Tar Heels No. 1 in Preseason AP Men’s Basketball Poll

CHAPEL HILL, NC – The University of North Carolina is No. 1 in the Associated Press’s 2022-23 men’s basketball preseason poll, a record 10th time the Tar Heels have been ranked No. 1 to begin a season.

Head coach Hubert Davis’s squad returns four starters (fifth-year senior Leaky Black, senior Armando Bacot and juniors RJ Davis and Caleb Love) from a year ago, when UNC won 29 games and the NCAA East Regional and played in the national championship game.

“It’s an honor to be recognized for our team’s potential but the only way for us to reach any of our dreams and goals will be to improve each and every day by our commitment to preparing, practicing and playing to the best of our ability,” Coach Davis told the AP.

When Carolina opens the regular season on Nov. 7 at home against UNCW, it will be the Tar Heels’ first game as the AP’s No. 1 team since Nov. 21, 2015, when it lost at Northern Iowa without injured senior guard Marcus Paige.

UNC’s 10 preseason No. 1 rankings are the most all-time, breaking a tie with Duke. UCLA is third with eight, Kentucky is fourth with six and Arizona, Indiana , Kansas and Michigan are tied with three.

Carolina’s No. 1 ranking in the 2022-23 preseason poll marks the 66th season UNC has been ranked at least once in the 75-year history of the Associated Press poll. In 58 of those 66 seasons, the Tar Heels have been ranked in the top 10 at least once.

This is the 21st season UNC has been ranked No. 1 in the AP poll at some point in the season. It’s the first time UNC is the preseason No. 1 team since 2015-16; the Tar Heels played in the national championship game that year.

The Tar Heels have been voted No. 1 in the preseason in 1977-78, 1981-82, 1983-84, 1986-87, 1993-94, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2011-12, 2015-16 and 2022-23.

This is the 111th time UNC is ranked No. 1 in an AP poll, fourth most in NCAA college basketball history.

Carolina hosts Johnson C. Smith in an exhibition game at the Smith Center on Friday, Oct. 28.

Single-game tickets for UNC home games went on sale today at https://goheels.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=MB-IND&linkID=unc&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=