Last week, the 2025-26 college basketball season got going, and the North Carolina Tar Heels are off to a pretty good start. On the men’s side of things, after an easy win over Central Arkansas, Carolina put up a massive second half to beat Kansas in one of the most high profile games of the week. Meanwhile, the women didn’t play any marquee games, but they did down NC Central and Elon to start the year 2-0 themselves.
With one week of the march to March now in the books, let’s take a look at where UNC’s teams — and the rest of the country — ended up in this week’s AP Top 25s.
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Men’s Basketball
AP Top 25
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Houston (18 first place votes)
Where is UNC?
Having started the year just inside the rankings at the #25 spot, not surprisingly, UNC’s win over Kansas led to a big rise. The Tar Heels jumped seven spots in this week’s poll and now sit at #18.
Biggest Winners
In terms of number of places, our very own Heels came second in terms of biggest jumps. Just barely eking them out with an eight spot jump was Arizona, who went from #13 to #5 after beating the reigning national champions Florida. Meanwhile, we also have a new #1 in Houston, who took over the top spot despite getting fewer first place votes than now #2 Purdue.
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Biggest Losers
Kansas fell six places and now occupy the #25 spot that UNC left, but the biggest loser of the week was St. John’s. Rick Pitino’s team fell to Alabama in their quasi-home of Madison Square Garden, causing them to drop from #5 to #13.
Conference Breakdown
Marquee Matchups This Week
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#9 Kentucky (2-0) at #12 Louisville (2-0) – Tuesday at 8:00 PM ET on ESPN
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#2 Purdue (2-0) at #8 Alabama (2-0) – Thursday at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN2
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#3 UConn (2-0) vs. #7 BYU (2-0) in Boston – Saturday at 7:00 PM ET on FOX
Women’s Basketball
AP Top 25
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UConn (30 first place votes)
Where is UNC?
As mentioned, the Tar Heels got off to a winning start, but neither of their victories came against marquee opposition. As a result, UNC stayed at the #11 spot they occupied in the preseason poll.
Biggest Winners
Having lost JuJu Watkins for the year after she suffered an ACL injury in last year’s NCAA Tournament, USC started the season a bit low in this year polls. However, they opened their year with a big win in a neutral site-ish game over NC State in Charlotte, vaulting them up 10 places. Baylor was not far behind, moving up nine spots thanks to a win over Duke.
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Biggest Losers
Being on the losing end of the loss to Baylor, Duke fell a week-high eight places down to #15. They rebounded against Holy Cross, but that wasn’t enough to save them from a drop.
Conference Breakdown
Marquee Matchups This Week
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#11 North Carolina (2-0) vs. #3 UCLA (2-0) in Las Vegas – Thursday at 9:00 PM ET on ESPN2
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#2 South Carolina (2-0) at #8 USC (2-0) – Saturday at 9:00 PM ET on FOX
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#17 TCU (2-0) at #10 NC State (1-1) – Sunday at 1:00 PM ET on ESPN
