UNC Basketball Sees Another Drop in Projected 2025-26 Rankings

Only two scholarship members of the 2024-25 UNC basketball team are locked in for the 2025-26 Tar Heels. But fifth-year head coach Hubert Davis and his cohorts are set to welcome a three-deep, No. 7-ranked recruiting class plus five veteran transfers, including four of the four-star variety, who comprise a portal haul that currently stacks up at No. 17 in the country.

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All in all, it's promising roster. However, judging by UNC's various placements either just inside or just outside the projected top 25, the collection is by no means a clear-cut championship contender in the eyes of most college basketball experts.

And as further evidenced by UNC's three-spot fall to No. 25 in ESPN college hoops expert Jeff Borzello's updated rankings released on Tuesday, Davis and his Tar Heels — now about two weeks removed from their most recent roster addition — are losing ground to those programs that are still making some big moves in the portal.

Updated Way-Too-Early Top 25, version 4.0:

1. Purdue
2. UConn
3. St. John's
4. Houston
5. BYU
6. Duke
7. Louisville
8. Texas Tech
9. Michigan
10. Arkansas
11. Kentucky
12. Arizona

13-25👇https://t.co/KRWPaQ3NLX
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) May 6, 2025

Borzello views UNC basketball as the third-best squad in the ACC, albeit sitting well below No. 6 Duke and No. 7 Louisville in his top 25.

He forecasts a Tar Heel starting five of junior guard Kyan Evans, senior guard Seth Trimble, sophomore forward Jonathan Powell, freshman forward Caleb Wilson, and redshirt junior big man Henri Veesaar.

Stay tuned to North Carolina Tar Heels On SI for more UNC basketball news.