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The Really Early Preseason Polls

Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Grain of salt and all that.

As I have stated before, the issue with these kinds of polls is they lack all the relevant information. There is some guesswork here on what players will do for various teams. There could be surprise defections or retentions no one saw coming. At any rate it makes for some interesting discussion.

Across the major media outlets, UNC is ranked anywhere from #1 to #4.

Outlet UNC Rank Other ACC Teams Link
CBS Sports(Top 26) #2 #1 UVa, #15 Duke, #16 NCSU, #21 Miami, #25 FSU Full Poll
College Basketball Talk(NBC) #1 #5 UVa, #12 NCSU, #14 Duke, #15 Louisville, #21 ND Full Poll
The Sporting News #4 #1 UVa, #8 Duke, #9 NCSU, #15 Syracuse, #21 FSU Full Poll
ESPN #3 #2 UVa, #11 Duke, #13 ND, #17 NCSU, #19 Louisville Full Poll
USA Today #1 #3 UVa, #8 ND, #10 Duke, #19 Syracuse, #22 NCSU, #23 Miami Full Poll
Yahoo! Sports(Top 20) #2 #1 UVa, #11 NCSU, #13 Duke Full Poll

UNC, Virginia, Duke and NC State are pretty consistently ranked. Notre Dame is not ranked in some polls but shows up as high as #8 in others. Likewise for Syracuse which isn't ranked in four polls but #15 and #19 in two. UNC and Virginia have the most consistency in their ranking with both teams predicted in the top 5 for all six polls.

All of this is subject to change but in UNC's case, barring injury, the Tar Heels should be ranked in the top five when the first preseason polls come out in October.