ACC Basketball POWER Rankings: Virginia Stays at the Top

Nearly halfway through the regular ACC season and we know UVa and Duke are the class of the conference. Pitt is butt trash. And the rest of the ACC? Well, who really knows?

Here’s how the staff at streaking the lawn thinks the ACC stacks up. The rankings were compiled by averaging across the ballots of 11 Streaking the Lawn staff members. Scroll to the bottom for full rankings from each writer, as well as overall means and standard deviations for each team.

1. Virginia Cavaliers (19-1, 8-0, KenPom #3)
The Hoos are riding high with an 11 game winning streak. Their only loss on the season is a road game at West Virginia, but they’ll take that impressive record into one of the biggest regular season games in recent memory this weekend when they travel to Durham to play Duke.

2. Duke Blue Devils (18-2, 6-2, KenPom #4)
Duke is sitting pretty with the #1 RPI and only two losses on the season. They’re two games behind the Hoos in the ACC standings though. The showdown of the ACC season this weekend when the Blue Devils host UVa.

3. North Carolina Tar Heels (16-5, 5-3, KenPom #8)
The Heels were looking good with a four game ACC winning streak. Then they went to Blacksburg this past Monday and suffered their 3rd ACC loss of the season. UNC has 3 ACC losses already but still has trips to Duke, Clemson, Louisville, and Syracuse. How far could the Heels fall?

4. Louisville Cardinals (15-5, 5-2, KenPom #34)
You want to talk about a turn around? Louisville lost by 29 to Kentucky less than a month ago. That same Kentucky team that has looked like an NIT team since then. Meanwhile, Louisville has only lost two rough ACC road games since. Home game against Wake means they’ll go to 6-2, but they travel to Charlottesville next Wednesday.

5. Miami Hurricanes (15-4, 4-3, KenPom #29)
The Canes finally got another big W their resume needed this week when they took down Louisville in OT. Is that the resume building win they need? Probably not, but a road win at Florida State this weekend would help build that resume

6. Clemson Tigers (16-4, 5-3, KenPom #16)
Last week this time the Tigers were #4 in these rankings and looking at games against Notre Dame and Virginia. They beat the Irish and got bone smoked by the Cavaliers, but losing one of your top players for the year means you fall in the polls. Sorry Clemson. Enjoy watching Zion next year at Duke!

7. Florida State Seminoles (15-5, 4-4, KenPom #24)
The Noles have managed to avoid the terrible loss this season. Losing at BC isn’t great, but Duke did it and look where they are at. They cannot lose at Wake next week though. That loss might start the sinking of the Seminoles for the 2018 season.

8. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-7, 3-4, KenPom #30)
Four straight losses for the Irish and they still have trips to Duke, UNC, and Virginia on the schedule. Yeesh. Mike Brey might be praying for this season to end. Or he’s praying for Bonzie Colson to come back quicker so he can make a run at the ACC Tournament.

9. Syracuse Orange (14-6, 3-4, KenPom #43)
After four straight losses of their own, the Orange have rolled off wins against Pitt and Boston College. They’ve got two more games against Pitt and Georgia Tech before taking on Virginia again. If Cuse have has hopes of making the NCAA Tournament again, they’ll have to get some upsets in the back half of the ACC schedule.

10. North Carolina State Wolfpack (14-7, 4-4, KenPom #73)
Given State’s schedule and the fact that they have a first year head coach, 4-4 seems pretty good. Given Kevin Keatts credit for that. It seems like they are destined for an NIT berth, but this Wolfpack team has made strides already.

11. Virginia Tech Hokies (14-6, 3-4, KenPom #49)
We all hate VT, but damn did they get hosed by the conference makers this season. The Hokies got home and homes against UVa, Duke, Miami, and Louisville. That is rough. And it likely means Buzz Williams is going to miss the NCAA tournament yet again.

12. Boston College Eagles (13-8, 3-5, KenPom #81)
BC might be good. BC might be not very good. 13-5 with a win over Duke and a 1 point loss on the road at UVa while losing to UNC by 30 is giving conflicting ideas. Nobody knows.

13. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (10-10, 3-4, KenPom #111)
Josh Okoge was supposed to make Georgia Tech better. Instead, they’ve lose three straight and still have games against Clemson, Louisville, and Syracuse in their next four. Okoge can’t even save this season.

14. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-12, 1-7, KenPom #92)
Six straight losses. Five more ACC games against teams in the KenPom Top 50. This season isn’t going to get much better for Danny Manning. Luckily it appears he can still recruit somehow. Maybe next year.

15. Pittsburgh Panthers (8-13, 0-8, KenPom #210)
Yuck. Nobody should read about Pitt anymore than that. That’s all.