ESPN.com has played out its top programs since the 1984-1985 season (when the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams).
As expected, Duke placed in the top spot. No one has won more NCAA Championships, Final Fours, Sweet 16s, NCAA Tournament wins, first team All Americans, 30-win seasons, #1 seeds or top-ten NBA picks in the time frame.
North Carolina placed #2 on Friday ... but due to a research error was dropped behind Kansas to #3 on Saturday. Apparently they screwed up how many conference titles Kansas won and All Americans North Carolina had.
After that, there is a huge gap until the next ACC school: #28 Maryland. The Terps (ahead of Purdue; behind Ohio State) are the only ACC school besides Duke and North Carolina to win an NCAA Tournament during the time frame. What knocked them down was the fact that they have just one ACC title since 1985.
Georgia Tech ranks fourth from the ACC at #33 overall. Tech (ahead of Penn; behind Oklahoma State) can roll out some great names but haven't had the elite success to match.
The other ACC schools ...
Sports
#38-Wake Forest: Produced elite players Tim Duncan and Chris Paul but hasn't made a Final Four.
#52-NC State: State had some good years in there ... and some horrible ones. Infractions hurt.
#70t-Boston College: Most of this was from their Big East years.
#70t-Virginia
#111-Clemson
#128-Florida State
#145t-Miami (Fla)
#210-Virginia Tech
The ACC finished third in the "prestige rankings" behind the Big East and the Big Ten.
