ACC Returns to Head of the Class

Move over, Big 12: The Atlantic Coast Conference is back as the best conference in the country.

Georgia Tech already upset a No. 1 team when it defeated Connecticut. Duke crushed a highly regarded Texas team. And Wake Forest and North Carolina already might have played the game of the regular season in the Demon Deacons’ 119-114, triple-overtime victory Saturday.

Early indications are that the ACC might have a chance to duplicate the Big 12’s accomplishment last season of putting two teams in the Final Four.

For that matter, the Pacific 10 Conference has the same opportunity, but Stanford and Arizona appear to tower over an otherwise weak group of teams in the Pac-10 this season.

A look around selected leagues as conference play gets underway:

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Atlantic Coast

Top teams: Georgia Tech, Duke, Wake Forest and North Carolina. In a season when the Duke-Carolina rivalry is supposed to be recharged with Roy Williams back in Chapel Hill, there’s a chance Paul Hewitt’s Yellow Jackets or Skip Prosser’s Deacons will steal the show. Any of the four teams has the talent to reach the Final Four.

Troubled team: The conference is so strong, even the team with the worst record, Clemson, is 6-4.

Intriguing team: Florida State, led by guard Tim Pickett -- who led the Seminoles in scoring, steals and rebounding last season -- looks to be improved and had a 10-0 start before losing to Pittsburgh.

Atlantic 10

Top teams: St. Joseph’s, Dayton. The Atlantic 10 has two top 25 teams and one of the nation’s most watchable players in St. Joseph’s point guard Jameer Nelson.

Troubled team: Temple. Slow starts are nothing new for John Chaney, but a 25-point loss to Villanova was particularly galling.

Intriguing team: St. Bonaventure. After the ethics scandal that brought down a president and a coach, the Bonnies are led by 5-foot-7 star Marques Green, who scored 43 points in an overtime loss to Niagara.

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Big East

Top teams: Connecticut, Syracuse, Pittsburgh. Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon are a couple of future lottery picks, but there is concern about Okafor’s durability because of a sore back. Don’t count out Syracuse just because of its opening loss to Charlotte. And Pittsburgh should be strong, but it’s sometimes hard to tell with the soft early-season schedule Ben Howland favored.

Troubled team: St. John’s. Mike Jarvis was fired after six games. That’s about the only NBA move this team looks capable of this season.

Intriguing team: Providence. Ryan Gomes averages almost 19 points and nine rebounds and doesn’t get enough credit nationally playing for the Friars, who defeated Illinois.

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Big Ten

Top teams: Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State. The Badgers defeated Marquette, and their only loss was to Maryland in overtime. Illinois has been slowed by guard Deron Williams’ broken jaw but should be better when he is. It’s also too soon to dismiss the Spartans, who haven’t fared well against a crushing schedule, but are often best late in the season.

Troubled team: Indiana. With a 33-point loss to Wake Forest and a 39-point loss to Kentucky, the Hoosiers appear headed for the sort of collapse UCLA and North Carolina have endured in recent years.

Intriguing team: Iowa. Steve Alford’s Hawkeyes have a victory over Louisville and appear to be improved despite losses to Northern Iowa and Texas Tech.

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Big 12

Top teams: Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas. Nevada upset Kansas, and Texas was blown out by Duke, suggesting the Sooners and freshman point guard Drew Lavender might have the best team in the league.

Troubled team: Missouri. The Tigers have the best veteran talent in the league -- and an NCAA investigation into accusations by former player Ricky Clemons hanging over the heads of the players and Coach Quin Snyder.

Intriguing team: Kansas. The No. 1 ranking was a stretch for a team that lost not only Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison but its coach as well. Bill Self, Roy Williams’ replacement, might have to endure a few rough patches before settling into the job.

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Big West

Top teams: Utah State, UC Santa Barbara. The Aggies are the favorite, but UCSB is the latest Southern California team to turn giant-killer and defeat UCLA.

Troubled team: Long Beach State. If things don’t eventually work out for Larry Reynolds, maybe he can be as fortunate as former coach Wayne Morgan, who lucked into the job at Iowa State after Larry Eustachy was brought down by a drinking problem.

Intriguing team: Cal Poly. The Mustangs have defeated two Pac-10 teams -- California and USC -- but also have lost to Loyola Marymount, among others.

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Conference USA

Top teams: Cincinnati, Marquette, Louisville. The Bearcats cruised through an easy schedule and finally played a good team Tuesday, routing Dayton, 82-53. Marquette’s Travis Diener is very good, but not good enough to get his team back to the Final Four without Dwyane Wade. Louisville’s Francisco Garcia is a gifted player who is playing on as he mourns his brother’s death.

Troubled team: Texas Christian. Too bad football season is over.

Intriguing team: Charlotte. The 49ers upset defending national champion Syracuse but also have lost to George Washington and Alabama.

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Mountain West

Top teams: Brigham Young, Utah. BYU center Rafael Araujo had five consecutive double-doubles for the Cougars, who have defeated Oklahoma State and USC. Utah and standout Australian freshman Andrew Bogut have lost only to Texas Tech, Connecticut and Louisiana State.

Troubled team: New Mexico. A home loss to Portland is nothing compared with the blows New Mexico has suffered lately, including the killing of former Lobo Patrick Dennehy and the apparent suicide of sophomore Billy Feeney.

Intriguing teams: San Diego State, Nevada Las Vegas. San Diego State has high-scoring freshman Brandon Heath and has played well at times but lost to Troy State. UNLV has defeated California and USC, but Nevada and Northern Arizona are among the teams that have defeated the Rebels.

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Pacific 10

Top teams: Stanford, Arizona. With vastly underrated guards Matt Lottich and Chris Hernandez and excellent front-line depth, the Cardinal is a legitimate top 10 team -- and standout Josh Childress is expected to return to practice next week after sitting out so far this season because of a foot injury. Arizona has an array of great young talent, and consistency remains a distant but achievable goal.

Troubled team: USC. Good thing for Henry Bibby there is USC football and the eternal fascination with UCLA basketball to keep people from paying much attention to the seriously underachieving Trojans.

Intriguing team: California. The Bears started in the “troubled” category with an opening loss to Cal Poly, but with a freshman class led by Leon Powe gaining experience, the Bears might be a threat later in the season.

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Southeastern

Top teams: Kentucky, Florida. Kentucky is a tough, veteran team, but the Wildcats are undersized and don’t figure to run the table in the SEC again. Florida has lots of talent, but already proved it isn’t quite No. 1-in-the-nation quality.

Troubled team: Auburn. The Tigers’ unbeaten start collapsed with consecutive losses to UNLV and stunningly, Georgia State.

Intriguing teams: Vanderbilt, Louisiana State, South Carolina. Vanderbilt and LSU are undefeated, and Vanderbilt’s Matt Freije and LSU’s Jaime Lloreda deserve more attention nationally. South Carolina is 11-1.

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Western Athletic

Top team: Nevada. Other teams such as Texas El Paso and Boise State have better records, but the Wolf Pack upset Kansas. Kirk Snyder led Nevada with 29 points against the Jayhawks.

Troubled team: Fresno State. The Bulldogs haven’t been particularly good. However, they did hold Washington State to an astonishing nine points in a half as the Cougars played their new deliberate style under Dick Bennett.

Intriguing team: Rice. The Owls played Stanford to a four-point loss.

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West Coast

Top team: Gonzaga. Start with Blake Stepp and Ronny Turiaf and go right down a Gonzaga roster that has more good players than ever before. The victory over Missouri wasn’t even hailed as a huge upset. Stanford, however, had too much for the Zags.

Troubled team: San Diego. A season after reaching the NCAA tournament, the Toreros are 3-8.

Intriguing team: Loyola Marymount. The Lions made a late run at UCLA and took the Bruins to overtime before losing by three.

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THE TIMES’ RANKINGS

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ROBYN NORWOOD’S RANKINGS AND COMMENTS

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Rk. Team (Rec.) Comment 1. GEORGIA TECH (11-0) Still our pick, but North Carolina test awaits shortly. 2. CONNECTICUT (8-1) Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon might be lottery picks. 3. DUKE (8-1) Blue Devils made short work of Longhorns. 4. STANFORD (8-0) A whole lotta Matt Lottich -- 34 points -- defeated Gonzaga. 5. WAKE FOREST (7-0) Freshman point guard Chris Paul leads nation in steals. 6. NORTH CAROLINA (6-1) Triple-overtime loss to Wake Forest was a heck of a game. 7. KENTUCKY (7-0) Wildcats’ Battle of the Bluegrass vs. Louisville is Saturday. 8. ARIZONA (6-1) Addition of Serbian player Ivan Radenovic a sizable (6-10) plus. 9. OKLAHOMA (8-0) Undefeated Sooners get warning from football team: Watch K-State. 10. ST. JOSEPH’S (8-0) Jameer Nelson saved the day in close call against California. 11. GONZAGA (7-2) Zags’ loss to Stanford was no disgrace. 12. MISSOURI (4-2) Tigers fell to Illinois in a key game Tuesday. 13. TEXAS (5-2) Duke decked Texas. 14. KANSAS (6-2) A loss to Stanford was OK, but to Nevada? 15. LOUISVILLE (6-1) Big opportunity ahead at Kentucky on Saturday. 16. FLORIDA (7-2) David Lee’s 12-for-12 game was truly impressive. 17. MARYLAND (7-2) Other ACC teams are overshadowing the Terrapins. 18. CINCINNATI (7-0) Bearcats forced Dayton into 28 turnovers. 19. SYRACUSE (5-1) Hakim Warrick is one of the most athletic players in the country. 20. WISCONSIN (7-1) Badgers just might win the Big Ten title again. 21. ILLINOIS (7-2) Edged Missouri in Bragging Rights game. 22. MARQUETTE (8-2) Lost Wisconsin state championship to school from Madison. 23. PITTSBURGH (11-0) Panthers handed Florida State its first loss. 24. VANDERBILT (9-0) SEC’s sleeper team still hasn’t lost a game. 25. PURDUE (8-2) Loss to Southern Methodist leaves Boilermakers on the brink.

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