New York ? North Carolina should be ranked No. 1 when this week’s Top 25 is released today, but that will never happen because most pollsters – sorry, brethren – blindly follow the status quo. Therefore, expect the most accomplished team in college basketball to be ranked closer to No.15.

Forget preseason rankings, which have nothing to do with results, and answer this question: On the court and not in some magazine, who has done more than the 5-0 Tar Heels to earn the top ranking?

Sorry. Wrong answer, but don’t feel bad. By naming whichever team you named – Arizona, Oklahoma, Duke, anyone – you are imminently qualified to become a Top 25 voter.

Now, aim higher. Think for yourself. Name a team – one team, anywhere – that can boast a quartet of wins better than Penn State, Rutgers, No.2 Kansas and Stanford.

Exactly.

Wherever the Tar Heels appear in the poll, it will be a coup for a team that tumbled to 8-20 last season and entered this season ranked seventh in the ACC.

And it will tick off their best player, freshman Rashad McCants.

“We don’t want to be ranked,” McCants said after being named MVP of the Preseason NIT, which North Carolina won by defeating Kansas and Stanford by a combined 28 points in 48 hours. “Don’t rank us. Don’t. We’re still underdogs, and we will be until we get to the top.”

At this rate, that won’t take long. One year removed from home losses to Hampton and Davidson and a one-point home win against 9-19 Binghamton, North Carolina is a lot closer to 20-8 good than 8-20 bad.

The Tar Heels are back – back in the ACC hunt, back on the national radar, back in the good graces of Dick Vitale. Today, the Charlotte Observer will reveal the five keys to the turnaround of the moribund:

1. McCants

2. Raymond

3. Felton

4. Sean

5. May

We’re kidding. Sort of. The Tar Heels have more than three great freshmen, but it’s a good place to start. Away we go:

1. Talent upgrade: On the playground, shirts and skins, you’d pick Sean May over Kris Lang, McCants over Jason Capel, and Raymond Felton over Adam Boone. And if you wouldn’t, please don’t pick me, either. I prefer winning, thanks.

The Tar Heels’ top three newcomers are significantly better than any of their best three players last season, and the result is an offense that can create shots, a defense that can deny shots, and a bench that features Melvin Scott and Will Johnson :quot; who started a combined 37 games a year ago.

2. Defense: Only one opponent, Kansas, has shot 47.8 percent in a single half. Last season that’s what ACC foes averaged over 16 games.

Without the plodding Lang, Capel and Boone, the Tar Heels are nimble at every position.

3. Attitude: From their first meeting with the media in October 2001, last year’s Tar Heels had big heads and no fun – taking their cue from the surly Capel. North Carolina played as if it were entitled to win 20 games, and folded when it realized its mistake.

This season, following ebullient leaders McCants and Felton, North Carolina is hungry and fearless.

4. Not freshmen anymore: As freshmen, Jawad Williams, Jackie Manuel and Scott often looked scared. Now sophomores, they are confidence and vastly improved.

After combining to average 21.5 points and 8.7 rebounds in 2001-02, Williams, Manuel and Scott are at 26.2 points and 12.6 rebounds.

5. Guard play: Nobody competes for a national title without great guards, and with their backcourt last season the Tar Heels would have had a tough time competing for a Southern Conference title. Felton and McCants over Boone and Morrison? Are you kidding?