With the college and now NFL playoffs in full swing, football has generally been the center of the sports world over the last week. We’re still a couple months from when college basketball will take center stage, but we are in a key part of the season, where teams can build or watch as their potential NCAA Tournament résumés come crashing down.
While neither UNC team are at a key juncture of the season yet, they were both in action last week. Let’s see where they ended up in the latest AP Top 25 polls this week.
Men’s Basketball
AP Top 25
- Arizona (60 first place votes)
- Iowa State (1)
- UConn
- Michigan
- Purdue
- Duke
- Houston
- Nebraska
- Gonzaga
- Vanderbilt
- BYU
- Michigan State
- Illinois
- North Carolina
- Texas Tech
- Virginia
- Arkansas
- Alabama
- Florida
- Louisville
- Georgia
- Clemson
- Utah State
- Tennessee
- Seton Hall
Where is UNC?
Getting a week off after the SMU loss, Carolina played just one last week, holding off Wake Forest at home. The victory, in conjunction with losses elsewhere, allowed the Tar Heels to move up a couple spots, and they now sit at #14.
Biggest Winners
Reigning national champions Florida have gotten off to a shaky start, but they came up with two ranked wins last week, getting them back into the Top 25. Their seven spot jump tied Virginia for the biggest of the week.
Biggest Losers
SMU had gotten into the rankings thanks in part to the aforementioned win over UNC. Despite playing just once since then, and despite that game being just a seven-point loss to #5 Duke, the Mustangs slid completely out of the rankings, going from #24 to the unofficial #36. Weird.
Conference Breakdown
- SEC: 6
- ACC: 5
- Big 12: 5
- Big Ten: 5
- Big East: 2
- Mountain West: 1
- WCC: 1
Marquee Matchups This Week
- #16 Virginia (14-2, 3-1 ACC) at #20 Louisville (12-4, 2-2 ACC) – Tonight at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN2
- #3 UConn (16-1, 6-0 Big East) at #25 Seton Hall (14-2, 4-1 Big East) – Tonight at 8:00 PM ET on TruTV
- #19 Florida (11-5, 2-1 SEC) at #10 Vanderbilt (16-0, 3-0 SEC) – Saturday at 2:00 PM ET
Women’s Basketball
AP Top 25
- UConn (32 first place votes)
- South Carolina
- UCLA
- Texas
- Vanderbilt
- LSU
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- Louisville
- TCU
- Iowa
- Maryland
- Oklahoma
- Ohio State
- Michigan State
- Ole Miss
- Texas Tech
- Baylor
- Iowa State
- Tennessee
- Alabama
- Princeton
- Notre Dame
- Nebraska
- Illinois
Where is UNC?
Well… After suffering a blowout loss to then unranked Notre Dame, and losing a couple others games recent, the Tar Heels are headed in the wrong direction. They have fallen from #22 to out of the ranking this week, as they’re now the unofficial #28.
Biggest Winners
After taking a couple losses in a row a couple weeks ago, LSU fell quite a bit in the rankings. However, they’re now headed back in the other direction, moving up six places to #6 after handing Texas their first loss of the season.
Biggest Losers
UNC’s drop is up there, but this weeks biggest ones belong to Oklahoma and Iowa State. The Sooners and Cyclones each fell eight places, as each are currently on losing streaks at least two games.
Conference Breakdown
- SEC: 9
- Big Ten: 8
- Big 12: 4
- ACC: 2
- Big East: 1
- Ivy League: 1
Marquee Matchups This Week
- #4 Texas (18-1, 3-1 SEC) at #2 South Carolina (17-1, 4-0 SEC) – Thursday at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN2
- #12 Maryland (16-2, 4-2 Big Ten) at #3 UCLA (15-1, 5-0 Big Ten) – Sunday at 4:00 PM ET on NBC
- #8 Michigan (14-2) vs. #5 Vanderbilt (17-0) in Newark, NJ – Monday at 2:30 PM ET on FOX
