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.

Basketball Season Nears; Tidbits Returns

The leaves are falling from the trees, nightfall is coming earlier every day, college basketball teams began practicing last Friday and NBA training camps have been grinding it out for two weeks. Drive and Dish has been slumming for the last few months, but with Fall in full session and basketball season on the horizon, the Drive and Dish editorial board has elected to resurrect the ever popular Drive and Dish "Tidbits" series:

1.) Tuesday night, rookie point guard Derrick Rose scored 30 points as his Chicago squad beat Dallas 109-105 in NBA preseason action.

Drive and Dish readers may ask "who the hell cares about the results of NBA preseason games?" And normally, they'd be absolutely correct to pose such a question. But last night, Derrick Rose (a 19 year old rookie point guard) served notice to the rest of the NBA that he has the (rare) ability to take games over.

Rose will likely have ups and downs over the course of his rookie campaign, but anyone who's caught as much as a glimpse of his play during the preseason should understand that the kid is the real deal. And one would suspect that opposing NBA guards will understand that in short order as well.

2.) Shawn Siegel, of CollegeHoops.net, talks to New Mexico men's head basketball coach Steve Alford:

"Our goal is to win the Mountain West Conference and get into the NCAA Tournament. After that, we want to be in a position to advance as far as we can in post season play."

3.) Big East coaches have picked UConn to win the conference and have named Notre Dame's Luke Harangody Big East preseason Player of the Year.

4.) UNC Asheville's 7'7" center Kenny George, the tallest player in college basketball, will be sidelined for the 2008/09 season -- and likely for good -- amid reports part of his right foot was amputated.

5.) Georgia Tech senior D'Andre Bell is out for the year too, due to the discovery that he suffers from the congenital condition spinal stenosis. Bell plans to undergo surgery to correct the disorder.

6.) Santa Clara center John Bryant has returned to the court after having been stabbed three times at the beginning of the school year (Bryant was stabbed three times during one altercation, not stabbed in three separate altercations).

Bryant figures to be an NBA prospect, but, nonetheless, one wonders if Bryant has ever considered pursuing a career as a hip hop artist. After all, 50 Cent's hip hop career took off largely because he had the street cred of having been shot nine times (it certainly didn't take off because of his superior lyrical flow). I don't know if Bryant can rap, but now that he's been stabbed, he's definitely got his street bona fides.