UVA men’s basketball moves up to #3 in AP Poll following UNC and Kansas losses

Nov 28, 2022 - 5:25 PM

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After the Virginia Cavaliers men’s basketball team advanced to 5-0 on the season against Maryland Eastern Shore on Friday, the ‘Hoos have jumped another two spots in the AP Poll this week following a pair of losses from the former #1 North Carolina Tar Heels the former #3 Kansas Jayhawks.

After losing to unranked Iowa State 70-65 on Friday, UNC followed that defeat up with one in four overtimes against now #11 Alabama. Even before the back to back losses, the Tar Heels had looked like a shell of the national runner-up squad from last March. Accordingly, Hubert Davis’ squad has plummeted down #18 in this week’s poll. Meanwhile, now #9 Kansas fell to new #13 Tennessee by 14 points on Friday as well.

While #1 Houston and #2 Texas are both undefeated, the argument could be made that UVA has a better resume than each squad. The 19-point home win over #14 Gonzaga was what bumped Texas up in the poll last week but, with the Zags’ eighteen point loss to Purdue on Friday, the shine of that result is dulled a bit. Then, despite a 6-0 record, the Cougars’ best wins have come against Oregon and Kent State as the Houston offense looked particularly stagnant against Kent State with a final score of 49-44.

Just as Gonzaga got shellacked by Purdue, so did the Duke Blue Devils as the new #17 now has two blemishes in eight contests. The only other ACC teams to receive votes this week were Miami and Virginia Tech. Of Virginia’s other past or future opponents, Baylor is up to #6 Illinois stays at #16 with tomorrow’s opponent Michigan receiving votes.

Of course, polls and the AP Poll especially are pretty meaningless at this point in the season. But, at the very least, the results of the last week have displayed the parity that exists at the top of college basketball this season and proved how starting the season 5-0 with two marquee wins is legitimately impressive. The next few weeks will provide further tests for the Wahoos as a road game at Michigan and a home contest against Houston will give further intel on just how good this squad is.