Typically, top-25 ranked teams who suffer a defeat to another top-25 ranked team don't plummet down the latest AP Poll.
Well, then there's Courtney Banghart and the UNC women's basketball program.
They dropped HOW FAR?!
After an overtime loss to then-ranked No. 22 Louisville, North Carolina dropped six spots to No. 18 in the latest rankings. While the Tar Heels saw the biggest drop of anyone among the rankings, Louisville's six-spot rise gave them the biggest boost among all qualifiers.
No. 1⃣8⃣ in this week's AP Poll. pic.twitter.com/cDqUXGugwc
— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) December 15, 2025
Sitting at No. 16, Louisville serves as the top-ranked ACC team. Notre Dame is the third and final ACC team to make the latest rankings, as they even dropped one spot to No. 20.
The ACC is STRUGGLING
The Atlantic Coast Conference as a whole has been struggling throughout non-conference play, as the early-season polls are totally different than what we're seeing now. Duke and NC State both fell out of the rankings since then, and Notre Dame and North Carolina have both faced significant drops as well.
Is the Tar Heels latest drop justifiable?
Sure, everyone expected the Tar Heels to drop a few spots after losing to Louisville. In fact, it was expected that the Cardinals, who beat North Carolina head-to-head, would jump ahead of them.
A six-spot drop, though? Yeah, no one truly expected that.
Even Courtney Banghart admitted that her team didn't necessarily play well on Sunday afternoon, a game that felt like the Tar Heels let slip away even though Louisville held the lead for essentially the entire contest.
The Tar Heels' scoreless overtime period probably didn't help either.
What to learn from this
The rankings are what they are. Your play on the court ultimately determines where you end up in these types of polls.
Sure, the loss is a tough one for the UNC women's basketball program, especially given that their trio of losses are all against top-25 ranked squads. The good news is that the Tar Heels have some more opportunities to pick up some big-time wins along the way, as they will use this game to improve as the 2025-2026 season rolls along.