UNC basketball will start the season ranked 25th in the AP Top 25

The Heels find themselves in familiar territory as they start the season with a number next to their name.

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

In the NIL era, preseason polls have become less indicative of a team’s potential success or failure. Now that college players can change teams pretty much at will via the transfer portal, many coaches are often building a new team almost every year. And while predictions can be made based on what players were brought in or departed, the lack of continuity usually means no one really knows how a team will come together — or if it will at all — until the season gets underway. The college football

2025 preseason AP top-25 poll is a good example of this; three of the teams ranked as national championship favorites aren’t even ranked halfway through the season.

The UNC basketball team will start the 2025-2026 season ranked 25th in the country in the AP Top 25. The Heels barely made the cut by finishing with 104 points, barely edging out N.C. State at 101. I suspect the voters didn’t really know what to do with the Heels; the only starter returning is Seth Trimble, although the Heels do appear to have one of the best incoming freshmen in the country in Caleb Wilson. Hubert Davis also did well in the portal. If it all comes together, the Heels could potentially be quite a bit better than 25th; if it doesn’t, their time in the rankings will be short lived.

KenPom has also released their initial college basketball ratings. They are slightly less bullish on the Heels, with UNC currently holding down the 33rd spot. For what it’s worth, KenPom sees Carolina as having the 25th best offense and 45th best defense.

Overall, the rankings aren’t very high on the ACC as a conference. Only three ACC squads are ranked in the preseason Top 25, with only five teams total receiving any votes at all. While this isn’t surprising considering the rough year the conference had on the basketball court last year, it’s still jarring to see so few teams represented in the rankings.

The complete AP Top-25 rankings are below: