Four of North Carolina's private universities are considered top values, according to a new magazine analysis.

Kiplinger's Personal Finance likes Duke, Davidson, Elon and Wake Forest.

Read more about it here. 

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Ted Roof, a successful defensive coach at Georgia Tech who struggled as a head coach at Duke, has been named defensive coordinator at Auburn by new coach Gene Chizik.

The 45-year-old Roof spent last season as defensive coordinator at Minnesota, which improved from 119th nationally in total defense in 2007 to 79th under his direction.

"Ted has a wealth of experience and success as a defensive coach, and philosophically, we think alike," Chizik said Tuesday.

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' women's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 4, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:

Others receiving votes: Wake Forest 23, Iowa St. 21, New Mexico 19, DePaul 8, Indiana 7, South Florida 5, St. John's 5, San Diego St. 2, Xavier 2, LSU 1, Middle Tennessee 1, Wisconsin 1. 

As expected, North Carolina's 85-78 loss to Boston College Sunday cost the Tar Heels the top spot in this week's college basketball poll.

Undefeated Pittsburgh (14-0) is the new No. 1 in The AP Top 25 released this afternoon, one of a record nine Big East teams in the Top 25.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski appears to be committed to keeping sophomore forward Kyle Singler from having to take a lot of punishment in the post this season.

Singler got worn down and became less effective in the late stages of last season because he had to play center. This season, Brian Zoubek is in the starting lineup at center after being limited by injuries in 2007-08.

That allows Singler to play facing the basket on offense and defend away from the low post on defense.

• UNC is not perfect
• Duke can win without the 3-pointer
• N.C. State is getting better

UNC is not perfect

The Tar Heels are still the best team in the ACC and the country, they're just not perfect.

Free throws, of all things, doomed UNC in the ACC opener. That and a very, un-Dean/Roy-like comeback strategy that relied on 3-pointers instead of 2s.

UNC was flinging 3s from 5 minutes in as if the ball was on fire — way too rushed and way too soon in the game.

Staff photo by Chuck Liddy

DURHAM — No matter how the ACC season ends, Duke can make one claim that UNC can't — the Blue Devils won their conference opener.

Duke started ACC play with a 69-44 home win over Virginia Tech on Sunday night, tipping off minutes after Boston College stunned the Tar Heels 85-78 in Chapel Hill.

A vintage Duke defensive effort, holding the Hokies to just 13 points in the second half, and 19 points from Kyle Singler, made sure the Blue Devils didn't follow the Heels into the loss column.

It’s way too early to start going through the 2009 ACC schedule game by game and predicting who might win the league. But here’s an early ranking of the teams in terms of the talent they should have returning in 2009: