North Carolina Finishes #1 in Polls

MCLEAN, Virginia (Ticker) -- A strong finish kept North Carolina at No. 1. The Tar Heels (32-2) captured the Atlantic Coast Conference championship Sunday and claimed the top ranking in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll released Sunday. An 86-81 victory over Clemson in the ACC title game enabled North Carolina to finish No. 1 in the final regular-season poll and also earn the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Tar Heels, who finished atop the poll for the third straight week, received 23 of 31 first-place votes and 767 points. UCLA (31-3) remained at No. 2 for the third consecutive week, extending its lead from one point to seven over third-ranked Memphis (33-1) with 735.

The Bruins had five first-place votes in the wake of winning the Pac-10 conference title, while the Tigers received three after claiming the Conference USA tourney crown. Both teams received No. 1 seeds in the NCAAs. Kansas (31-3) and Wisconsin (29-4) rounded out the top five, each moving up one spot after winning conference championships in the Big 12 and Big Ten, respectively, on Sunday. Tennessee (29-4), which lost to Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference semifinals, dropped two spots to No. 6 and was followed in the top 10 by Texas (28-6), Georgetown (27-5), Duke (27-5) and Butler (29-3).

Stanford (26-7), Xavier (27-6) and Louisville (24-8) stayed put at Nos. 11-13 and were followed by Drake (28-4), Notre Dame (24-7), Vanderbilt (26-7), Connecticut (24-8), Purdue (24-8), Pittsburgh (26-9) and Michigan State (25-8). Washington State (24-8) held steady at No. 21, followed by Clemson (24-9), Davidson (26-6) and a tie for 24th between Indiana (25-7) and Marquette (24-9). Pitt, which won the Big East tournament title, and Clemson are new to the poll. Dropping out was Gonzaga and Brigham Young.