It's a conference filled with good but not great teams, no one able to get into position to claim the top spot in the national rankings.

At the other end of the Top 25, it's a virtual carousel for the conference, with numerous teams entering and exiting each week but no one making a serious move toward the top.

That pretty much describes the outlook for ACC football on the national level in recent seasons.

It also happens to describe the much more rare position for ACC men's basketball this season.

Thanks only to 11 teams cracking the top 10 in Monday's Associated Press rankings -- Duke and Kansas State tied for No. 10 -- the ACC avoided by the smallest of margins not having a team in the top 10 for the first time since March 1996.

Georgia Tech, at No. 21, is the league's only other ranked team, but five other teams already have been ranked at some point. The list of ranked teams to date doesn't even include Wake Forest, a team that has knocked on the door multiple times but has yet to make the cut.

It's a pattern familiar for ACC football, and one that does not earn the conference much respect. It's now resulting in rumblings that ACC basketball isn't as strong as it traditionally has been, especially with reigning NCAA champ North Carolina struggling.

The ACC's relative place in the pecking order of conferences is debatable. That's always the case, in both football and basketball.

But what isn't really debatable is that the postseason format favored by the respective sports means that ACC basketball fans have a lot more to look forward to down the stretch than ACC football fans often do.

The most recent time an ACC football team entered the stretch run of the regular season with a real shot at the national title was 2000, when Florida State threatened to repeat as champion. Since then, the latter stages of the season typically have seen ACC football teams jockeying for the equivalent of NIT bids, trying to position themselves for more attractive bowls but bowls that have nothing to do with the sport's top prize.

That's not the way the ball bounces in college basketball.

As of Monday, Joe Lunardi's latest "Bracketology" projections had six ACC teams making the NCAA Tournament, with the Tar Heels and Virginia -- fresh off a victory in Chapel Hill -- among the top eight teams on the outside looking in.

Officially, 65 teams will have a chance at winning basketball's national title come March, while just two have a chance at winning football's Bowl Championship Series. The number of teams with a legitimate shot in basketball is much lower, of course -- it's probably around a dozen this year -- but it's still much more fun for some many more fans.

Every ACC basketball team already has at least two losses, and every one has at least two victories in league play. Whereas that kind of balance is a death knell for football, it should make the next five weeks fascinating for basketball.

Will UNC figure out a way to make the NCAA Tournament? Will Duke prove strong enough to make a run in the NCAA Tournament?

What will be the fate for everyone else on Selection Sunday? Will Virginia continue to surprise to the finish? Will Clemson surprise everyone by finishing strong?

Are Georgia Tech and Maryland back? Will Florida State and Wake Forest be back in the tournament for the second consecutive season?

It might not be a vintage year for ACC basketball. It might not be a vintage postseason for the proud conference.

That doesn't mean the next five weeks won't be a real kick to watch.

You may contact Bryan Strickland at bstrickland@heraldsun.com or 919-419-6671.