With a congested middle tier in the conference, this was one of the tougher power rankings to do. The league is very well balanced and every team can win on any given night. Everyone has struggled to put together a complete week and no undefeated teams remain. Miami and Virginia Tech got their first wins of the ACC season this week, and Miami looks to be on an upward swing especially with two winnable games coming up this week. Lets get right into this weeks rankings:
1) Florida St – The Noles have been hot lately and look like a completely different team then the one who struggled at Clemson two weeks ago. This week they face Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, a big opportunity for them to put some distance between them and the middle.
2) Duke – Heart breaking home loss before going to one of the toughest places for the Blue Devils to play. Thats their only ACC game this week, at Maryland in the hostile Comcast Center, but it is a good opportunity for them to bounce back after the Florida St loss.
3) North Carolina St – The Wolfpack are one of the most well balanced teams, if not the most balanced in the conference. Huge week for North Carolina St as they face UNC and UVa. I think they have a good shot at picking up two critical wins.
4) North Carolina – The Dexter Strickland injury hurts them a lot. I think they will struggle in the game against North Carolina St. They face Georgia Tech later in the week, this is an important game for the Tar Heels to figure out who they are without Strickland.
5) Virginia – Tough loss vs in-state rival Virginia Tech, they have had a hard time finding scoring outside of Mike Scott but haven’t faced many teams that were able to take him out of the game. Mike Scott will face another big test Saturday night against North Carolina St.
6) Maryland – Rough loss at Florida St last Tuesday. The game was much closer then the score indicates, but the Terps need to find a true secondary scoring option and need better point guard play if they want to stick around the middle.
7) Virginia Tech – They hung in close against North Carolina and then beat Virginia last week. The Hokies needed at least one win out of those two to get them out of their slump. Only ACC game this week is at Maryland, tough trip but winnable for them.
8) Clemson – The Tigers nearly beat Miami in Coral Gables, and hung on to beat Georgia Tech a couple of days later. Clemson is a tough team who continues to find themselves in close games. Going to be tough to make a run in the conference play if they play close games all the time.
9) Wake Forest – Boston College has been a tough out at the Conte Forum and the Demon Deacons were able to grab that win. No shame losing to Duke on the road, and good job by Wake to bounce back shorty after and beat the Eagles.
10) Miami – Grabbed their first win in a tough game over Clemson early in the week. They followed up the win by almost beating North Carolina St. The front court has come together well and their veteran guards are no stranger to the big stage in conference. Two winnable games this week to help the Canes get back to 500.
11) Boston College – The Eagles seem to be snapping back to reality after a good start to the conference season. Lost a winnable home game against Wake Forest They get a tough test on the road against Virginia, but then get to come home to play Miami. Two tough games but they are not out of the picture for the young Eagles.
12) Georgia Tech – Locked up the last place spot after they failed to score 40 points against Virginia. They almost made up for it by beating Clemson, but just couldn’t make enough plays down the stretch to grab the road win at LittleJohn.
I completely understand why you would put Florida State at #1, however I still think UNC should be higher on the list. The 30 point loss to FSU was bad, but I believe it was a fluke. I still can’t get over FSU losing at home to Princeton, so I still think UNC is the best team in the conference, followed by FSU and then Duke.
I think the Strickland injury hurts them a lot and they will struggle at first to bounce back from it. It was a toss up between them and North Carolina St, but I think State right now is on an upward swing while UNC is a bit unknown with the new injury. The two play each other and it will be a good barometer for how well Roy Williams can adjust their strategy.