When the ACC Anschluss of the Big East happened, there was a sense that a) Duke and UNC would no longer rule the ACC, or at least not so thoroughly, and that b) the Big East refugees would remake ACC basketball.
Neither has really worked out the way people expected.
Duke won the national title last year; UNC is favored this year.
Louisville and Syracuse, the best of the Big East powers, are both enmeshed in scandal. Jim Boeheim is on the clock now.
Notre Dame has had one very bad year and one outstanding year in the ACC.