Top 25: Week of 12/5

Dec 6, 2022 - 4:00 PM

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A bit of a frustrating stretch in UNC sports continued this past week, with all of football, men’s, and women’s basketball all taking various annoying losses. As a result, all three have taken a fall in their various AP Top 25 rankings. With the dust settled on last week’s action, let’s check in on where things stand.

Football

With the football regular season over and bowls on the horizon, this will be the last update of the football AP Top 25, at least until bowl season is over.

AP Top 25

1. Georgia (62 first place votes)
2. Michigan (1)
3. TCU
4. Ohio State
5. Alabama
6. Tennessee
7. Utah
8. USC
9. Penn State
10. Clemson
11. Kansas State
12. Washington
13. Florida State
14. Tulane
15. Oregon
16. LSU
17. Oregon State
18. UCLA
19. Notre Dame
20. South Carolina
21. Texas
22. UTSA
23. Troy
24. Mississippi State
25. NC State

Where is UNC?

After a great start to the season that saw the Tar Heels climb within striking distance of the top 10, they’ll end the year where they started it: unranked. Carolina fell from the top 25 after the ACC Championship Game loss to Clemson. They weren’t too far away from clinging onto the last spot, but they’ll end the regular season as the unofficial #26.

Biggest Winners

Utah had the biggest jump of the week, moving up five spots after their Pac-12 Championship Game domination of USC. Elsewhere, shoutout to Tulane, who moved up four spots and will be the G5 representative in the New Year’s Six bowls.

Biggest Losers

In terms of spots, UNC actually didn’t fall all that far, as they were #24 last week. LSU had the biggest drop of the week, falling five spots after getting crushed by Georgia in the SEC title game.

Conference Breakdown

• Pac-12: 6
• SEC: 6
• ACC: 3
• Big 12: 3
• Big Ten: 3
• AAC: 1
• Conference USA: 1
• Independent: 1
• Sun Belt: 1

Men’s Basketball

AP Top 25

1. Houston (37 first place votes)
2. Texas (14)
3. Virginia (3)
4. Purdue (8)
5. UConn
6. Kansas
7. Tennessee
8. Alabama
9. Arkansas
10. Arizona
11. Auburn
12. Baylor
13. Maryland
14. Indiana
15. Duke
16. Kentucky
17. Illinois
18. Gonzaga
19. UCLA
20. Iowa State
21. Creighton
22. San Diego State
23. Mississippi State
24. TCU
25. Ohio State

Where is UNC?

Haha, well... The four-straight losses have now seen the Tar Heels go from #1 in the country to unranked in just two weeks. Carolina received just a solitary top 25 vote, so they almost went straight out of the “others receiving votes” category too. There’s obviously still lots of season left, but things aren’t pretty right now.

Biggest Winners

Maryland’s undefeated start under first-year coach Kevin Willard included a win over Illinois over the weekend. As a result, the Terrapins moved up nine spots this week and are now up to #13.

Biggest Losers

UNC is obviously a strong contender here, but they have some competition. Creighton fell 14 spots after taking a three-straight losses, including one to Nebraska.

Conference Breakdown

• SEC: 6
• Big 12: 5
• Big Ten: 5
• ACC: 2
• Big East: 2
• Pac-12: 2
• AAC: 1
• Mountain West: 1
• WCC: 1

Marquee Matchups This Week

• #17 Illinois (6-2) vs. #2 Texas (6-0) in New York - Tonight at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN
• #8 Alabama (7-1) at #1 Houston (8-0) - Saturday at 3:00 PM ET on ABC
• #13 Maryland (8-0) vs. #7 Tennessee (7-1) in Brooklyn - Sunday at 4:30 PM ET on FS1

Women’s Basketball

AP Top 25

1. South Carolina (29 first place votes)
2. Stanford
3. Ohio State
4. Indiana
5. Notre Dame
6. UConn
7. Virginia Tech
8. North Carolina (tied for #8)
9. NC State (tied for #8)
10. Iowa State
11. LSU
12. Arizona
13. UCLA
14. Michigan
15. Utah
16. Iowa
17. Oregon
18. Creighton
19. Baylor
20. Maryland
21. Arkansas
22. Gonzaga
23. Oklahoma
24. Kansas State
25. Villanova

Where is UNC?

Women’s basketball was yet another team that went the wrong way, but they at least remained in the top ten. A road loss to Indiana did cause the Heels to fall a bit, but their drop was only two spots.

Biggest Winners

Arkansas had the biggest jump of the week, going from unranked to #21 after improving to 10-0.

Biggest Losers

Louisville went from #18 to the unofficial #28 after their struggles to start the season continued. The Cardinals are now 5-4 after taking an upset loss to Middle Tennessee State over the weekend.

Conference Breakdown

• Big Ten: 5
• Pac-12: 5
• ACC: 4
• Big 12: 4
• Big East: 3
• SEC: 3
• WCC: 1

Marquee Matchups This Week

• #10 Iowa State (6-1) at #16 Iowa (6-3) - Wednesday at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN2
• South Florida (8-2) at #8 NC State (7-1) - Sunday at 2:00 PM ET on ACC Network
• #6 UConn (6-1) at #20 Maryland (7-3) - Sunday at 3:00 PM ET on ABC