North Carolina loses to Northern Iowa; Kentucky likely No. 1 team next week

The Kentucky Wildcats will likely ascend back into the top spot in the next round of college basketball top-25 polls.

That's because the North Carolina Tar Heels, who were ranked No. 1 in both major polls this week, lost at unranked Northern Iowa today, 71-67. Combined with two underperforming games by the No. 3 Maryland Terrapins, there's really no question who the top team should be.

The Terps barely escaped upsets to the likes of Rider and Georgetown this week. The No. 5 Kansas Jayhawks also won't be at the top after losing 79-93 Tuesday to the No. 13 Michigan State Spartans.

As for the Cats, they looked mighty impressive during Tuesday's 74-63 win over the No. 5 Duke Blue Devils. They took a bit of a step back Saturday vs Wright State, but still came away with a 78-63 win.

In the end, UK should be atop the Coaches Poll and AP Poll when they're updated this coming week.