When February rolls around in the ACC, things begin to take shape and teams begin to make their move. This season, it was supposed to be UNC at the top, with everyone else playing for second. Things have changed, however, and the league looks much more balanced than anyone expected at the beginning of the year.

Coach K and his overachieving Duke squad sit atop the league standings, with a couple of quality wins against Clemson and at Maryland. National and regional pundits were slow to give a lot of respect to Duke in the preseason, given the way they finished last season. Somehow, Duke has managed to outplay its expectations, though, in running their ACC record to a perfect 6-0. It’s hard to know what to make of Duke at this point, though, as their toughest test lies ahead in a game against North Carolina next week.

The Tarheels looked unbeatable when they were cruising through an uncharacteristically weak non-conference schedule, but things have slowed down a little bit since UNC entered ACC play. They stole a win at Clemson that they had no business taking, and then struggled at Georgia Tech before falling at home to a pretty pedestrian Maryland squad. The loss of Bobby Frasor looks to have taken a lot out of the Tarheels, as point guard Tywon Lawson still doesn’t seem to understand how to pace himself.

Then, there’s Clemson. Most would say that this team should emerge, when it’s all said and done, as the league’s third best team. They’ve started the year 3-3, but two of those losses have come at the hands of UNC and Duke. Clemson has all of the pieces to finish with 10 ACC wins, but they need to get healthy. Senior forward James Mays has been playing with a fractured hand for three weeks and center Trevor Booker recently suffered a sprained ankle. On the outside, freshman point guard Demontez Still, who has started all 20 games this year, will miss the next two weeks with an injured knee. If the Tigers can get all of their personnel back into the fold, they should contend for third place in the league.

Who emerges after those three is anyone’s guess. Maryland, Boston College, and Georgia Tech appear to be the top contenders, although it would be unwise to sleep on teams like Florida State and N.C. State. The league goes legitimate twelve deep and there are a host of teams that can play at a high level on any given night. One team to look out for is Miami, not because of its highly touted guard play, but because it has a pair of big men who know how to make plays around the basket.

Going into Wednesday, we had two undefeated teams in the NCAA: Kansas and Memphis. That evening, things changed.

Thanks to the Kansas State Wildcats lead by freshman Michael Beasley, Kansas suffered its first lost all season after suffering from a score of 84-75. The loss gave Kansas State its first win at home against the Jayhawks in 24 years.

"I know it means a lot around the city, people at the school," said Beasley, "but it's just a game to me."

Kansas State’s freshmen crew put on a show, as Beasley scored 25 points while guard Jacob Pullen added 20 and forward Bill Walker compiled 22. The Wildcats had the momentum throughout the whole game, and Beasley helped give his team the edge in the second half after scoring just eight points before intermission. He was also a perfect 4-4 from three-point range. The victory ensured the Wildcats the #1 position in the Big 12 standings. However, there was much more than just standings involved, as Kansas had won the previous 35 out of 36 meetings between the two teams. For Kansas State’s head coach Frank Martin, this win was not only a victory, but a statement as well.

"I'm tired of people calling our guards raggedy," Martin said. "It (bothers) me when I continue to hear people say our guards are inferior to other people's guards. They played like grown men today and we didn't turn it over and we made plays to win."

This wasn’t the only cross-town rivalry that caused jaws to drop on Wednesday night. The Texas A&M Aggies, who went into the game ranked at the #23 spot, disappointed the Texas Longhorns (#10) with an 80-63 upset. Josh Carter set the tone for the Aggies with 19 points and 10 rebounds. After suffering from devastating losses against both Kansas State and Baylor, the Aggies needed the win to gain back some momentum.

"This helps a lot ," Carter said of the win. "I think some of us lost some confidence with the losses."

A&M was phenomenal throughout, shooting 64% in the first half. Texas never managed to gain a lead, and at one point they trailed by as much as 22 points. The Longhorns finished the game shooting just 34% from the field.

"There was no point in time that I think we guarded them," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "We didn't deserve to win that one in any shape, form or fashion."

The Aggies’ defense also managed to shutdown Texas superstars D.J. Augustin and A.J. Abrams. Augustin finished with just 14 points, while Abrams managed just 8. Dexter Pittman also added 14.

These two shocking upsets will no doubt shuffle up the rankings. While Memphis has secured the #1 spot for now, teams such as Duke and North Carolina, who meet next week, will definitely be moving up the ladder.

Guessing who will qualify for the upcoming tournament this March is difficult. Trying to figure out which teams will make it to the end is even harder.

The NCAA tournament that is set to begin on March 18th is shaping up to be very exciting. With several teams still undefeated, it is hard to determine who will be favored and who will be the underdog. Going into January 17, there were ten teams that had either one or no losses. This may leave many fans pondering over which clubs will succeed all the way through the bracket.

It would be hard to imagine #1 North Carolina getting eliminated any time before the Final Four. With a strong starting lineup and much depth on the bench, head coach Roy Williams has every reason to believe that his organization has what it takes to compete. Though the team has struggled recently against both Georgia Tech and Clemson, throughout the season they have demonstrated nothing but dominance. There is no question that the heart of their club centers around junior Tyler Hansbrough, who has been able excel defensively in the post (10 rebounds/game) and serve as a scoring threat (21.6 points/game) at the same time. Sophomore guard Ty Lawson as also made significant offensive contributions, and expecting this team to play in the national championship would not at all be considered outlandish.

The Memphis Tigers also have much to look forward to, as their performance this season has been nothing short of superb. Many critics believe that the Tigers would not be doing so well if it wasn’t for their easy schedule; so far, they have only competed against two ranked clubs. Needless to say, they have manhandled the opposition, winning by less than 5 points on just one occasion. Freshman Derrick Rose out of Chicago, Illinois, has been a surprise superstar for the team, and watching them progress through the tournament could be very entertaining.

Though Kansas and UCLA are the next two ranked teams, the March tournament gives everyone a fresh start, which is why Duke may be the club to emerge as the next participant in the Final Four. Their only loss came in overtime against the Pittsburgh Panthers, but other than that the Blue Devils have shown that they are capable of succeeding. Coach Mike Krzyzewski knows that he has much to look forward to in Greg Paulus, Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer, DeMarcus Nelson, and Gerald Henderson. However, the Blue Devils are young, so experience may hurt them down the stretch.

The sleeper pick for the Final Four has to be the Texas Longhorns. Surprisingly, the Longhorns were stunned by Missouri earlier this week when they were defeated by a score of 97-84. Though this loss was unfortunate, keep in mind that Texas has still been able to contend even after losing superstar Kevin Durant. Both A.J. Abrams and D.J. Augustin have exceeded beyond their expectations, and it would not be surprising to see these two athletes carry the Longhorns to the Final Four.

It was hard for fans to imagine that North Carolina would finish the season undefeated. It was even harder picturing them lose to the Maryland Terrapins.

The Terrapins put up one of the biggest upsets in recent NCAA history when they served the Tar Heels their first loss of the season.

"It didn't feel real, man," senior forward Bambale Osby said. "It was like, 'Did this really just happen?'

A final score of 82-80, North Carolina fell to 18-1 while Maryland improved to 12-7. Probably the most disappointing game all season, what’s even more puzzling is the fact that the Tar Heels managed to suffer their first loss on their own turf.

Osby hit a lay up with just 21 seconds left in regulation to give Maryland an 82-80 lead. James Gist also finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds. It was the first time that Maryland had beaten the Tar Heels on their home court in roughly five years.

"I think our players really believed that if we could execute really good on offense, we had a chance to win the game," Maryland coach Gary Williams said.

What’s interesting is the fact that the Tar Heels are coming off of two close games that they managed to come out on top. Just two weeks ago, Wayne Ellington hit a three-pointer with just seconds left to defeat Clemson 90-88. Last week, they battled it out against Georgia Tech and managed to win by just one point. This time, the Tar Heels weren’t so lucky.

At the end of the game, Ellington missed a three-pointer and Tyler Hansbrough threw up a prayer with seconds remaining. After that, the Terrapins stormed the court in excitement. The Tar Heels finished shooting just 38% from the field, an atrocious figure in Coach Roy Williams’ mind.

"I haven't done a very good job with this basketball team the last couple of weeks," Williams said. "We've been living on the edge, and it caught up with us today."

Maryland had three players with double figures in scoring, while Tyler Hansbrough led the Tar Heels with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Hansbrough did get knocked around a bit and went just 6-15 from the field. While the game went back and forth towards the end, Maryland managed to secure the victory.

With the loss, the rankings have no doubt been shuffled a bit. North Carolina fell to #5 in the AP Top 25 and #4 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Kansas and Memphis are the two only undefeated teams remaining. The Tar Heels can look forward to their rival match up against the Duke Blue Devils, which takes place on February 6.