UNC Basketball takes major drop in New AP Rankings

The UNC Basketball team has dropped out of the top ten of the AP Poll following a rough weekend in Portland.

After a frustrating weekend in Portland at the Phil Knight Invitational, the UNC basketball team has dropped significantly in this week’s AP Poll.  Following an uninspiring win versus Portland and consecutive close losses to Iowa State and Alabama, the Tar Heels have dropped all the way from 1st to 18th in Monday’s new rankings.

While Carolina’s drop was the largest, there are plenty of other teams that have moved down significantly in this week’s poll.  Gonzaga and Duke are two notable teams that dropped out of the top ten as well, as both teams were defeated handily by Purdue on the other side of the Phil Knight Event.

There were also some teams that made major leaps up the rankings in the new poll.  Arizona (Maui), Purdue (Phil Knight Legacy), UConn (Phil Knight Invitational), and Tennessee (Battle For Atlantis) all won holiday tournaments and were rewarded with jumps in the rankings.

Also of note, both teams that defeated UNC this weekend were rewarded for doing so, as Alabama moved up seven spots from 18th to 11th and Iowa State entered the poll and is now ranked 23rd.  Replacing the Heels at number one is Houston, with Texas, Virginia, Arizona, and Purdue rounding out the top five.

Teams that UNC still has to face that are currently ranked include No. 3 Virginia, No. 10 Indiana, No. 17 Duke, and No. 25 Ohio State.  The entire poll can be seen below:

Things don’t get any easier for the Tar Heels this week, as they will travel to Indiana for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday night and to Blacksburg for the ACC Opener at Virginia Tech on Sunday.  If UNC is unable to win one (or both) of those games this week, they will be in danger of dropping all the way out of the rankings next Monday.

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