College basketball season is almost upon us, and it looks to be another fun one in North Carolina, and several local schools are ranked preseason.
Driving the news: The first AP Top 25 polls for women's and men's NCAA basketball came out this week.
Zoom in: The Triangle's flagship universities all have ranked teams.
Duke: No. 7 women's and No. 6 men's.
UNC-Chapel Hill: No. 11 women's and No. 25 men's.
N.C. State: No. 9 women's (and barely edged out by the Tar Heels in the men's field).
Flashback: Last year, all three schools reached at least the Sweet 16 in the women's tournament, and Duke made the men's Final Four.
The intrigue: Duke University's women's program was in the spotlight last month when head coach Kara Lawson was named head coach of the USA women's national team.
She'll coach at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
What's next: Regular season games start in early November.
