North Carolina is starting the season in unfamiliar territory. The Tar Heels are outside both the AP Top 25 and the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, and that creates a piece of history the program hasn’t seen in 21 years.
For the first time in 21 years, UNC basketball will open a season outside of the national rankings.
“The Tar Heels are unranked in both the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll or the AP Top 25 entering the 2026-27 season, the first under coach Michael Malone. UNC has 11 newcomers joining returners Jarin Stevenson, Jaydon Young and Isaiah Denis… It marks just the fourth time since 1984 that UNC has begun a season outside the AP Top 25. The most recent occurrence came in 2005-06, when the Tar Heels entered the season unranked after winning the 2005 national championship,” Rodd Baxley wrote.
It’s a strange place for a program like North Carolina to be, but preseason polls only tell part of the story. They do not decide what happens once the games start, and the Tar Heels know that as well as anyone. The source of the unease is obvious: there are more questions than usual on both ends of the floor, and a new coach always brings a fresh layer of uncertainty.
Still, the reaction around the program has not been all doom and gloom. The concern is real, but so is the idea that this team may be getting shortchanged. The biggest issue that has shown up so far is rebounding, something that stood out in one of the recent exhibition games against Indiana.
At the same time, there is belief that North Carolina can be dangerous where it matters most. The backcourt has the chance to be one of the best in college basketball, and if that comes together, the Tar Heels should have a strong case to climb right back into the top 25 and make some noise beyond that.
In Other News...
UNC Just Landed A Huge Stage To Prove This Run Is Real
The Tar Heels win over Duke gave Bill Belichicks team a useful checkpoint in a season that now sits at 4-2 overall and 2-1 in ACC play. After a 4-8 debut year under Belichick, North Carolina has at least put itself in position to make this fall feel different, and the schedule is lining up to show whether the progress is real or just a good first half.
Next comes Syracuse at home, then the kind of spotlight game that can shape how the rest of the season is judged: a primetime date with the No. 1-ranked Miami Hurricanes on October 31. For a team trying to prove it has moved beyond simply being competitive, the coming stretch offers a chance to measure itself against a ranked opponent and see whether the momentum from the Duke win can carry onto a bigger stage. [Read more 🡒]
Belichick Keeps Pushing One UNC Identity Fans Are Starting To See
Bill Belichick keeps steering the conversation back to the same place: preparation. Asked about the meaning of the term Belichickian, the phrase many commentators use for disciplined, physical, detail-oriented football, he didnt try to brand it himself. Instead, he framed the job in practical terms, stressing the need to be ready for every possible game situation and to build habits that hold up once the pressure rises.
For North Carolina, that message fits the way close games can play out in the ACC, where small details tend to decide plenty of Saturdays. Belichick also pointed to preparation and execution as the real focus, rather than the venue or the surrounding noise, which is a useful marker for a program still defining what its identity under him will look like. Fans are beginning to see the outline, even if the full picture is still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Keeps Winning Tight Games In A Very Belichick Way
North Carolina has been living on the edge lately, and it keeps finding a way to step back from it. The Tar Heels followed up their second straight road ACC win with another tight finish against Duke, using a fourth-quarter comeback and a defensive stop to move to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the league. It was the kind of game that fits the bigger trend around this team: close, tense, and decided by execution late.
Bill Belichick has made no secret of how much he values situational football, and his weekly press conference sounded like the same message the Tar Heels have been trying to carry into these games. UNC has now won three one-score games this season, matching its total from Belichicks first season, and that is the sort of record that changes how a team is viewed in October. The question now is whether that late-game edge is becoming a habit or just a very narrow escape repeated often enough to matter. [Read more 🡒]