UNC basketball began the season at No. 19 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and climbed as high as No. 3. And on Monday, the Tar Heels (27-7 overall record) dropped one spot from last week, stemming from the loss to rival NC State in Saturday's ACC Tournament title game, to No. 5 in the final AP Poll of the season.
The program hadn't appeared in any season's final AP Poll since 2019, the last time UNC held a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Four other ACC teams earned an invite to this year's March Madness bracket released on Sunday night. However, archrival Duke, a No. 4 seed and ranked No. 13 this week, is the only other one to end up in the final AP Poll.
Hubert Davis' third UNC basketball squad, on the top line in the West region, begins its NCAA Tournament journey in Charlotte at 2:45 p.m. ET Thursday (CBS) against Tuesday's winner between No. 16 seeds Howard and Wagner.
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"It's great being a No. 1 seed," Davis said. "But it's an NCAA Tournament. It's 68 accomplished teams, so you have to come play, whatever seed you are, wherever you play, so our preparation, practice and play will be the same as it's been for 34 games.
"We're excited about the challenge."
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