Checking in on the AP Top 25 Basketball Poll

College basketball season is now fully underway. Both North Carolina Tar Heels teams made their debuts with two games last week, and we’re starting to see some marquee early-season non-conference matchups go down. Therefore, it’s about time for us starting to track what’s going on around the country in basketball. While UNC football has a winning record and seems to be improving, they’re also not going to crack the Top 25 this season, so we can move our focus on that front fully to the court.

As we get another week of games underway, here’s a look at where the AP Top 25 rankings stand after the first week of action.

Men’s Basketball

AP Top 25

1. Florida (53 first place votes)
2. Duke (7)
3. Illinois
4. UConn
5. Michigan State
6. Virginia
7. Texas
8. Houston
9. UCLA
10. Louisville
11. Tennessee
12. Arizona
13. St. John’s
14. Gonzaga
15. Kansas
16. Texas Tech
17. Miami (FL)
18. Alabama
19. Arkansas
20. Michigan
21. USC
22. Vanderbilt
23. BYU
24. Kentucky
25. Nebraska

Where is UNC?

The Tar Heels started the year 2-0, putting in one so-so performance against Western Carolina and one pretty good one against Wofford. While those wins weren’t enough to vault UNC into the rankings, the gap between them and #25 has shrunk from where it was in the preseason tally.

Biggest Winners

UCLA has one of the most impressive wins of the young season so far, as they downed then-#5 Arizona in a former Pac-12 showdown. The Bruins started the season ranked, but that victory shot them up into the top ten, all the way to #9 from #22.

Biggest Losers

Meanwhile, Arizona fell seven places as a result of that loss, although they had some company as Arkansas also dropped seven spots after getting crushed by Virginia. However, Iowa State beat them both, going from #18 to unranked after getting upset by Memphis.

Conference Breakdown

• SEC: 7
• Big Ten: 6
• Big 12: 5
• ACC: 4
• Big East: 2
• Pac-12: 1

Marquee Games This Week

• #5 Michigan State (2-0) vs. #2 Duke (2-0) in Chicago – Tonight at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN
• #3 Illinois (2-0) at #16 Texas Tech (2-0) – Tonight at 8:00 PM ET on Peacock
• #15 Kansas (2-0) vs. #24 Kentucky (2-0) in Chicago – Tonight at 9:30 PM ET on ESPN

Upset Watch?

• #12 Arizona (1-1) at Auburn (1-0) – Friday at 9:00 PM ET on ESPN2
• #10 Louisville (2-0) at Memphis (2-0) – Sunday at 1:00 PM ET on ESPN
• Baylor (2-0) vs. #7 Texas (2-0) in San Antonio – Sunday at 3:00 PM ET on ESPN

Women’s Basketball

AP Top 25

1. South Carolina (32 first place votes)
2. Michigan
3. USC (1)
4. UConn
5. Duke
6. Texas
7. Louisville
8. Vanderbilt
9. LSU
10. Iowa
11. UCLA (tied at #10 with Iowa, listed alphabetically)
12. Kentucky
13. Notre Dame
14. Oklahoma
15. TCU
16. Washington
17. Ohio State
18. Minnesota
19. Maryland
20. Oklahoma State (tied at #19 with Maryland, listeed alphabetically)
21. Ole Miss
22. Illinois
23. North Carolina
24. West Virginia
25. Nebraska

Where is UNC?

Over on the women’s side, the Tar Heels started their season in tough fashion, facing ranked opponents in Oklahoma and preseason national title favorite South Carolina. A young UNC team unfortunately dropped both of those games, causing them to drop 11 places in the poll, although they did hang onto a ranking at #23.

Biggest Winners

Oklahoma actually had the biggest jump of the week, thanks in part to that win over North Carolina. Meanwhile, at the top end of the rankings, Michigan moved up to #2 after scoring a nice win over perennial power UConn.

Biggest Losers

Unfortunately, our Tar Heels did have the biggest fall of anyone this week following those two losses. NC State were the lone team to drop out of the rankings, but they only went from #25 to the unofficial #27.

Conference Breakdown

• Big Ten: 10
• SEC: 7
• ACC: 4
• Big 12: 3
• Big East: 1

Marquee Games This Week

• #3 USC (2-0) at #1 South Carolina (2-0) – Sunday at 1:00 PM ET on ABC
• #8 Vanderbilt (2-0) vs. #10 Iowa (2-1) in Sioux City, IA – Sunday at 1:00 PM ET on FS1
• #4 UConn (2-1) at #7 Louisville (3-0) – Sunday at 5:30 PM ET on ESPN

Upset Watch?

• #18 Minnesota (2-0) vs. Kansas State (3-0) in Sioux Falls, SD – Saturday at 2:00 PM ET on B1G+
• #25 Nebraska (2-0) vs. Kansas (2-0) in Sioux Falls, SD – Saturday at 4:30 PM ET on B1G+
• #19 Oklahoma State (3-0) at South Dakota State (1-1) – Sunday at 2:00 PM ET on CBSSN