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.
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