The Duke basketball program is gearing up for another championship-caliber season in year four under Jon Scheyer. The Blue Devils will be looking to get back to the Final Four for a second straight season and hopefully avoid the monumental collapse that left the program and its fans in heartbreak a year ago. Duke came in at No. 6 in the Preseason Associated Press Poll and won the ACC Preseason Poll by a fairly wide margin. Most of the media views the Blue Devils as the top dawg out of the ACC heading into the 2025-26 campaign, but several squads can potentially exceed expectations and make some noise. The ACC desperately needs to have a good season and get at least five or six of its teams into the NCAA Tournament, which was a big reason why ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips decided to switch the conference slate from 20 games to 18 games.
Five ACC squads make 2026 NCAA Tournament field in first preseason ESPN Bracketology
ESPN released its first preseason Bracketology update, and five teams out of the ACC made the field, with a few just on the outside.
Per ESPN Bracketology:
Duke: 1 seed
Louisville: 3 seed
North Carolina: 6 seed
NC State: 8 seed
Virginia: Last Four In
Clemson: First Four Out
SMU: First Four Out
Miami: Next Four Out
The ACC will be one of the most intriguing conferences to monitor throughout the 2025-26 college hoops season out of any in the country. Duke and Louisville are clearly the cream of the crop, and then there are eight or nine squads that feel like they have the talent to make some noise.
Squads like NC State and Virginia have great chances to exceed their current tournament expectations, both with new coaches who are bringing in talented transfer portal classes. Then, there are five or six sleeper teams that have sneaky talent to emerge from nowhere and compete, such as Miami, Virginia Tech, or Syracuse.
The Blue Devils will face Louisville and North Carolina twice this season, and have a shot to put together another dominant season in ACC play (Duke went 19-1 in conference action a season ago). However, this is a crucial year for the conference, and tournament success must reflect all the changes it has undergone this offseason.