The NCAA dropped its first NET Rankings of the 2025-26 college basketball season, and as always, it’s a key moment for programs across the country. These rankings aren’t just for show - they’re a central tool the selection committee uses when building the NCAA Tournament field.
And while fans might be tempted to focus on win-loss records or the latest AP poll, the NET digs deeper. It takes into account where you win, who you beat, how efficient you are on both ends of the floor, and how convincingly you get the job done.
It’s a metric built to reward quality - not just quantity.
Let’s talk Duke. The Blue Devils are off to a red-hot 8-0 start, and the NET is taking notice.
They’ve landed at No. 2 in the initial rankings, trailing only Michigan - a team that just made waves at the Players Era Festival and holds one more Quad 1 win than Duke. That’s the difference right now, and it’s a slim one.
Duke’s résumé is already building serious momentum. They’re 2-0 in Quad 1 games - the toughest tier, featuring high-level opponents and tough environments.
Add in a 1-0 mark in Quad 2 and five more wins in Quad 4, and while they haven’t faced a Quad 3 opponent yet, they’ve taken care of business every time they’ve stepped on the floor. That’s the kind of early-season consistency that the NET loves.
Zooming out to the ACC picture, Duke isn’t alone in making noise. Louisville cracked the top ten as well, coming in at No.
- That gives the conference two teams in elite company.
North Carolina sits just outside the top 25 at No. 26, and five more ACC squads are holding strong inside the top 50: Virginia (No. 31), Clemson (No.
34), Miami (No. 38), SMU (No. 39), and NC State (No.
40). California, a recent addition to the conference, is lurking just outside that group at No.
Of course, not every ACC program is off to a flying start. Stanford (No.
107), Pittsburgh (No. 147), Boston College (No. 166), and Georgia Tech (No. 201) are all sitting outside the top 100, and they’ll need to make up serious ground if they want to enter the tournament conversation.
Still, there’s a sense that the ACC is trending upward. With eight teams in the top 50, the league is in position to push for six to eight NCAA Tournament bids - a number it hasn’t reached since 2021. That’s a significant shift for a conference that’s taken its fair share of criticism in recent years.
Bottom line: it’s early, but the first NET Rankings are painting a promising picture for Duke and the ACC. The Blue Devils are right where they want to be - in the thick of the national conversation - and the league as a whole looks deeper and more competitive than it has in a while. If this pace holds, March could be a lot more crowded with ACC blue and gold.