of the poll being ranked the No. 1 team in the nation after beating the previous No. 1 Gonzaga over the weekend. The Blue Devils looked like a complete team in that game which is bad news for the Tar Heels.
Following Duke is No. 2 Purdue, No. 3 Gonzaga, No. 4 Baylor, No. 5 UCLA, No. 6 Villanova, No. 7 Texas, No. 8 Kansas, No. 9 Kentucky, and No. 10 Arkansas. Just like last week, Duke is the only Atlantic Coast Conference team in the polls as the conference as a whole has really struggled to start the year.
For North Carolina, the path to getting back in the polls begins this week. They have a ranked Michigan team coming in on Wednesday before beginning conference play on Sunday at Georgia Tech. They still have a date with a ranked UCLA team in December but they need to start stacking wins and doing it now.
Even with the 1-0 week last week against UNC-Asheville, the Tar Heels still didn’t look very impressive. They struggled to score and committed a lot of turnovers being helped by the poor offensive play from the Bulldogs. Rankings aren’t everything but this UNC team really needs to play better as a whole if they want to reach the NCAA Tournament and go on a run later on in April.
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