The college basketball season is exactly 3 weeks away, and today the preseason AP top 25 poll was released, with UNC being voted as the preseason #1 team, for a record 10th time, breaking a tie with their rivals, the Duke Blue Devils. This isn’t overly surprising as the Tar Heels do return four starters that were a rebound away from winning the national championship last season, and added incoming transfer, Pete Nance, from Northwestern, and four talented freshmen. This is the first time the Tar Heels will play as the #1 ranked team in the country since losing at Northern Iowa back in the 2015-16 season. UNC would go on to make the Final Four and lose in the national title game that season.
This also makes it the 66th time in the 75-year history of the AP poll that the Heels have been ranked, and 58 of those 66 times, they have been ranked inside the top 10, while this will be the 21st season Carolina has played as a #1 team at some point during the season.
Here are the results of how previous seasons ended for Carolina when starting the season as the #1 team in college basketball:
1977-78: 1st Round
1981-82: National Champion
1983-84: Sweet 16
1986-87: Elite Eight
1993-94: Round of 32
2007-08: Final Four
2008-09: National Champion
2011-12: Elite Eight
2015-16: National Runner-Up
The Four Corners Podcast: