Welcome back to the ACC Basketball Power Rankings. If you missed them yesterday (you didn’t), I held off a day realizing that Thursday and Friday are typically the off days in this year’s ACC schedules. Maybe I could have done a little research before starting this weekly practice and done it on Thursday all along, but my tutor didn’t write it into my paper so I’m not sure what you expected from me.
1 – Duke: Duke got its first big scare of the season last night … against Wake Forest? Welcome to the ACC, or the #goacc, where Tim Brando makes forced Bruno Mars references.
2 – Virginia: The Cavaliers scored 89 points beating Miami on Saturday and only 61 last night against NC State. You have to love that versatility, but methinks they are far more comfortable with the latter.
3 – Louisville: All of the good teams last night got a scare, and the Cardinals were no exception. Clemson led Louisville at halftime, but a second-half rally pushed the home team ahead.
4 – Notre Dame: The Irish came out on top of a battle of teams playing with just one off day since their last game, beating North Carolina 71-70. It just didn’t feel the same without a controversial roughing the snapper call, though.
5 – North Carolina: A friendly reminder or notification for those following UNC’s academic scandal from afar: If you saw on the news this week somebody was fired by the university, there’s a good chance this person has been gone since October and The Daily Tar Heel told you about it, it just hadn’t been made official by the university.
6 – NC State: Take the pellet guns and BB guns away from NC State athletes. Wait, what is the difference between a pellet gun and a BB gun? Someone enlighten me, especially if you aren’t an NC State athlete and therefore won’t get suspended for shooting either at other people’s property trying to find the answer.
7 – Pittsburgh: If the Panthers had a come-from-behind win last night but their fans are still trying to figure out how they lost the Armed Forces Bowl, did it really happen?
8 – Miami: The Hurricanes have struck a massive deal with Adidas that will run 12 years. The university doesn’t have to share the specifics (since they are a private school), but if it is on par annually with Louisville’s Adidas deal, it will be worth $90-95 million over the span of the contract. That’s way more useful than Nevin Shapiro.
9 – Syracuse: The Orange won two ACC games this week … against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech … by a combined three points. Let’s just say they won two ACC games this week.
10 – Georgia Tech: As I’m writing this, it is currently 20 degrees in my hometown. Which reminds me of the time last year UNC had to use public transit just to get to their Atlanta hotel for Georgia Tech? But hey, they got to the game and so did the officials, so we can totally play the game! And the ACC thought that would work for UNC-Duke a month later despite Chapel Hill’s obvious lack of subways! That was good times. The ACC has fixed this policy, right? Nah?
11 – Clemson: It was a loss, but Wednesday’s showing against Louisville was much more impressive than their home game against UNC. By which I mean they made more than five shots in the first half.
12 – Boston College: Give BC this, their ability to blow a 10-point lead with three minutes left was Pitt-football-esque. Clearly the Eagles made a New Year’s Resolution to be more charitable in 2015.
13 – Florida State: Despite 14 turnovers from wide receivers and two RKO’s, the Seminoles defeated Virginia Tech Tuesday night. OUTTA NOWHERE!
14 – Wake Forest: They certainly aren’t one of the more talented teams in the conference, but over the last two seasons Wake Forest has proven they will go toe-to-toe with anyone when playing in Lawrence Joel Coliseum. Their tilt with Duke was merely a polite reminder.
15 – Virginia Tech: The Hokies’ next four games: At Louisville, at North Carolina, vs. Notre Dame, vs. Virginia.
Until next week, peace, love, and #goacc.
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