Will anyone beat Duke?
Now that the holidays are over, we can turn our #jokesandgarbage attention back to ACC Men’s Basketball. Will there be any teams below the Syracuse Orange. Let’s get to this week’s rankings:
1: Duke Blue Devils (12-2, 4-0)
We’re not saying Jim Phillips is placing all his hopes on Duke, but word out of Durham is that the ACC hired people to carry Cooper Flagg to his classes so nothing happens to his ankles.
2. Clemson Tigers (12-3, 4-0)
Brad Brownell has to be the biggest proponent for the proposed 5th year of eligibility because Clemson’s only become a winning team with super-seniors.
3. Pitt Panthers (12-2, 3-0)
We’d say something again about Jeff Capel and patience with coaches taking over programs lacking talent, but it’s not going to change anyone’s mind.
4. SMU Mustangs (11-3, 2-1)
The bad news for future P4 expansion candidates is that when they tell you that you aren’t getting tv revenue right away, it’s because SMU showed it isn’t a problem.
5. Louisville Cardinals (10-5, 3-1)
Chucky Hepburn was a pretty good portal investment.
6. UNC Tar Heels (9-6, 2-1)
While they’ve already engraved Cooper Flagg’s name on the ACC ROY award, Ian Jackson’s gone for 23+ in the last four.
7. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11-4, 3-1)
Everyone’s shooting gets better against Syracuse, but a player like Hunter Sallis means Wake has a chance every night.
8. NC State Wolfpack (8-6, 1-2)
Haven’t had a really bad loss, so we’ll keep them here for now.
9. Stanford Cardinal (9-5, 1-2)
It will be interesting to see how the conference travel schedule impacts them and Cal over the next month.
10. Florida State Seminoles (10-4, 1-2)
If they can avoid more lawsuits, FSU could be a dangerous team when we get to the ACC Tournament. It seems like they play 10 guys with a 7-foot wingspan.
Matt Cashore-Imagn Images
11. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-7, 1-2)
Markus Burton is back so we give the Irish the benefit over some teams with better records. This team has auto-bid potential….and let’s face it Jim Phillips needs to make sure someone gets an auto bid again this year.
12. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-7, 2-2)
Three wins in a row and with over 80 points in each, they might drop 95 on the Orange tomorrow night.
13. Virginia Cavaliers (8-6, 1-2)
Virginia is averaging 61.4 points per game, which is 360th in the country. That will only put them on pace to score 75 when they face Syracuse.
14. Syracuse Orange (6-8, 0-3)
“Can they avoid drowning until JJ Starling returns? Can Orange fans show a bit of patience with Adrian Autry?”
The answers are No….but there might be several teams in the ACC that are worse.
15. Boston College Eagles (9-6, 1-3)
Rallied to beat Miami but it’s not that impressive when you see that Cam Ward sat out the second half for the Canes.
16. California Golden Bears (7-7, 0-3)
Worth watching to see Andrej Stojakovic play. Next year he’ll be at San Francisco to complete the Bay Area trifecta.
17. Virginia Tech Hokies (6-8, 1-2)
The other ACC team which rallied to beat Miami after Cam Ward chose to sit out the second half.
18. Miami Hurricanes (4-10, 0-3)
If your Head Coach walks away during the season, it’s easy to put you at the bottom of these rankings.
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What did we get wrong this week?