Monday, February 22, 2010

Only One ACC Team In the Top 25

For the first time in over thirty years, only one team from the Atlantic Coast Conference is ranked in college basketball's AP Top 25. In the rankings that were released today (rankings are released every Monday during basketball season), fifth-ranked Duke is the lone representative of the vaunted ACC.

One year after winning its second NCAA National Championship in five years, North Carolina (14-12 overall, 3-8 ACC) has endured its worst season since Roy Williams became head coach (Williams succeeded Matt Doherty after Doherty's teams finished 8-20 in the 2001-02 season, and 19-16 in the 2002-03 season respectively). Wake Forest and Clemson began the season with much fanfare from the national media, but those teams have failed to live up to the lofty expectations that were placed upon them (which comes as no surprise to the Drive and Dish staff). Georgia Tech looked very good early in ACC play, and they had an impressive win over Duke in January. But they've fallen off as of late.

So Duke stands as the only ranked team from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The ACC has not suffered for lack of media attention over the last ten to fifteen years. But despite North Carolina's recent 5 year mini dynasty in college basketball, the ACC has been in a quiet downturn in the last few years.

As for today's updated AP Top 25, aside from the aforementioned No. 5 Duke from the ACC, the rest of the top 10 is made up of three teams from the Big East (No. 4 Syracuse, No. 7 Villanova and No. 8 West Virginia), two teams from the Big Twelve (No. 1 Kansas and No. 6 Kansas State), two teams from the always maligned Big Ten (No. 3 Purdue and No. 9 Ohio State), one team from the SEC (No. 2 Kentucky) and one team from the non-BCS Mountain West conference (No. 10 New Mexico).

AP Top 25:

Ranking Record Pts Pvs
1. Kansas (61) 26-1 1,621 1
2. Kentucky (4) 26-1 1,559 2
3. Purdue 23-3 1,470 4
4. Syracuse 25-2 1,455 5
5. Duke 23-4 1,323 6
6. Kansas St. 22-4 1,302 7
7. Villanova 22-4 1,189 3
8. West Virginia 21-5 1,183 8
9. Ohio St. 21-7 1,097 9
10. New Mexico 25-3 997 12
11. Georgetown 18-7 846 10
12. Pittsburgh 21-6 806 19
13. BYU 25-3 795 16
14. Michigan St. 21-7 794 11
15. Butler 25-4 673 18
16. Vanderbilt 20-6 599 17
17. Wisconsin 20-7 528 14
18. Gonzaga 22-5 506 13
19. Tennessee 20-6 480 20
20. Temple 22-5 452 21
21. Texas 21-6 445 15
22. Texas A&M 19-7 225 24
23. Richmond 22-6 202 25
24. Baylor 20-6 147 22
25. N. Iowa 24-3 128 --

Others receiving votes: UTEP 86, Virginia Tech 76, Maryland 57, Missouri 17, Illinois 14, Xavier 13, Marquette 11, Louisville 9, Mississippi St. 5, Oklahoma St. 4, Utah St. 4, Cornell 2, Murray St. 2, Wake Forest 2, Clemson 1.