Keeping It Heel
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UNC Basketball: Tar Heels Ranked #1 in Preseason AP Poll

By Mark DeMott

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - APRIL 02: Leaky Black #1 and R.J. Davis #4 of the North Carolina Tar Heels react after defeating the Duke Blue Devils 81-77 in the second half of the game during the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal at Caesars Superdome on April 02, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - APRIL 02: Leaky Black #1 and R.J. Davis #4 of the North Carolina Tar Heels react after defeating the Duke Blue Devils 81-77 in the second half of the game during the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal at Caesars Superdome on April 02, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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The UNC basketball team will start the season at the top of the AP Poll for the first time since 2015.

There were plenty lot of questions about how the UNC basketball team would move forward after coming up three points shy of a national championship against Kansas on April 4th.

Who would leave for the NBA Draft?

Would Leaky Black return to school for his COVID year?

And how will Carolina replace the void left by Brady Manek?

Luckily for Tar Heel fans, they got A+ answers to all three of these questions.  Star big man Armando Bacot announced he would return for his senior season on April 13th, followed by Leaky Black’s announcement to return for his extra year of eligibility on the 15th.

The backcourt took a little more time to announce their decision, but both RJ Davis and Caleb Love announced they would return later in April, meaning UNC would return four out of five starters from a team that went all the way to the national title game (and also handled Coach K’s retirement tour in a very acceptable manner).

The final piece to the roster was announced when one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal, Northwestern’s Pete Nance, decided to pull his name out of the NBA Draft and spend his final collegiate season in Chapel Hill.

The 6-10 Forward was an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention player last season, averaging over 14 points and 6 rebounds.  He projects to fill in nicely to the role Brady Manek had for Carolina last year.

For all of these reasons, it should not come as much of a surprise that the Tar Heels will open the season as the number-one team in the country.  The AP Poll was announced today at noon, and UNC tops the list.

Rounding out the top four behind Carolina are the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Houston Cougars, and Kentucky Wildcats in that order.  The defending national champion Kansas Jayhawks come in at #5, where they are tied with Big 12 foe Baylor, while last year’s other final four participants (who are both replacing their head coach) Duke and Villanova come in at #7 and #16 respectively.

Besides UNC and Duke, the only other ACC team in the Top 25 is the Virginia Cavaliers, who come in at 18th, while Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Notre Dame are receiving votes.

In the non-conference schedule, UNC will face #13 Indiana in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and #22 Michigan in the Jumpman Invitational.  The Tar Heels’ bracket at the Phil Knight Invitational could include matchups with #16 Villanova, #20 Alabama, and #21 Oregon.

The full AP Top 25 preseason rankings are as follows:

While UNC basketball fans know better than to celebrate a preseason ranking like it is a national championship, it is still very exciting to know that the Heels are one of the favorites to win the whole thing this season.

The countdown is almost over, as three weeks from today the #1 North Carolina Tar Heels will host UNCW in their season opener.

Next. Zayden High Commits to UNC. dark

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