FanHouse Elliot Williams

Before March was mad, the ACC was already basketball crazy.

Since 1955, the granddaddy of all conference tournaments has put one heck of an exclamation point on the end of the season, the twist ending to an Oscar-worthy film. Even in an era when six bids out of the league are as routine as Billy Packer ripping apart mid-majors or Mike Krzyewski having a colorful conversation with the referees, the ACC tournament still matters.

And in 2009, the ACC tournament has a to-do list the size of Barack Obama's.

If you've ever seen a man get a five-figure bill from the IRS while an elephant simultaneously steps on his foot, you might have a general frame of reference for the level of rancor Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski can raise when defeat comes his way.

So, as he explained a 79-71 loss to North Carolina, the sixth Heel win in the last seven games and the second time in three seasons he's been swept by his rival, a funny thing happened.

If you've ever seen a man get a five-figure bill from the IRS while an elephant simultaneously steps on his foot, you might have a general frame of reference for the level of rancor Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski can raise when defeat comes his way.

So, as he explained a 79-71 loss to North Carolina, the sixth Heel win in the last seven games and the second time in three seasons he's been swept by his rival, a funny thing happened.

Ranking the rankings criticizes the critics when the polls come out.

Headlining: Pittsburgh took over first in the country after beating Connecticut two weeks ago. All it had to do was beat Providence and the Panthers would get to sit pretty at No. 1 overall, possibly cruising to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Yet, they somehow lost. It's a testament to this year's college basketball season, not only in terms of parity and a lack of elite teams, but general confusion as well. Don't bother telling me you saw that coming.

Ranking the rankings criticizes the critics when the polls come out.

Headlining: Pittsburgh beat Connecticut to kick off the week, led by DeJuan Blair's ridiculous 22-point, 23-rebound effort. It seemed relatively unlikely at the time that the Panthers could manage to jump both North Carolina and Oklahoma, providing that either one of the two won out for the week.

But then Saturday rolled around. The Tar Heels fell to Maryland and Oklahoma, without Blake Griffin for most of the game, coughed one up to Texas.

This time, the gloves came off. So too, did the jacket.

This week, FanHouse is taking an early look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.

Today, we have enlisted JD King of Duke Basketball Report to break down the Duke Blue Devils.

There has been a perception the last couple of years that Duke is off. If so, that's over. This Duke team is going to be very good.

The only player not back on last year's size-challenged team is DeMarcus Nelson. And Duke has added freshmen Miles Plumlee (6'11) and Olek Czyz (6'8) to returnees Brian Zoubek (7'1") and Lance Thomas (6'8") to the inside rotation. Zoubek is healthier than he has been in some time and Taylor is markedly improved and much stronger than he was last year.

Czyz will play less than the other three, but no matter how you cut it, this frees up 6'8" Kyle Singler to play anywhere he's useful on the court.

With the fall beginning and college basketball just around the corner, it's time to look back at what our favorite teams did during their summer vacations. Some did some good things; some had a bad time. So let's look back at who did what in our How I Spent My Summer Vacation series.

Today's look is the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Roy Williams Hits Jackpot When All His Guys Return

The Tar Heels were at quite the crossroads. After a great season ended with a disappointing loss to Kansas, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green all decided to take a look at the NBA Draft. Hansbrough decided to come back, but the other three entered the draft with the opportunity to come back to school if they didn't like their draft status.

If any or all left, the Heels were facing some uncertainty heading into the season. Yes, they'd still be a good team but they'd have a few holes.

In a somewhat surprising move, all three Heels decided to come back for one last hurrah. That means Ol' Roy gets everyone back from that Final Four team (sans a transferred Alex Stepheson and a graduating Quentin Thomas -- both role players). They also bring in three McDonald's All Americans.