SPORTS

UNC rises to 4th in the country in latest AP Top 25 Men's Basketball Poll

Monday, January 15, 2024

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- The North Carolina Tar Heels have returned to the top 5 of the AP Top 25 poll for the first time since November of 2022.

That season is one the Heels want to forget, as the team was ranked #1 to start the year, but ultimately fell out of the Top 25 and failed to make the NCAA tournament.

1. UConn
2. Purdue
3. Kansas
4. North Carolina
5. Houston
6. Tennessee
7. Duke
8. Kentucky
9. Baylor
10. Memphis
11. Wisconsin
12. Arizona
13. Auburn
14. Illinois
15.Oklahoma
16. Utah St.
17. Marquette
18. Creighton
19. TCU
20. BYU
21. Dayton
22. Mississippi
23. FAU
24. Iowa St.
25. Texas Tech

Connecticut has followed last year's run to the NCAA championship with its first No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll in nearly 15 years, while Gonzaga has fallen out of the AP Top 25 for the first time in eight years.

This marks the first time UConn has hit No. 1 in the AP Top 25 since spending four weeks there in the second half of the 2008-09 season, which ended with the Huskies reaching the Final Four.

"Some people don't want the target," coach Dan Hurley said last week about the potential of reaching No. 1. "I think we embrace the target at UConn."

Purdue claimed 20 first-place votes, followed by Kansas - the poll's only team to stay in place from last week - holding three first-place votes despite a loss at UCF.

There was also North Carolina's three-spot jump to No. 4 after beating rival North Carolina State for its third Atlantic Coast Conference road win in as many tries and blowing out Syracuse at home. UNC even picked up a first-place vote.

Women's Top 25

The Atlantic Coast Conference has five teams in the women's top 25 poll.

NC State leads the group at #4 overall. North Carolina is the only other in-state school in the top 25, hanging on at 23 overall after losing to Florida State this week.

As for the rest of the country, Iowa moved up to No. 2 and Colorado to No. 3 behind top-ranked South Carolina in The Associated Press Top 25 women's basketball poll after a chaotic week that saw half of the top 10 teams lose.

The Gamecocks (15-0), who are the last unbeaten team left, routed Missouri in their lone game last week and received all 36 first-place votes from the national media panel in Monday's poll released hours before South Carolina hosted Kentucky.

Previously undefeated UCLA and Baylor both lost and fell in the rankings. The Bruins dropped from second to fifth and the Bears plummeted from fourth to 12th after losing to both Kansas and Iowa State. The Cyclones entered the poll at No. 24.

Caitlin Clark and Iowa moved up to second after routing then-No. 14 Indiana on Saturday night. Colorado and N.C. State followed the Hawkeyes. The Buffaloes are 15-1 for the first time since the 1992-93 season.