By R.L. Bynum

Neither North Carolina nor the ACC fare well in the preseason KenPom men’s college basketball ratings, with the preseason AP Top 25 poll scheduled for release on Monday.

Ken Pomeroy’s ratings have the Tar Heels No. 33, with only three ACC teams ahead of them: No. 7 Duke, No. 14 Louisville and No. 32 Clemson.

The KenPom ranks for the rest of the league are: No. 38 N.C. State, No. 43 SMU, No. 49 Wake Forest, No. 59 Virginia, No. 63 Pittsburgh, No. 68 Syracuse, No. 70 Georgia Tech, No. 71 Virginia Tech, No. 76 Miami, No. 77 Notre Dame, No. 87 California, No. 89 Stanford, No. 90 Boston College (which UNC won’t play) and No. 96 Florida State.

Given the strength of Carolina’s league schedule that KenPom suggests, it’s good for the Tar Heels that they will face No. 4 Kentucky (Dec. 2 on the road), No. 21 Kansas (Nov. 7 at home), No. 25 Michigan State (Nov. 27 in Fort Myers, Fla.) and No. 27 Ohio State (Dec. 20 at the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta) during nonconference play. UNC faces No. 18 BYU in a preseason exhibition game.

Where will UNC be ranked in the AP preseason Top 25? In the predicted ranking from CBS Sports, the Tar Heels are No. 21. It would be the 20th consecutive season that Carolina has been ranked in the preseason AP Top 25.

Carolina plays a scrimmage Saturday at Cherokee High School before heading to Salt Lake City on Oct. 24 for that BYU exhibition. After an Oct. 29 home exhibition game against Winston-Salem State, UNC opens the season with five home games, including the Kansas game. The others are Nov. 3 against Central Arkansas, Nov. 11 against Radford, Nov. 14 against N.C. Central and Nov. 18 against Navy.

PlayerClass next seasonPos.HgtWgtNext schoolElliot CadeauJuniorPG6–1180MichiganJalen WashingtonSeniorC6–10235VanderbiltIan JacksonSophomoreG6–4190St. John’sCade TysonSeniorF6–7200MinnesotaVen-Allen LubinSeniorC6–8230N.C. State

DateMonth/dayTimeOpponent/eventTVOctober18SaturdayAfter 10:30 a.m.
autograph sessionScrimmage at Cherokee High School’s
Charles George Memorial ArenaNone24Friday9 p.m.vs. BYU in Salt Lake City
(exhibition)ESPN+29Wednesday7:30vs. Winston-Salem
State (exhibition)goheels.
comNovember3Monday7 p.m.vs. Central ArkansasACCN7Friday7 p.m.vs. KansasESPN11Tuesday7 p.m.vs. RadfordACCN14Friday9 p.m.vs. N.C. CentralACCN18Tuesday7 p.m.vs. NavyACCNFort Myers Tip-Off25Tuesday6 p.m.vs. St. BonaventureFS127Thursday4:30 p.m.vs. Michigan StateFoxDecemberACC/SEC
Men’s Challenge2Tuesday9:30at KentuckyESPN—————————7Sunday5 p.m.vs. GeorgetownESPN13Saturday2 p.m.vs. USC UpstateThe CW16Tuesday8 p.m.vs. East Tennessee
StateACCNCBS Sports Classic
in Atlanta20Saturday3 p.m.vs. Ohio StateCBS—————————22Monday8 p.m.vs. East CarolinaACCN30Tuesday7 p.m.vs. Florida StateESPN2January3Saturday2:15at SMUThe CW10Saturday6 p.m.vs. Wake ForestACCN14Wednesday9 p.m.at StanfordACCN17Saturday4 p.m.at CaliforniaACCN21Wednesday7 p.m.vs. Notre DameESPN224Saturday2 or 2:30at VirginiaESPN or
ESPNU31Saturday2 p.m.at Georgia TechACCNFebruary2Monday7 p.m.vs. SyracuseESPN7Saturday6:30vs. DukeESPN10Tuesday7 p.m.at MiamiESPN or
ESPN214Saturday2 p.m.vs. PittsburghESPN17Tuesday7 p.m.at N.C. StateESPN or
ESPN221Saturday1 p.m.at SyracuseABC23Monday7 p.m.vs. LouisvilleESPN28Saturday6:30 or 8:30vs. Virginia TechESPN or
ESPN2March3Tuesday7 p.m.vs. ClemsonESPN or
ESPN27Saturday6:30at DukeESPN10–14Tues.-Sat.ACC
tournamentSpectrum Center,
Charlotte

Photo by Joshua Lawton