UNC Basketball: Tar Heel women on the rise in latest coaches poll

The UNC women’s basketball program is enjoying an undefeated record through the season’s first seven weeks, and their rise in the USA TODAY coaches poll reflects that.

The North Carolina women’s basketball program is finally getting the national recognition that fans of the team — and the players themselves — felt they deserved when running through a perfect first month of the 2021-22 season.

It was during that time that the undefeated but unranked UNC ladies couldn’t crack either the Associated Press Top 25 or the USA TODAY coaches poll, but that’s changed over the past couple of weeks, and they’re now squarely in both.

On Monday, the Tar Heels moved up to No. 24 in the AP poll, having just cracked the rankings at No. 25 the week prior. And on Tuesday, the Carolina blue-clad women jumped up another couple of spots in the coaches poll from their previous perch at No. 20.

Now, at 18th in the country and unblemished at 11 wins and zero losses, the Tar Heels will have to prove their mettle in a difficult stretch of conference games that features five ranked opponents out of their first nine.

After home games against Syracuse and Clemson, they’ll face off with rival NC State in Raleigh, as the No. 5 Wolfpack will look to keep their crosstown rival at bay. Shortly after, the Tar Heels have games against No. 17 Notre Dame, No. 16 Georgia Tech, No. 15 Duke and NC State again. We’ll know a lot more about these Tar Heel ladies following that stretch of games — by far their toughest of the season.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for complete coverage of the Tar Heels’ game against the Orange on Thursday, as well as all the latest on the men’s and women’s UNC basketball programs.