Streaking the Lawn’s ACC Men’s Basketball Power Rankings

Greetings, dear readers! Welcome back to another season of ACC Basketball Power Rankings. Because we here at STL are sensible, we waited to actually watch these teams play some before we started ranking them. Some of the ACC has collected some embarrassing losses already and others some convincing wins - let’s take a look at how we’ve ranked them:

1. Duke Blue Devils (7-1, 0-0)

A close loss to the Zags couldn’t keep ESPN’s favorite team from the top spot in our rankings. The Blue Devils have the talent to stay there all year...but they probably want RJ Barrett to share the ball more.

2. Virginia Cavaliers (8-0, 0-0)

Your Wahoos are number 2 in our rankings after starting the season with a flawless record - and wins over two ranked teams away from the friendly confines of the John Paul Jones Arena. This year’s squad has the potential to be as strong on defense and substantially better on offense than last year’s team who only lost three games. Three games! None of them all that notable.

3. North Carolina Tar Heels (6-2 0-0)

The Tar Heels lost a close one to Shaka Smart’s Texas and got obliterated on the road against Michigan, but Roy Williams’ team has a ton of talent to match Luke Maye and Cam Johnson’s scoring. They should be fine in the long run if they decide to play defense.

4. Florida State Seminoles (7-1, 0-0)

The Seminoles’ loss to Villanova isn’t a bad one - though this year’s Nova squad does not equal their championship teams. Still, FSU has nice wins over Purdue, LSU, and Florida and looks like they’ll make plenty of noise in the ACC this season.

5. Virginia Tech Hokies (6-1, 0-0)

BUZZ WILLIAMS INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

6. Syracuse Orange (5-2, 0-0)

Is Syracuse good? Maybe! The win at OSU was pretty convincing and a loss to Oregon was a terrrrrrible match up. We’ll find out more with upcoming games against Georgetown and Buffalo.

7. Louisville Cardinals (5-2, 0-0)

New coach Chris Mack has the Cardinals rolling after wins over Michigan State and Seton Hall - and fairly excusable losses to Tennessee and Marquette. It will be extremely interesting to see what they can do this season in the ACC before their massive recruiting class arrives next year.

8. North Carolina State Wolfpack (7-1, 0-0)

The Wolfpack lost a close one in the ACC Big Ten challenge at Wisconsin and followed it up with a nice win against Vandy. They’re averaging 87.5 points a game and are tied for 24th in the country in allowing 61.4 ppg. A premier matchup against Auburn looms before conference play begins.

9. Clemson Tigers (5-2, 0-0)

The Tigers have gone 0-2 in recent games against teams from Nebraska, with close losses to the Cornhuskers and Creighton. Those could come back to haunt them if they’re on the bubble down the road...but OOC games against Miss State and South Carolina are still up for grabs.

10. Miami Hurricanes (5-3, 0-0)

Seton Hall, Rutgers, Yale. Those are your three straight losses, Canes. None more concerning or understandable than the others. Make of it what you will...we here at STL make them 10th.

11. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-1, 0-0)

Notre Dame invited the Radford Highlanders into their home and the Highlanders stole their stuff. The game against UCLA should be interesting, but the biggest OOC litmus test will be the next week when they host Purdue.

12. Pittsburgh Panthers (7-2, 0-0)

1 point loss to Iowa? Understandable. 1 point loss to Niagra? Less-standable.

13. Boston College Eagles (6-1, 0-0)

BC’s been a mixed bag of results so far - even though there’s only one loss on the record. Wins against Loyola and Minnesota are nice enough, but IUPUI? No bueno. The Eagles are currently 155th in average points scored a game and 86th in points allowed.

14. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets(4-3, 0-0)

Losses to Northwestern, St. John’s, and Tennessee are all relatively understandable. Still, if the Jackets want to play their way into bubble talk, they needed some non-ACC wins to help pad what’s sure to be a mixed conference record. They’ve got games against UGA and Arkansas coming up that could help.

15. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (4-3, 0-0)

Danny Manning’s team is in danger of a complete collapse already, in a year that was supposed to be an optimistic one with the talent coming in on the roster. They’ve lost to St. Joes and Richmond, solid enough mid-majors I suppose, but Houston Baptist? The Deacs are desperate to get things going, with Davidson and Tennessee still on the schedule.