ACC Basketball Weekly Roundup: Power Rankings and the Good, Bad, and Ugly

William Smythe | Nov 24, 2024

Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

It's Feast Week in college basketball, which brings tons of marquee non-conference battles between major conference teams, games that will heavily impact NCAA Tournament resumes in March. Let's check in on the Atlantic Coast Conference to see how things are shaping up for all 18 members of the new-look ACC as we progress through non-conference play.

We start with our ACC basketball power rankings for this week and then we'll recap this week's action around the league with The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

ACC Basketball Power Rankings - November 24th

Frankly, it wasn’t a great week for the ACC. Duke’s win over Arizona helps the conference, but plenty of schools slipped up against weaker competition and haven’t looked the part. The Blue Devils, North Carolina, and Pitt look to be head and shoulders above the rest.

1. Duke (4-1), SOS: 112
2. North Carolina (3-1), SOS: 138
3. Pitt (6-0), SOS: 231
4. Wake Forest (6-1), SOS: 335
5. NC State (5-0), SOS: 351
6. Clemson (4-1), SOS: 320
7. Stanford (4-0), SOS: 305
8. Louisville (3-1), SOS: 274
9. California (4-1), SOS: 228
10. Florida State (5-1), SOS: 194
11. Notre Dame (4-1), SOS: 327
12. SMU (4-2), SOS: 293
13. Virginia (3-2), SOS: 72
14. Miami (3-2), SOS: 344
15. Syracuse (3-2), SOS: 204
16. Georgia Tech (2-3), SOS: 240
17. Boston College (3-1), SOS: 280
18. Virginia Tech (3-2), SOS: 313

The Good: Duke’s revenge, Cal’s bounceback at USC, Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud

A star-laden Duke roster waltzed into Tucson Friday and trounced Arizona, 69-55. After falling to the Wildcats at Cameron last season, Coach Jon Scheyer’s crew showcased its limitless potential and used its myriad defensive threats to run away with a major non-conference win. It’s not exactly championship or bust for Duke, but they’re looking mighty scary for a roster that has relied heavily on two freshmen new to the college game — forward Cooper Flagg (17.8 PPG) and guard Kon Knueppel (14.4 PPG). The Blue Devils are fearsome defensively and certainly possess offensive tools that are tailor-made for a deep run in March. A Tuesday showdown against No. 1 Kansas could be a stepping stone to a top-three ranking in the next polls.

It was a great week for the California schools of the Atlantic Coast Conference — still hard to wrap my head around that. After dropping a double-digit game to Vanderbilt, Cal rebounded on the road against USC and have benefited from the services of former five-star and Stanford transfer Andrej Stojakovic (17.8 PPG) on the offensive end. The Golden Bears haven’t done a fabulous job of sharing the ball, but they’ve also had the luxury of rotating ten players through. Depth won’t be as much of a problem for Coach Mark Madsen’s unit as it will be for several other ACC schools. Cal will have a light schedule this week before their ACC/SEC Challenge matchup against Missouri next Tuesday.

Stanford, albeit having struggled with Norfolk State and a 2-4 Santa Clara, are still undefeated. No one in the ACC is playing better than senior center Maxime Raynaud (22.8 PPG, 12.8 APG), who, alongside guard Oziyah Sellers, led the Cardinal to their comeback win over the Broncos Saturday night with 55 combined points. I do worry a bit about the lack of scoring options behind Raynaud even with Sellers’ outing, and things will get hairy against stronger frontcourts who may force him into foul trouble. He’s playing 35 minutes a game as a center! Nonetheless, Stanford faithful should be quite pleased with a 6-0 start after the departure of four starters and some key bench contributors.

The Bad: Notre Dame’s loss to Elon, Georgia Tech’s sluggishness, Syracuse’s squandered opportunities to boost their résumé

I still think that Notre Dame is headed for greener pastures in year two of head coach Micah Shrewsberry’s tenure. But, you simply cannot lose by seven to Elon, even if the Phoenix shot 46.7% from three. The Irish did also lose the rebounding battle — 35 to 24. Notre Dame doesn’t have the luxury to drop early contests when No. 24 Rutgers and No. 7 Houston are up next. A bright spot, however, is sophomore guard Markus Burton’s elite play in the backcourt (21.4 PPG); he’s primed for another finish on the All-ACC list.

One of my preseason sleepers in the ACC, Georgia Tech has stunk thus far. There’s no way around it. They only avoided the ugly category since they lost to an elite Cincinnati team, yet a 23-point defeat at home isn’t what Coach Damon Stoudamire anticipated from a starting five that, on paper, looks to be highly competitive. They’ll have time to regroup before matchups against Oklahoma, No. 10 North Carolina, and Northwestern beginning next week. The Yellow Jackets need to win two of the three to gather any semblance of momentum.

Syracuse confirmed the early-season doubts after an 0-2 finish in the UKG Legends Classic at Madison Square Garden. Granted, Texas and Texas Tech are two tournament-quality teams, and the Orange only lost by four and five, respectively. Coach Adrian Autry is lacking a quality win in his second year at the helm, and their thinness on the bench provides a major reason for concern with No. 11 Tennessee on the horizon. On a more positive note, junior guard J.J. Starling (21.4 PPG) looks to be morphing into a stud even while attracting plenty of attention without guard and last year’s leading scorer Judah Mintz in the fold.

The Ugly: Virginia’s trip to Baha Mar, Virginia Tech’s embarrassment against Jacksonville, Miami

What an ugly week for the Commonwealth. Firstly, a ‘Hoo team that looked promising against Villanova looked like it didn’t belong on the same court as both No. 11 Tennessee and No. 22 St. John’s in the Baha Mar Championship, even despite a competitive first half against the former. Losing by a total of 47 points across two consecutive games is inexcusable.

Coach Ron Sanchez’s crew is suffering from a lack of athleticism, interior scoring, and creators who are talented enough to win their matchups and open up offensive opportunities. Virginia teams have often found that the system starts to click as the season wears on, but I’m not so sure about that trajectory for this particular roster. Junior guard Isaac McKneely needs to attempt more than six shots a game to catapult the ‘Hoos into the top half of the ACC.

Virginia Basketball Falls to St. John's 80-55 | Key Takeaways

Somehow, things are looking bleaker in Blacksburg. A ten-point home loss to an Atlantic Sun opponent — Jacksonville — is arguably the epitome of brutality. Virginia Tech is probably rethinking its strategy to allocate nearly all of its NIL resources to its football program, which, albeit still chasing bowl eligibility by way of the Commonwealth Cup, has fallen far short in a win-now year. I pity the Hokies for their upcoming stretch against Michigan, Vanderbilt, and Pitt, a bonafide top-20 team in my eyes. This is certainly the least talented roster that Coach Mike Young has had in his six years at Tech.

What has happened to Miami over the past two seasons? Following a Final Four appearance and a co-regular season title (shared with the ‘Hoos) in 2022-23, the Hurricanes have looked like a shell of themselves. Maybe we didn’t quite give guards Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller the credit they deserved for leading the charge two years ago. The ‘Canes lost by 11 to a Drake team that lost all five starters and its head coach from last season; to be fair, the Bulldogs have caught the nation by surprise and could very well blow expectations out of the water. A six-point loss to a Big 12 bottom-feeder in Oklahoma State, however, cemented an “ugly” week for Miami. They have a five-star guard — Jalil Bethea — who has only logged 11.2 minutes a game.