NCAA Basketball: Tennessee, Baylor, Illinois rise in latest top 25 power rankings

12. North Carolina (20-6)

What exactly can we make of the Tar Heels this season? Certainly, they’re faring significantly better than last season when they missed the NCAA Tournament entirely. The season started on a high note and included a long winning streak to start conference play, but their ACC rivals have been less kind to them in recent weeks, a trend that continued this past week.

Losing for the third time in five games, North Carolina was 86-79 at Syracuse back on Tuesday, their third straight Tuesday loss. RJ Davis scored 19 and both forwards had double-doubles, but the Orange had enough offense to get the win. Fortunately, the Tar Heels bounced back over the weekend yet again, delivering in a 96-81 win at home against Virginia Tech. Armando Bacot had 25 points and 12 rebounds, Davis scored 20, and Harrison Ingram grabbed 17 boards in the win.

Is trouble brewing in Chapel Hill? The Tar Heels did get a nice win over Duke a few weeks ago but have struggled at times during this recent stretch. While none of these losses were good by any means, we haven’t seen anything from North Carolina that indicates that they’re doomed by any means, still sitting a respectable 12-3 in ACC play. We’ll see how their luck fares next weekend with a road date at Virginia.