13. North Carolina Tar Heels
Last Week: No. 13
After beginning the year 5-0, North Carolina basketball has dropped two of their last three games. And while this definitely hurts their overall resume a bit, neither a neutral-site loss to Texas nor a road loss to Michigan should greatly affect their ranking, in my opinion. The Tar Heels are still a very good team even if their best win to date is over UCLA.
Soon, though, UNC will need to pick up some resume-defining wins to avoid slipping down the rankings. Thankfully, a couple of huge opportunities loom on the horizon. In back-to-back games, the Tar Heels will face off against Gonzaga (Dec. 15 at home) and Kentucky (Dec. 22 at a neutral site). Winning one of these games would greatly improve their resume.
A high-powered offensive team, North Carolina ranks seventh in the nation at this point with 92.9 points per game. Four different Tar Heels are currently averaging in double-figures, including two freshmen in Coby White (15.3 points) and Nassir Little (11.8 points).