Last season, no Atlantic Coast Conference team landed a spot in the Final Four for the first time since 1996. Don’t expect another poor NCAA Tournament showing from one of the nation’s top conferences.

Duke no longer is a team of young pups, Roy Williams has returned to coach North Carolina, and Wake Forest and N.C. State have joined the two powers in the preseason poll for the first time in ACC history.

“It’s exciting to know that night-in and night-out, whenever we travel in North Carolina, it’s going to be all-out,” N.C. State’s Marcus Melvin said. “The fans are going to be in an uproar. I’m glad this has happened in my senior year.”

And the barbs among close neighbors already have started.

N.C. State standout Julius Hodge questioned why the Tar Heels were ranked ninth in the Associated Press’ preseason poll and the Wolfpack 24th when both programs had similar personnel back.

When reminded that Williams had taken over the storied program, Hodge shot back, “Can he play?”

Meanwhile, No. 2 Duke keeps trudging along under Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has won an ACC-record five straight tournament titles.

The deep Blue Devils (26-7 last year) would appear to be one of the favorites to make a trip to the Final Four in San Antonio.

Duke has senior point guard Chris Duhon, one of the game’s best three-point shooters in J.J. Redick, a beefed-up frontcourt and one of the nation’s best freshman in 6-foot-8 Luol Deng.

Williams won 418 games in 15 seasons at Kansas University, and should take the Tar Heels far in 2004 with five starters back, including preseason All-American point guard Raymond Felton.

However, Dean Smith’s protege is concerned over a lack of depth. Williams also hasn’t tried to force-feed too many new ideas to his young team.

“You’ve got to treat them more with kid gloves and be a little more understanding, yet still be demanding,” Williams said.

Wake Forest is 46-19 in two seasons under Skip Prosser and won last year’s regular-season race by two games over Duke and Maryland.

After lean seasons in Raleigh, N.C. State is coming off consecutive NCAA appearances for the first time since 1988-89. Coach Herb Sendek has also been to the ACC title game the last two seasons against Duke.