No. 1 seed UNC has already played with fire and finally got burned on Friday with a loss to Iowa State, turning the college basketball rankings upside down.
The North Carolina Tar Heels delivered an upset to the National Championship game last season as the No. 8 seed before falling narrowly to Kansas. But with their starting running back, they earned first-team advantage in the preseason college basketball rankings. To kick off the year, though, UNC didn’t quite look the part.
Whether it was allowing teams like UNC-Wilmington or Gardner Webb to hang closely or even getting a Portland scare to start the Phil Knight Invitational on Thanksgiving Day, the Tar Heels were shaky and in danger of being usurped to first place in the standings at any rate.
However, on Black Friday, the Iowa hurricanes ensured that would be the case.
Behind a heroic effort from Caleb Grill as the senior guard dropped 31 points over UNC, the Cyclones clinched a 70-65 win over the Tar Heels on Friday in the semifinals of the Phil Knight Invitational to remain undefeated and their own right.
And now we will have a new number 1. But what will the rest of the top 10 in the college basketball rankings look like? Let’s see what our predictions say.
Projected college basketball rankings after upsetting No. 1 UNC from Iowa State
- Houston Cougars
- Kansas Jayhawks
- Texas Longhorns
- Virginia Cavaliers
- Gonzaga Bulldogs
- Baylor Bears
- Duke Blue Devils
- Arizona Wildcats
- UNC Tar Heels
- Indiana Hoosiers
Given that the Tar Heels were already in danger of dropping out of first place before losing to Iowa State, they’re going to fall a little bit. However, at the same time, UNC fell to the undefeated Cyclones team who will definitely be ranked in the upcoming AP Top 25. This reduces blow and keeps heels inside the top ten.
One thing for sure now is that there is a lot of par now in college basketball and the standings will change over the course of the season. Feast Week already had a big role to play with that, and that was made even more so on Black Friday with the nation’s top team down.
For more NCAA basketball news, analysis, opinion and features, check out More from FanSided College Basketball to stay up to date on the latest action.
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