It’s been another wild week in college basketball, and at the center of that upheaval was none other than the ACC/B1G Challenge. It started off well, with Miami coming back from 20 down to beat Purdue and take the ACC one up… But then the conference promptly lost six games in a row to close out the first day. Somehow, they rebounded with wins in all four games the following day. With three games postponed, we didn’t get the full scope of the conference as anticipated, but the crazy slate of games still caused some massive shifts in our rankings. Let’s check it out.
Tier 1
1) North Carolina –
No, Carolina did not have a good week. They suffered their second straight defeat, this time at the hands of Iowa, before returning home and winning by just six against North Carolina Central. It’s tough to fault the Heels for losing to the third-ranked Hawkeyes, who are in a class of their own along with Baylor and Gonzaga. Carolina even did a fairly good job on Luka Garza, “holding” him to 16 points (though allowing him 14 boards). As for the NC Central game, it was not as close as the final score indicated, the Heels building to a 14-point lead along the way. Everybody gets a pass this year in this league, and the Heels still look like number one.
2) Virginia –
The Hoos stay put at second after not playing this week. At their best, Virginia has looked far and away the best team in this conference. The problem is that they’ve played three halves and one overtime period at that level, and the rest of the time they’ve been indistinguishable from, say, Wake. With a monumental game coming up against top-ten opponent Villanova, hopefully the Hoos will pick one of those sides—preferably the one that has them as one of the best teams in the nation.
3) Florida State ▲1
Notching two rock-solid wins, the week could hardly have gone any better for Florida State. It was a sneaky good Indiana team that Scottie Barnes vanquished with his last-second bucket, and a very good Florida squad that the Noles defeated by 12 to follow that up. Leonard Hamilton has his guys playing impressive defense, and with MJ Walker leading four players in double-digits scoring for the year, the Noles are a well-rounded group that has proven they can beat good opponents.
4) Duke ▼1
Duke was never in their game against Illinois, but the Illini shot an astounding 64% from three and 58% from the field. While Illinois is a great team that played a nearly flawless game, some of that has to go down to defensive flaws. Duke couldn’t get it together on the offensive end either, failing to reach 70 points in a second consecutive game. With only four nonconference games, it might take longer than usual for the Blue Devils to get it together, but they have all the pieces to do so eventually.
5) Clemson ▲2
In three weeks, Clemson has already accumulated four power-five wins. I have no official stat, but I’ll be darned if that’s not top five in the nation. A dominant win over Maryland was followed up by a pretty comfortable one over Alabama this week. Brad Brownell’s balanced squad is cruising, and if Clemson was playing anybody else in this league tomorrow, my money would be on the Tigers. With that said, they’re at fifth because the teams above have more potential upside, but if they keep this up as the season wears on it will become harder and harder to deny the Tigers a higher ranking.
6) Louisville ▼1
Through no fault of their own, the Cardinals drop down a spot. They didn’t play this week, and with games against UNC Greensboro and NC State postponed, they won’t play again until the 22nd. So just to reiterate: Louisville has also looked better than expected early on. They’ve been playing stout defense, and Carlik Jones leads four other players scoring in double figures. We’ll see what they look like coming out of a two week break.
Tier 2
7) Syracuse ▲3
Playing Rutgers close for 38 minutes without Buddy Boeheim was an accomplishment in and of itself. But then Boeheim returned for Syracuse’s ACC opener at Boston College, and by the time the Orange were through with the Eagles they’d dropped 103 points and won by 38. They hit more than 15 threes for the second time this season in that game, cementing their status as a team that’s going to rely heavily on the deep ball. That shooting prowess is going to threaten top teams at times, but when the Orange go cold they might suffer some bad losses.
8) NC State –
The Wolfpack have had four of their six scheduled games canceled so far. They’ll finally get back onto the court on Saturday against Campbell, before they open ACC play by hosting North Carolina in what promises to be a fun game. There’s nothing new to comment on, but one thing to watch for going forward is DJ Funderburk. His minutes have been limited, and Funderburk started the most recent game from the bench. It’s unclear what’s behind that, but for someone who considered declaring for the draft last year it’s an interesting note.
9) Miami ▼3
Despite Chris Lykes missing his second straight game and Kameron McGusty suffering an injury early on, the loss to FGCU exposes some problems with the Hurricanes. Without Lykes—and to a lesser extent, McGusty—on the floor, Jim Larranaga is coaching a totally different team. There’s no doubt that Miami’s bigger problems will be fixed when those two resume playing, but nonetheless it’s worrying to observe the extent to which Miami relies on them.
10) Georgia Tech ▲1
In light of their two most recent performances, I think it’s time for some cautious optimism on behalf of this team. Wins over Kentucky and Nebraska are nothing to hang your hat on (given how both are playing thus far), but they do mark a return to consistent basketball. Moses Wright and his four guards have been simply outstanding, and the Yellow Jackets should slowly trend upwards. That said, there’s no explanation for the opening two losses, so they stay in much the same place.
Tier 3
11) Notre Dame ▲2
Again, a win over a historically bad Kentucky team is nothing to wave around, but in Notre Dame’s case it came after an impressive outing at Ohio State. They almost stole that game from the Buckeyes, and new scoring options are emerging for Mike Brey. The problem lies in the depth for Notre Dame. They go six deep, and that’s being generous. Depth may not be as much of a factor with all the cancellations that are bound to happen, but it’s still a major issue as the season trundles on.
12) Virginia Tech ▼3
I wrote in last week’s edition that “I need to see more out of the Hokies before I trust them to collapse on me.” Yeah, suffice it to say that a 20-point home loss to Penn State is not helping those trust levels. The final score was kind to Virginia Tech, who trailed by 31 midway through the second half. Add to that the scare against VMI and beating Villanova in Bubbleville already feels like it’s in the distant past. It’s well past time to hit the panic button in Blacksburg.
13) Pittsburgh ▲2
Congratulations to the Justin Champagnie Panthers, who have vacated the final seat at the table and moved a couple spots in the right direction. Champagnie was giving off John Mooney vibes with his 20-20 performance and game winning jam at Northwestern. He’s had help from very skilled guards, and Pitt has been impressive over the last four games. With a depleted Miami squad coming up, it’s a chance for Pitt to notch another win and shake off the monkey of an early loss to Saint Francis.
Tier 4
14) Wake Forest –
Wake Forest has still only played two games due to COVID-19 issues within the program. There wasn’t much to glean from wins over Delaware State and Longwood, and with over two weeks until they play again, we might not get a good picture of this team until mid-January.
15) Boston College ▼3
If you took point values off the board and sat down to watch Boston College’s six games, you’d probably come to the conclusion that they’re a decent team. The problem lies in the fact that there are, unfortunately, numbers that correspond with what’s going on on the court. Those numbers have fallen in BC’s favor exactly once in six games. All of their losses have been to power-six opposition, so there’s some excuse, but basketball is ultimately about winning games. The Eagles have quite simply not done that.
Image – UVA Athletics