The Atlantic Coast Conference’s record streak of placing seven teams in the AP Top 25 came to an end this week as Virginia fell out of the rankings and NC State plummeted after the Wolfpack’s embarrassing debacle in Madison Square Garden and home-court surrender to mighty West Virginia.
The ACC was able to maintain its record status for at least four weeks after Virginia entered the rankings in early-to-mid-December in part by dominating the Big 10 in the annual Challenge and compiling a 96-24 record in non-conference play.
Currently, five ACC teams are ranked in the Top 25, including three teams in the top five of both polls. Even more impressive is that those three teams – North Carolina, Duke, and Wake Forest – all reside on “Tobacco Road” within 75 miles of each other. Unfortunately for Wolfpack fans, NC State is the only “Big Four” School not ranked in the Top 25, as the concept of a Top 5 ranking (where a Herb Sendek team has never been ranked) is nothing short of a pipe dream.
Wake Forest and Carolina’s presence atop the national polls throws quite a wrench into the decade-long time-horizon that Herb Sendek supporters have assigned to NC State’s phantom return to college basketball prominence. I just checked the calendar and was astounded to learn that Roy Williams has been coaching at Carolina for only one season and Skip Prosser has been at Wake Forest for only three seasons. Both of these coaches joined their respective programs on the heels of old coaches being pushed aside for what their Athletics Directors’ considered failure that merited replacement, so neither walked into situations that were ideal.
