For much of its 53-year basketball history, the ACC has been defined by an eight-mile stretch on Tobacco Road.
Duke and North Carolina have dominated the conference from its inception in 1954, combining to win or share 40 of the 53 regular season championships. In addition, the Blue Devils or Tar Heels have won nine of the last 10 ACC Tournament titles.
At this time last year, Duke was 12-0 and had a three-game lead on the rest of the pack. This season was expected to be more of the same, with UNC and Duke picked to finish 1-2 during the preseason.
But with two weeks remaining in the conference season, the ACC is as open as ever.
Four teams-North Carolina, Virginia, Boston College and Virginia Tech-all stand within one game of first place at the top of the standings. Although the presence of the Tar Heels at the top of the standings comes as no surprise, few thought they would have as much company.
"From top to bottom, the league is as strong as I've ever known it," North Carolina head coach Roy Williams said. "There's some teams that are struggling, yet you better be ready to play when you play them. The addition of the other schools in the league has made the grind longer. The imbalanced schedule really puts a greater sense of urgency on some games."
North Carolina played two of those recently added schools in the past week-losing at home to Virginia Tech and winning at Boston College. The split was symbolic of another chaotic week at the top of the ACC. After stunning UNC to complete a sweep of the Tar Heels, the Hokies were routed at N.C. State Sunday.
"If you're in a good league, you're going to play good teams," Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said. "You're going to have good wins, you're going to have tough losses. As disappointed as I am [after the N.C. State loss], I've also got to be human and understand that our team right now should feel good about what they've accomplished to this point in the season. A lot of teams in our league would like to be 8-4."
The Hokies will try to leapfrog 9-4 Boston College in the standings to move into third place when they host the Eagles on Wednesday night. Boston College is coming off back-to-back home losses to Duke and North Carolina that dropped it from the top spot in the standings.
"College athletics has proven that there's going to be some parity-I think we've proven that this year in this league," Eagles' head coach Al Skinner said. "We're all trying to achieve the same goal, and our guys are working real hard to do it."
The biggest surprise at the top is Virginia, picked eighth at the start of the season. The Cavaliers entered the season with all the focus on their new arena instead of their old guards. But junior Sean Singletary and senior J.R. Reynolds have shot Virginia into a first-place tie with UNC.
"To finish at the top really is an accomplishment because you have so many difficult games and you're doing it over a couple of months," Cavaliers' head coach Dave Leitao said. "Particularly in this league because it's always belonged to traditionally one of two teams. We're in a unique position to take a shot at it."
With the top four teams earning byes in the ACC Tournament, the quartet at the top of the standings feels comfortable heading into the hard homestretch.
"They've got to compete and be intense, but they've also got to enjoy it," Greenberg said of his team. "They've earned it. They've done some great things, and they should feel good about themselves."
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