With less than three weeks remaining in the ACC regular season, four men remain serious contenders for the conference's coach of the year award. Three of them ply their trade right here in the Triangle, otherwise known as the center of the college basketball universe.

In future posts, as long as their teams continue to win at their current/impressive paces, we'll take a closer look at North Carolina's Roy Williams (15-6, 6-4, fourth place, picked sixth), N.C. State's Herb Sendek (19-5, 8-3, second place, picked fourth) and/or Virginia's Dave Leitao (12-9, 6-5 ACC, fifth place, picked 12th).

Mike Krzyzewski, Duke: There have been two coaches in the history of ACC basketball whose career-long bodies of work were so impressive that they ended up complicating their own candidacies for the league's coach of the year award. North Carolina's Dean Smith (only two awards over his last 18 seasons) was one. Krzyzewski is the other.

Does anyone really believe that Coach K has done the best coaching job in the conference only three times (1997, 1999, 2000) in the past 19 seasons? Of course not. He is, in this narrow sense, a victim of the high expectations that his own presence helps to create.

The COY award most often goes to the leader of the team that exceeds preseason predictions by the widest margin. In part because of Coach K, the Blue Devils typically have been projected to finish at or near the top of the ACC. A relatively even race this season? Duke will end up on top somehow. The Devils are a bit shorthanded this time? Coach K will figure something out. It's obviously difficult to exceed expectations when they are so consistently high.

Heading into 2005-06, Duke was picked to finish atop the ACC standings, and deservedly so. In J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams, the Blue Devils returned a first-team All-American and the national defensive player of the year. They also had two other experienced seniors (Sean Dockery, Lee Melchionni), plus two of the most touted freshmen (Josh McRoberts, Greg Paulus) in the nation. That's a pretty nice-looking hand for any coach to hold.

But at 24-1 overall and 12-0 in the ACC, Duke is breathing some rarified air. In 52 seasons, only eight conference teams have finished with perfect league records: 1957 UNC, 1963 Duke, 1970 South Carolina, 1973 N.C. State, 1974 N.C. State, 1984 UNC, 1987 UNC and 1999 Duke. Since the 16-game ACC schedule started in 1991-92, only the 1999 Blue Devils have finished it without a blemish.

Here's the schedule that now stands between this Duke team and only the second 16-0 mark in ACC history: Miami (Feb. 19), at Georgia Tech (Feb. 22), at Florida State (March 1), North Carolina (March 4). The Blue Devils will be favored by significant margins in all four games. They also have a Feb. 25 road trip to Temple, but that contest obviously will have no impact on this particular pursuit.

In case you're wondering, yes, some of the coaches on the undefeated teams listed above were passed over in the COY voting. Five of the men, including Krzyzewski in 1999, won the award. The three who didn't were USC's Frank McGuire in 1970 (NCSU's Norm Sloan won), UNC's Smith in 1984 (Coach K) and Smith again in 1987 (Clemson's Cliff Ellis).

Krzyzewski has, by far, the best combination of talent and experience in the conference this season. Nobody disputes that. Three of his five starters (Redick, Williams, McRoberts) will be first-round NBA draft choices, and two of them are seniors. That doesn't happen very often anymore.

But Coach K's game plans have masked his squad's few weaknesses (perimeter defense, overall quickness, rebounding) and put his stars in position to succeed. Only one other ACC team (UNC) has had to adjust to two or more rookie starters on a regular basis. Only one other contender (Miami) has lost a key player to injury for a lengthy period, as happened to the Devils with sophomore guard DeMarcus Nelson.

Coach K's team also seems to be getting better with each passing week -- witness the recent performances by McRoberts (at UNC) and Paulus (at Maryland) -- and that's another traditional sign of good coaching. The coach's methods again have resulted in mostly intelligent play and the most consistently aggressive efforts in the conference, both at home and on the road. That's coaching, too.

So, yes, Coach K clearly has the best cards at the ACC table this year. But as anyone in Las Vegas will tell you, holding the best cards and winning the hand in "perfect" fashion are two things that don't go together very often.