The ball left Nathan Bain’s hand, hit the square on the backboard, and fell through the rim as the buzzer sounded. While the two rows of purple-clad fans behind the Stephen F. Austin bench erupted in delight, the roughly 9,000 Dukies packed into Cameron Indoor Stadium stared on in complete and utter disbelief. As the Lumberjack bench jumped up in celebration and rushed to Bain, the terrible truth began to set in for the Duke fans; They had just lost at home to Stephen F. Austin, a school which has as many NCAA tournament appearances as the Blue Devils have national championships. An already terrible week became worse when Duke lost 5-star guard Cassius Stanley a few days later to a leg injury. So, in summary, quite a bad week for the ACC’s (permanent?) preseason champion.
10 miles down Tobacco Road, there was a very different feeling in the air. Playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis, North Carolina defeated Alabama before losing to Michigan (who won the tournament) and then rebounding to take third place, defeating No. 11 Oregon. For Carolina, the point can be made that it was a fairly successful tournament. Losing to Michigan, a team which found itself ranked fourth in the polls is nothing to be ashamed of, and beating Oregon is impressive. More importantly, however, is the emergence of scorers not named Cole Anthony. Armando Bacot had been improving steadily, and he burst onto the national radar in the Oregon game, putting up an impressive 23 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 blocks. There’s a lot to look forward to for Tar Heel fans.
1. Louisville Cardinals
If one thing can be said for certain about the ACC in the opening month, it’s that Louisville has looked far and away the best team. Out of their seven opponents, the Cardinals have never really let a team into a game. It has been complete domination. With Jordan Nwora looking like a top-tier player, and with Ryan McMahon and Dwayne Sutton providing support, the Cardinals have a well-rounded team. In fact, those three players are all shooting above 50% from deep. And no, that was not a typo. The bottom line? Louisville is really freaking good. ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: No. 4 Michigan
2. North Carolina Tar Heels
Before you leave this article in protest, hear me out. This is not like a poll, in which you look at last week, see who won or lost, and move them up or down accordingly. These rankings are compiled based on how good every team looks at this point, not whether they won or lost. Therefore, I have UNC sitting at second because they look like a better team right now. I have already discussed Carolina, and there’s not much more to say right now. However, it is worth noting Carolina’s upcoming schedule (Hint: It is a doozy). The Heels have No. 6 Ohio State, followed by No. 5 Virginia (in Charlottesville), a brief respite against Wofford, and then finally a cross-country trip to No. 9 Gonzaga. Not to mention Carolina is coming off three consecutive games against Alabama, (now) No. 4 Michigan, and No. 13 Oregon. There’s scheduling tough in non-conference, and then there’s this. Hold on to your hats, Tar Heel fans, it’s about to get wild. ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: No. 6 Ohio State
3. Virginia Cavaliers
It is widely acknowledged that this Virginia team has the best defense in college basketball this year, and maybe even ever… But there’s another side of the court as well. The offensive struggles this year have left ‘Hoos fans wondering if this team has the firepower to win big games. Scoring no higher than 65 points and only scoring 42 on one occasion is certainly troublesome. And that 42? It came against Maine. So it’s definitely fair to say there are questions that need answering on the offensive end. Looking on the bright side, Jay Huff has emerged and Mamadi Diakite and Kihei Clark are looking good. There is hope that the team will get its act together in the off-week, before traveling to Purdue and taking on No. 6 UNC. ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: @Purdue
4. Florida State Seminoles
Since losing to Pitt the first game of the season, FSU has went on a tear, ripping off seven straight wins, including over No. 17 Tennessee and Purdue. FSU has looked like a complete team, ranking an impressive third in adjusted defense in the KenPom rankings, albeit 52nd in adjusted offense. More importantly, the Seminoles have looked consistent since their loss to Pitt, something other ACC teams cannot claim(*Cough* Duke). ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: @Indiana
5. Duke Blue Devils
I guess I sound like a broken record at this point, but Duke has looked incredibly inconsinsent. Add to that the SFA loss and the Cassius Stanley injury and you have a team sliding down an icy slope with no ends in sight. And Krzyzewski’s claim that he “was not good” for the SFA game? Come on. As excuses go, that’s pretty lame. At least come up with something believable. Anyway, Duke has some gaping holes to close before their first ACC game against Virginia Tech this week. ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: No. 11 Michigan State
6. Clemson Tigers
Clemson defeated TCU by two before losing narrowly to No. 21 Colorado by four. Going back to the theme of consistency, the Tigers have looked it so far. They have the look of a team that can hang around late against good teams. Clemson boasts four double-digit scorers, and looks a pretty solid defensive team thus far. Overall, they’re a well rounded team that could cause trouble for the ACC’s top tier.
ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: @Minnesota
7. North Carolina State Wolfpack
NC State hung around with No 16 Memphis this week before losing in the final seconds. They are an odd team, in the sense that they have four players in CJ Bryce, Devon Daniels, Markell Johnson, and DJ Funderburk who are capable of taking over a game. Any one of them is apt to score over 20 points in any game, leading them to be a potentially dangerous team. However, on the other side of the ball, there are concerns. The Wolfpack have surrendered an average of nearly 80 points against Power Six opponents. While good on the offensive end, they’re not going to win many games in the ACC if they give up 80 routinely.
ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: Wisconsin
8. Pittsburgh Panthers
Since losing to West Virginia, Pitt has won four straight, including wins over two Power Six opponents. Pitt has a very balanced scoring attack, which might be a good thing except it’s so balanced that they don’t have a player averaging more than 12.3 points. Without that go-to scorer Pitt could have occasional problems on offense. Hopefully for the Panther faithful though, they can use their defense to get through those stretches–a defense that has only allowed over 61 points once (in the debacle against Nicholls State).
ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: Rutgers
9. Virginia Tech Hokies
So… yeah, fair to say that Virginia Tech falls into the category of (extremely) inconsistent teams within the ACC. The Hokies defeated No. 11 Michigan State before losing by a combined 50 points against Dayton and BYU. Yes, Mike Young is still figuring it out in his first year at Virginia Tech, but losing by a combined 50 to non Power Six schools right after a convincing win against MSU takes ‘early season anomalies’ to a whole new level.
ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: N/A
10. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
While Notre Dame hasn’t lost a game since its defeat to North Carolina in the first game of the season, they haven’t exactly dominated the opposition. The Irish won by 10 or less against Marshall, Presbyterian, and Toledo–who they beat by a mere 2 points. Regardless, John Mooney has been playing some very good basketball for Mike Brey. The senior forward averages 14.3 points and an absurd 13 rebounds. Mooney has put the team on his back as of late.
ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: @No. 3 Maryland
11. Syracuse Orange
After only scoring 34 against Virginia there were some concerns surrounding Jim Boeheim’s team. The pressure was alleviated to a degree after easy wins against lesser opponents, but it came roaring back after being dismantled by two teams that are, in all honesty, at the bottom of their conferences despite being power six. The Orange do have a few noteworthy players, not least of which is Elijah Hughes (19 PPG). So while they have the weapons, it’s a matter of Boeheim putting all the pieces together.
ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: Iowa
12. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Despite losing twice to P6 opponents, Georgia Tech only lost those games by a combined 5 points. They’ve looked fairly decent so far, yet a 3 point teeth-clencher against Bethune-Cookman has left fans scratching their heads. Still, Georgia Tech is a team with potential that is likely better than 12th in the ACC (yet they haven’t shown it yet, thus the current ranking).
ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: Nebraska
13. Miami Hurricanes
Miami is not last in the ACC for two reasons; the remaining two teams really, really suck, and Chris Lykes wears a Miami uniform. Lykes and Dejan Vasiljevic both tend to have games in which they simply can’t miss, making the Hurricanes a dangerous team on occasion. But when they’re not on, the results can be… Well, let’s just say ‘not good,’ as we saw when they were taken apart by 20 and 25 points against Florida and UConn, respectively.
ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: @Illinois
14. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
At a cursory glance, Wake’s results don’t look that bad. A road loss at Boston College? Losing on the road in-conference is acceptable. A loss to No. 14 Arizona? Maybe even positive, because it was only a 7 point loss. Losing by 2 at Charlotte? Road losses are–wait a second. Charlotte?! Yeah, Charlotte. Wake is not going to get very many wins in the ACC if they don’t change something in a hurry.
ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: @Penn State
15. Boston College Eagles
There’s not much to say about BC except that they’re really bad. Like, really, really bad. Really, really, really–Okay, you get the point. Boston College has four losses, all to non P6 schools, and most by embarassingly lopsided numbers. It’s safe to say that the sun is a long way down the tunnel for the Eagles. Luckily for the ACC, they play a Northwestern team in the ACC/B1G challenge that may be even worse than them, somehow.
ACC/B1G Challenge opponent: Northwestern