The NCAA has released the first edition of the NET Rankings for the 2025-26 college basketball season. These rankings will be updated consistently for the remainder of the campaign and will be one of the main metrics that the committee will use when selecting and seeding the field for the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The NET Rankings are calculated by win location and quality of opponent, strength of schedule based on an opponent's NET rating, offensive and defensive efficiency, and scoring margin. The NET does not include pure record or AP ranking in the metric.
As the end of the regular season approaches, the committee will evaluate teams heavily based on records in the four Quadrants. A Quadrant 1 win or loss is the best, and a Quadrant 4 win or loss is the worst. How a win or loss for a program is categorized in Quadrant 1, 2, 3, or 4 is based on the opponent's NET rating and whether the game is home, away, or on a neutral floor. The Duke basketball program is currently 2-0 in Quad 1, 1-0 in Quad 2, and 5-0 in Quad 4, sitting at 8-0 Overall and having yet to face a Quad 3 opponent.
Where did Duke basketball come in with the first NET Rankings?
The Blue Devils came in at No. 2 in the NET, only behind Michigan, which has one more Quad 1 win than Duke and just went on an absolute tear at the Players Era Festival. No program outside the Wolverines has more than two Quad 1 victories, and only seven programs have two to their name, including Duke.
Duke was one of two ACC teams to appear in the top ten of the NET, along with Louisville at No. 9. After the Cardinals, the next team out of the ACC is North Carolina at No. 26. The ACC has five more teams after the Tar Heels inside the top 50 of the NET, in Virginia (No. 31), Clemson (No. 34), Miami (No. 38), SMU (No. 39), and NC State (No. 40). California is just outside the top 50 at No. 52.
Four ACC schools are ranked outside the top 100 of the NET: Stanford (No. 107), Pittsburgh (No. 147), Boston College (No. 166), and Georgia Tech (No. 201).
Based on the early NET rankings, the ACC looks to be in a better place than it's been in recent years, and with eight teams inside the top 50 of the NET, the conference can feasibly send anywhere from six to eight teams to the NCAA Tournament. The ACC hasn't sent more than five teams to the big dance since 2021.