By BRYAN STRICKLAND

bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671

GREENSBORO -- The Duke-North Carolina rivalry never seems to go away, regardless of the date on the calendar, but the basketball portion of the neighborhood brawl got a jumpstart even by its lofty standards Sunday.

The Blue Devils and Tar Heels tied for the top spot in the ACC Operation Basketball preseason poll Sunday, the first time two teams have tied for No. 1 in the 41-year history of polling.

Both teams received 545 points in voting by 48 media members. If any team could try to claim an edge it was Duke, which received 25 first-place votes to 20 for UNC.

"I do believe their success makes us want a little more, and our success, perhaps, makes them want a little more," UNC coach Roy Williams said. "I think the rivalry is fantastic, and their success doesn't do anything but push us and want us to share in that same kind of thing."

Among the current crop of players writing the latest chapters in the rivalry, the Blue Devils are the ones aiming to garner the success the Tar Heels have enjoyed of late. Duke is coming off a 30-win season and an ACC Tournament title, but the Tar Heels are the reigning NCAA champions and have gone to three Final Fours since Duke's last appearance in 2004.

UNC also can claim victories in six of the last seven meetings in the storied series, including four in a row at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"Both programs have a lot of pride, so obviously you want to beat the other school," Duke senior Jon Scheyer said. "But we can't look at it like if we don't beat Carolina then it's not a successful year, or that if you do better than Carolina, it is a successful year."

The preseason poll officially means nothing, but the good news for both Duke and UNC is that the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the poll has gone on to win the regular season title 34 times in 40 years.

The other good news is that their expectations aren't anywhere close to ones assigned to the other Triangle team: N.C. State finished dead-last in the poll.

Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe, however, doesn't see it as bad news at all.

"I think it's a great thing. I think it's good because there's just one way to go, and that's up," Lowe said. "We've been in this situation before -- my first year, actually -- and we came out and fared pretty well, especially in the ACC Tournament. This is another opportunity."

Lowe's 2006-07 team was picked last but finished 10th, and then the Wolfpack made an unexpected run all the way to the ACC title game. The next year, the media picked N.C. State third, only to see the Wolfpack tie for last.

While voters seemed sold on Miami (135 points), Virginia (116) and the Wolfpack (76) as the bottom three, as well as Duke and UNC as the top two, the middle seven teams were a mangled mess.

Clemson (409) emerged from the pack to finish third, but barely ahead of Georgia Tech (387) and Maryland (378). Wake Forest (315) edged Florida State (314) for sixth place, with Virginia Tech (273) and Boston College (251) bunched not far behind.

Georgia Tech, which finished in the cellar last season, got two first-place votes, and Wake claimed one.

-- Staff writer Briana Gorman contributed to this report.

There wasn't a tie in voting for preseason player of the year, but it too was close. Duke junior Kyle Singler earned the honor with 19 votes, four more than Maryland guard Greivis Vasquez. Trevor Booker of Clemson claimed eight votes.

Singler, Vasquez and Booker were joined on the preseason all-ACC team by UNC forward Ed Davis and Virginia Tech guard Malcolm Delaney.

"I think Kyle is one of the best players in the country," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is moving his 6-8 star to a more perimeter-oriented role this season. "I love Kyle's will, and now he's getting the skills. He can really shoot the ball, and now what I want him to do is not just shoot the ball but score along with being a shooter."

Georgia Tech forward Derrick Favors ran away with preseason rookie of the year, garnering 40 votes. UNC forward John Henson came in a distant second with eight votes.