NC State basketball is ranked (No. 22), while Duke and UNC are not. How rare is that?

Luke DeCock
·1 min read
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When N.C. State popped up in the AP Top 25 poll on Monday for the first time this season, and first time since 2019, at the No. 22 spot, the Wolfpack didn’t have any local company. That’s a rarity.

For the first time in more than 40 years, N.C. State is ranked while Duke and North Carolina are not — since the December 20 and December 27 polls in 1982. Things turned out reasonably well for the Wolfpack that season.

That’s only happened six times in the past 67 years, since the 1954-55 season when N.C. State was alone in the polls for all but two weeks: this week, twice in 1982-83, the 1972-73 preseason poll, the 1969-70 final poll and Dec. 5, 1955.

The Wolfpack has been ranked at various points in 14 years since 1983, but either Duke or UNC spent the entire season in the polls in all of those seasons.