TNIAAM ACC MBB Power Rankings for February 10th: Duke’s undefeated season slips away

but the Blue Devils are still the ACC’s best shot

It’s February and football is over, and while many wish the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball season was finished too, we’ve got another month to go. Let’s get to this week’s ACC rankings:

1: Duke Blue Devils (20-3, 12-1)

Clemson figured out the way to stop Cooper Flagg and it’s cranking the heat up to force him to cramp and sweat enough to turn the court into a water slide.

2. Clemson Tigers (19-5, 11-2)

Would have had the top spot but losing to Georgia Tech means you need two wins over Duke to pass them. We don’t make the rules….well actually we do so that’s our rule.

3. Louisville Cardinals (18-6, 11-2)

Won without Chucky and hopefully the NCAA committee lines up a potential Louisville-St John’s 2nd round matchup.

4. SMU Mustangs (18-5, 9-3)

Two big home games with Pitt and Wake coming to Dallas. SMU probably needs both to stay in the bubble conversation. Boopie deserves a March spotlight

5. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (18-6, 10-3)

Speaking of teams needing wins, a road win over SMU would be a big deal for Steve Forbes’ crew.

6. Stanford Cardinal (16-8, 8-5)

Maxime Raynaud might not win ACC POY but he should be talked about a lot more for keeping Stanford in the top half of the league.

7. UNC Tar Heels (14-10, 7-5)

Huge opportunity tonight at Clemson. UNC’s looking like a NIT team but a couple of Q1 wins would change that.

8. Pitt Panthers (14-9, 5-7)

Pitt’s promising season is sliding away but they’ve got Miami, Syracuse and Notre Dame coming up so there’s time to bounce back.

9. Virginia Tech Hokies (11-13, 6-7)

Starting to emerge from the bottom of the pile. The Hokies went from the basement to pushing for an ACC Tournament bye.

10. Florida State Seminoles (14-9, 5-7)

Leonard Hamilton is the latest of the ACC “Old Guard” to be leaving. It will be interesting to see who FSU goes with and does this mean Brad Brownell is now the ACC Principal?

11. Syracuse Orange (11-13, 5-8)

Battled BC to see who wanted to lose more and some Orange fans were disappointed that Syracuse simply let the Eagles out-awful them in the final 1 ¹⁄₂ overtimes.

12. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (11-13, 5-8)

Clemson owes Damon Stoudamire’s team for knocking them off and setting up a renewed focus before Duke,

13. Virginia Cavaliers (12-12, 5-8)

We found it fitting that the game honoring Tony Bennett was shown on a split-screen for so long. It probably made Tony feel like the game was being played on one end of the floor and it looks like rumors of Bennett taking another college job seem unlikely

14. California Golden Bears (12-12, 5-8)

Heading east to play Duke and Georgia Tech this week so a split would make for a happy flight home.

15. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-13, 4-8)

Really expected them to be better when Markus Burton came back. Perhaps the most disappointing team in the ACC this year.

16. NC State Wolfpack (9-14, 2-10)

Or maybe it’s the Final Four team that’s dropped to the danger zone?

17. Boston College Eagles (10-13, 2-10)

Can’t see a way in which Earl Grant returns to BC next year, but where do they go from here?

18. Miami Hurricanes (5-18, 1-11)

Miami is finally starting to play better….just in time for Syracuse’s visit.

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What did we get wrong this week?