By: Luke Stone

The past week of basketball has brought some upheaval to the ACC Power Rankings. No. 21 Virginia Tech and no. 22 Miami now own the conference’s two longest winning streaks, North Carolina seems to have figured things out again, and NC State looks ready to permanently join the upper echelon of a league that, all of a sudden, looks formidable.

Here’s this week’s roundup. The number one spot is going to cause controversy here, so please note that the methodology being used here is, “If the team ranked in this spot played the team above/below it on a neutral floor 10 times, who would win more often?”

Tier 1 – Contenders

1. Miami Hurricanes (12-1)

Who’s playing better in the ACC right now? While the recency bias from their win against Virginia last night is inflating them a touch, they are playing outstanding basketball. Isaiah Wong is an elite three-level scorer with significant help in the backcourt from transfer Nijel Pack, both of whom average double figures. And that’s only half of their double-digit scorers.

6’7 “guard” Jordan Miller can score in bunches and defend just about anyone. Big man Norchad Omier can score from just about anywhere inside. They’re complete, they’re deep, and they’ve won eight in a row, including one against the team that’s held first place in both these first two power rankings.

They’re the best team in the conference right now.

2. Duke Blue Devils (10-3)

While three losses are the Blue Devils’ most before January 1st since the 1982-83 season, the upside of this young roster is still there. I’m disregarding Duke’s eleven-point loss to Wake Forest after their exam break.  Both Dereck Lively and Dariq Whitehead were hurt.

Who among the top teams in the nation would be able to win a road game without two five-stars? Not many. With another long layoff before they play Florida State on New Year’s Eve, Jon Scheyer’s squad has plenty of time to get rested, healthy, and back to playing at a high level.

3. North Carolina Tar Heels (9-4)

Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but I did write last week that it’d be foolish to count out North Carolina. That has certainly held true in the past eight days. The Tar Heels beat Ohio State 89-84 in Madison Square Garden last weekend and knocked off Michigan 80-76 in Charlotte on Wednesday night.

Armando Bacot scored 28 against Ohio State and 26 against Michigan. He seems to be playing like himself again. The same can be said of guards RJ Davis and Caleb Love.

Hubert Davis deserved the blame for the team’s skid earlier this year, but he now deserves the credit for this four-game win streak.

4. Virginia Cavaliers (8-2)

Virginia’s two games since their final exam layoff have some of its fans ringing the alarm bells. The Cavaliers lost 69-61 against no. 5 Houston and 66-64 against no. 22 Miami.

Guard Reece Beekman hasn’t looked right since tweaking his hamstring against JMU, guard Armaan Franklin is on a shooting cold spell reminiscent of last year’s nightmarish season, and freshman guard Ryan Dunn has been conspicuously underutilized after a breakout game earlier this month.

Their only two losses are to two teams that could find themselves in the top-15 next week, but uncharacteristic defensive lapses and offensive miscues have become increasingly concerning.

Tier 2 – Scrappy Spoilers

5. Virginia Tech Hokies (11-2)

The Hokies were making a real push to be ranked above Virginia until an inexplicable loss to lowly Boston College on Wednesday night. Virginia Tech’s depth is proving problematic. While its starting five is scary, their second unit kicked in just one point against BC. Over the Hokies’ past five games, their bench has averaged just 10.8 points. 

Tier 3 – Bubble Watch

6. NC State Wolfpack (10-3)

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Wolfpack as the first squad out of the NCAA Tournament field. They haven’t had a true resumé-building opportunity since their loss to Miami (a double-digit win against Louisville on Thursday night isn’t raising any eyebrows), but the next few weeks might just vault them onto the other side of the bubble.

First, the Wolfpack head to Clemson to play a Tiger team ranked 61st by ESPN’s Basketball Power Index. Conference road wins always help an at-large tournament hopeful. Five days later, though, the Wolfpack host the Duke Blue Devils.

Wins in both those games would do wonders for Kevin Keatts and Co., who are looking to advance to the Big Dance for the first time since 2018.

7. Clemson Tigers (10-3)

Clemson confuses me. They go out and lose to the worst Loyola-Chicago team since the Final Four run by 18 points, then follow it up with a 28-point win against Richmond and a 13-point win against Georgia Tech. 

8. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (9-4)

Had I compiled these power rankings over the weekend, Wake Forest would likely be somewhere south of tenth. Needless to say, a 24-point loss to Rutgers wasn’t inspiring much faith in me. But, THEY BEAT DUKE! It could be an anomaly.

But it could also be an indicator that Steve Forbes –  a high-caliber ACC coach – is turning the corner with this year’s roster after losing so much firepower from last year.

If they beat either Virginia Tech on New Year’s Eve or North Carolina the following week, their losses to Loyola Marymount, Clemson, LSU, and Rutgers are less incriminating.

Tier 4 – Bad

9. Pittsburgh Panthers (9-4)

Don’t care that they are 2-0 in conference play. Still lost to Vandy and only beat Syracuse by 2. Too lazy to figure out if they’re actually good.

10. Syracuse Orange (8-5)

The Orange were tied with Cornell at halftime and lost to Pitt at home. Need another sharpshooting Boeheim – pronto.

11. Florida State Seminoles (4-10)

Florida State has won three of four. The Seminoles are starting to look like the team we thought they’d be, but they are going to have to do a whole lot more to make up for the double-digit losses in the first two months of the season.

12. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7-5)

Winless in ACC play, the Jackets lost both by double digits. The people of Atlanta demand better, Josh Pastner!

13. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-5)

Bubble watch? More like hot seat watch for Mike Brey. The Irish have lost five of seven, including their last three to Marquette (KenPom no. 27 – not bad), Georgia (KenPom no. 96, not that bad), and Florida State (KenPom no. 149 – pretty bad). Panic mode!

14. Boston College Eagles (7-6)

Congrats to the Eagles on winning one of their five allotted ACC games per year! A little early to get the ball rolling, but that’s fine.

Tier 5 – Louisville

15. Louisville Cardinals (2-10)

What does Louisville have to do to join the rest of the ACC? Win a conference game. That’s it. Actually, not even that – just lose by five points or fewer in conference play. They’re currently being outscored 77.3-56.7

By: Luke Stone

Despite winning the ACC/Big Ten challenge 8-6, ACC basketball didn’t feel like winners two weeks ago. On December 1, preseason no. 1 North Carolina was in the midst of a four-game losing streak, Duke was days removed from a 19-point drubbing at the hands of now no. 1 Purdue, and Louisville still hadn’t won a game.

Fast forward to today: Duke is on the cusp of making the top 10, Carolina has finally strung some wins together and Louisville – still hasn’t won a game. Here’s the second volume of my ACC power rankings.

Tier 1 – Contenders

1. Virginia Cavaliers (8-0, 1-0 ACC)

Virginia is lucky it still has a zero in the loss column. After a spunky comeback road win against Michigan two weeks ago, the Cavaliers haven’t looked quite right. They scraped together five-point home victories against Florida State and JMU to keep the win streak alive but shot 38.5% from the floor and 25% from three. Against JMU, Virginia shot a paltry 50% (12 of 24) from the free-throw line. The reason for the slump? A hobbled Reece Beekman. 

The junior guard has faced limited minutes since tweaking his ankle in Ann Arbor. In fairness, though, the team is still undefeated, has played outstanding defense and has found countless ways to win. We’ll see if the streak continues and if Reece is finally healed up when no. 2 Virginia plays no. 5 Houston on Saturday in this week’s edition of “Non-Conference Clash of the Titans That Won’t Mean Anything Come March.” 

Not trying to disrespect awesome non-conference matchups or anything, but we as a basketballing society should avoid the temptation to overreact to these games. A head-to-head result from December 17 isn’t going to keep either of these teams from being a higher seed unless this game is decided by 20-plus.

2. Duke Blue Devils (10-2, 1-0)

Since the aforementioned blowout loss to Purdue, Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils have looked fantastic. They’re riding a four-game win streak that includes quality wins against ranked Ohio State and very-well-could-be-ranked Iowa.

Kyle Filipowski has emerged as an elite big man and Jeremy Roach has thrived as a playmaker and multi-level scorer at point guard. Even without Coach K, this still looks like the modern Duke team we’ve come to expect: One experienced starter with four scary, sizable freshmen. 

Its other starting guard Tyrese Proctor is 6’5, starting forward Mark Mitchell is 6’8, and its OTHER STARTING CENTER – Dereck Lively – is 7’1. If that five isn’t working, they are more than happy to throw in 6’7 freshman forward Dariq Whitehead into the mix to see what happens. Even if their shots aren’t falling, they’ll be hard to guard.

Tier 2 – Increasing Scary and Scrappy Spoilers

3. Virginia Tech Hokies (10-1, 1-0)

The AP voters got one right for once. These are not the same Hokies that pieced together an ACC Tournament run and squeaked into the bracket last March. They’re better. The Hokies have won five in a row – including three against power five opponents – and have looked fantastic.

Justyn Mutts, Sean Pedulla, and Grant Basile still average double figures and have continued to wow in recent weeks. Mike Young has proven he belongs in the top tier of ACC coaches and looks poised to have this team pushing for a four or five seed at least. 

4. Miami Hurricanes (10-1, 2-0)

Speaking of teams that the AP voters have noticed – the Miami Hurricanes! The only reason they’re lower than Virginia Tech is because they haven’t really won a big game yet. But they’re still a one-loss team – still ranked, still boasting a 27-point road win in the Yum! Center (an increasingly unimpressive feat) – and still a quality team until proven otherwise.

They’ll have a great opportunity for a great win when Virginia heads to the Watsco Center next Tuesday.

Tier 3 – Carolina’s Holding Cell

5. North Carolina Tar Heels (7-4, 1-1)

I tried to find so many ways to put Carolina lower than this, but I just couldn’t. Listen – I know they’re not that far away from being 4-7. I know Caleb Love is playing like Russell Westbrook (the last couple seasons version, not MVP version).

 I know an opposing coach said to ESPN, “the shots Love took in the Alabama game, he might as well drop-kick the ball at the rim and say f— it. Teams that aren’t great shooting teams shouldn’t hunt those shots early in the clock, but they shoot it like they’re the Splash Brothers.” 

But the ACC is so top-heavy that this is the only tier that works for them.

Also, it’d be foolish to rule out a team that lost one player from a Final Four run and added Northwestern transfer Pete Nance. They’re not playing their best basketball right now, but they’re about two weeks of good play away from being right back in the mix for the ACC regular season title.

Tier 4 – Kevin Keatts’s Bubble Watch Extravaganza!

6. NC State Wolfpack (9-3, 0-2)

That’s right–the ‘Pack have conquered the bubble watch tier and exiled Mike Brey and Notre Dame! While NC State is, in fact, 0-2 in conference play, their close loss to Kansas in the Battle 4 Atlantis and decent wins against Dayton and Butler are propping up their NCAA Tournament hopes. Upcoming tussles with Vanderbilt, Louisville and Clemson should provide chances to right the ship.

Tier 5 – Hello, New York City! (For the NIT Semifinal at Madison Square Garden)

7. Syracuse Orange (7-4, 1-0)

Things were looking bleak for Jim Boeheim and the Orange a few weeks back. After a gutsy overtime win against Richmond in the Vivid Seats Empire (so-called) “Classic,” Syracuse fired off losses to St. John’s, Bryant and Illinois. Since then, though, they’ve won four straight by an average of 16 points. Like always, it seems that they’ll be a tough out.

8. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (7-3, 0-1)

Wake has been disappointing to watch recently. After they beat Wisconsin in the ACC/Big Ten challenge, I thought the Deacs might’ve been piecing something together. Instead, they followed up that great resume builder with an inexplicable blowout loss to Clemson (see tier six) and a home loss to LSU. However, the season is young, their coach is good, and the conference is pretty bad from here on down. So, they’re eighth for now.

9. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-3, 0-1)

This team almost fooled me. They beat No. 20 Michigan State by 18 – thoroughly trouncing them. But as they are trained to do, they immediately squashed any momentum they might’ve built with a loss to Syracuse, a white-knuckle six-point win against Boston University (not Boston College) and a 15-point loss to Marquette. Also, Michigan State is no longer ranked.

Tier 6 – Bad

10. Clemson Tigers (8-3, 1-0)

Lost to Loyola-Chicago (5-5) by 18. Don’t know why they beat Wake by so many. Not a good team.

11. Pittsburgh Panthers (7-4, 1-0)

Lost to Vanderbilt (5-5) by 1. Don’t know why they beat NC State on the road. Not a good team.

12. Florida State Seminoles (3-9, 1-1)

This team should eventually climb out of the ACC dungeon. But for now, their three wins are against Louisville, SC Upstate and Siena. They almost beat UVA and Purdue though! (kinda)

13. Boston College Eagles (6-6, 0-1)

Lost to Duke (75-59 – good team) by exactly the same score as Georgia Tech lost to Carolina (75-59 – not as good a team). Tie goes to the better blowout loss.

14. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (6-4, 0-1)

How to gauge Georgia Tech’s chances in a game: If you’ve never met anyone who goes to or went to the opposing school, they’ll probably win. If you have, they’re probably losing.

Tier 7 – Louisville

15. Louisville Cardinals (0-9, 0-2)

Kenny Pain. 🙁