Here we are. We’ve reached the final weekend of the college basketball regular season, with just seven games separating us from the ACC Tournament. We’ve also reached the final basketball installment of the All Sports Discussion ACC Basketball Power Rankings. For everyone who has read along the way, thanks for joining the ride. Here’s to an exciting March, and for the #goacc to avoid your favorite team during this monumental month of madness.
1 – Virginia: UVa clinched the ACC regular season championship this week, which brought out one of my least favorite Twitter exercises of every ACC basketball season: The one where one fanbase rightfully celebrates being the best team in the league since January while the 14 others say ‘THERE’S NO REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP!!!! THAT’S NOT THE REAL CONFERENCE TITLE!!!!!!’ It’s old. It’s petty. It’s dumb. Stop, Twitter.
2 – Duke: Duke has won three times since we last met, giving them ten straight wins and a perfect run through February. Not a bad wave to be riding into Chapel Hill Saturday night … just leave this dog behind, please.
3 – Notre Dame: Mechanical issues delayed the Irish’s arrival in Louisville, but it couldn’t stop them from picking up a big ACC road win against a fellow ranked team.
4 – Louisville: All is not lost for Louisville, though. For one, they still have Montrezl Harrell, who has had Jim Ross’ voice dubbed over his dunks by fellow #goacc enthusiast Will Thompson all season.
5 – North Carolina: Thanks to Georgia Tech, UNC was able to celebrate Theo Pinson’s and Stilman White’s triumphant returns from foot injuries, debut mid-season JV callup Spenser Dalton, and Luke Davis’ first action of the season. Why have one human victory cigar on your team when you can have four?
6 – NC State: Remember when NC State beat North Carolina and all was right in Raleigh? Then losing to Boston College happened, and they tried really hard to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at Clemson. Hopefully the orange team they host Saturday won’t prove as challenging.
7 – Miami: Miami’s basketball season reads like a Seismometer in California. We beat ranked Charlotte twice! We’re 8-0! We went double-OT with Virginia and beat Duke! We lost to Georgia Tech and Wake Forest! Through it all, Lunardi has them listed as a First Four Out.
8 – Syracuse: Two losses for the Orange this week. but both were to the top two teams in the ACC. So at least they weren’t Pittsburgh…
9 – Pittsburgh: … who lost to Miami and Wake Forest. The Panthers were such a tease in February, but it appears their efforts will be in vain without a strong showing in the ACC Tournament.
10 – Clemson: Gabe DeVoe scored 18 points in six minutes against NC State, compared to 12 points in 113 minutes in every game prior. #NCStateSheet, a fantastic send-off to Littlejohn, or a guy who should have been playing more? You make the call!
11 – Florida State: FSU had the mid-week segment off this week, which was great because it allowed everyone to enjoy speculation over whether or not the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would select Jameis Winston – who has filed a trademark for Famous Jameis – in a draft that is nearly two months away. Good timing on that, ACC schedule makers!
12 – Boston College: A weird thing happened this week. Olivier Hanlan got some scoring support from his teammates, and Boston College won two games! As our very own @hokiesmash pointed out on Twitter, the comparisons between Erick Green’s senior year at Virginia Tech and this BC team are startling.
13 – Virginia Tech: Who likes pizza? BUZZ WILLIAMS LIKES PIZZA! I also like pizza. I am now craving a Papa John’s Barbecue Chicken Pizza. It’s like Bojangles’ and Papa John’s having a beautiful pizza baby together. Thank you, Buzz Williams. I now want pizza. And so do you, reader!
14 – Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons bounced back from getting doubled-up by Virginia with a win over Pittsburgh. It wasn’t a stellar year for the first-time ACC coaches, but there were enough glimpses of promise from both the Hokies and Deacons to think good things could be on the horizon.
15 – Georgia Tech: Mercifully, Georgia Tech’s regular season is over. We are likely a trip to Greensboro away from saying the same about Brian Gregory’s tenure in Atlanta.
Until next season, peace, love, and #goacc.
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