The Big East might have a gaggle of teams ranked, but the Atlantic Coast Conference still sets the standard for college basketball.

The ACC tournament is one of the grandest spectacles in all of American sports, and it’s nearly time for the southern showdown to write the next chapter of the conference’s storied history.

Greensboro, N.C., once again is the site for the ACC tournament. The event tips off with four first-round games on March 10, with seeds five through 12 playing for the right to make it into March 11’s quarterfinals. The two semifinal games are March 12, with the championship game set for March 13.

Duke won the title last season, en route to winning the national championship. Duke and North Carolina play Saturday in the regular-season finale, the winner earning the league title and the No. 1 seed entering tournament action.

Florida State and Virginia Tech enter the final weekend of the regular season holding onto third and fourth place, respectively. The top four teams get that all-important bye and won’t have to play on day one of the league tournament.

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Only Wake Forest seems to have dug itself a huge hole, and it looks like they will spend the rest of the ACC slate just trying to get a win and avoid the basement.

The Duke Blue Devils still remain the heavy favorite to win both the regular season and ACC tournament titles, but the loss of Kyrie Irving has at least brought them closer to the pack.

Virginia Tech recently picked up a huge win at Maryland, and North Carolina is supremely talented and remains a threat despite their sluggish start to the season.

The Boston College Eagles have been the biggest surprise in the conference so far this season, as they sit tied atop the ACC with Duke and Florida State.

By dodging the upset bug that took residence at the 2010 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Duke Blue Devils did more than win another conference title.

The Blue Devils propelled themselves to the ultimate prize.

Duke’s run to the NCAA national championship began on the second weekend of March inside the Greensboro Coliseum. While only two of the higher seeded teams survived in the first two rounds, the Blue Devils navigated their way through the upsets and close calls to win the ACC for the ninth time in 12 years.

It started on March 12, as Duke downed No. 9 seed Virginia 57-46. In the semifinals the next day, the Blue Devils face 12th-seed Miami, which had upended No. 5 Wake Forest and No. 4 Virginia Tech. The Blue Devils hung on down the stretch, beating the Hurricanes 77-74 to advance to the final.

Waiting in the championship game March 14 was Georgia Tech, the No. 7 seed that stunned No. 2 seed Maryland in the quarterfinals. But playing for the fourth time in four days, the Yellow Jackets ran out of gas down the stretch and Duke survived 65-61, cutting down the nets and earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

From there, Duke won six more games in a row, cutting down the nets again April 5 after winning the national title.

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With Texas electing to remain in the Big 12 conference, the domino effect that was expected to occur looks like it will not happen.

That means the ACC is safe with its current 12 teams despite persistent rumors that the conference could be raided and lose some of its schools.

The thought process was that the domino effect could cause the Big 10 and SEC to both look to bring in ACC schools into their respective conferences.

You can never say never, but it looks like the ACC will stay solid with the current 12 teams for at least the forseeable future.