Tar Heels Ninth In Preseason Polls

CHAPEL HILL—North Carolina, the 2017 NCAA champions, will open the 2017-18 season ranked No. 9 in both major national preseason polls. The Associated Press poll, released on Wednesday, listed the Tar Heels at No. 9 in the nation, matching the USA Today coaches poll ranking released in late October.

Duke leads both polls as the preseason No. 1 team, followed by Michigan State in both rankings. The rest of both preseason top fives includes Arizona, Kansas and Kentucky in varying order. The full polls are available here.

The five Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the preseason AP poll include No. 1 Duke, No. 9 Carolina, No. 13 Miami, No. 14 Notre Dame and No. 16 Louisville. Virginia and Virginia Tech also received AP poll votes.

Carolina and the Associated Press Poll Notes

• Carolina is ranked No. 9 in the preseason Associated Press poll.

• Carolina is ranked in an AP poll for the 661st time, second-most in college basketball history.

• This is the 55th time in 70 seasons the Tar Heels have been ranked in the top 10 in at least one week of the poll.

• This is the 12th time in Roy Williams' 15 seasons as head coach the Tar Heels enter the year ranked in the top 10. UNC finished the year in the AP poll top 10 nine times in Williams' first 14 seasons.

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