Irish Stew: ACC men's basketball power rankings (Feb. 6)
Each Monday with conference play in full swing, NDI Notre Dame men’s basketball insider Tom Noie offers his power rankings of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 15 teams.
The rankings are based on the previous week each team experienced. Here are NDI’s ACC rankings for the week of Jan. 30- Feb. 4. Teams are listed from strongest to weakest with overall and conference records as of Monday afternoon in parenthesis.
1. North Carolina (21-4; 9-2 ACC)
Last week: 2
Noting: The Tar Heels have won nine of their last 10 league games and visit Duke on Thursday in the first of two regular-season meetings.
2. Louisville (19-4; 7-3)
Last week: 3
Noting: The Cardinals get a rare Saturday-Monday swing this week with both games on the road. Louisville beat Boston College on Saturday before a visit to Virginia, which won the first matchup between the teams to open league play.
3. Virginia (17-5; 7-3)
Last week: 1
Noting: The Cavaliers allowed Syracuse to shoot better than 70 percent from the field in Saturday’s loss.
4. Florida State (20-4; 8-3)
Last week: 4
Noting: The Seminoles opened a three-game league work week (two at home, one on the road) with a 48-point victory at home over Clemson.
5. Duke (18-5; 6-4)
Last week: 6
Noting: The Blue Devils have won three in a row and went 4-3 during the health absence of coach Mike Krzyzewski.
6. Syracuse (15-9; 7-4)
Last week: 8
Noting: The Orange have won four in a row, three of those at home, since their last loss Jan. 21 at Notre Dame.
7. Notre Dame (17-7; 6-5)
Last week: 5
Noting: After winning their first three league road games by one, five and five points, the Irish have lost their last three by three, two and seven points.
8. Miami (Fla.) (15-7; 5-5)
Last week: 9
Noting: The Hurricanes have won three of four after losing four of five.
9. Virginia Tech (16-6; 5-5)
Last week: 10
Noting: Idle since a Feb. 1 loss at Virginia, the Hokies play three of the next four and four of six on the road, where they are 1-4 in league play.
10. Wake Forest (14-9; 5-6)
Last week: 13
Noting: After going nearly three years between ACC road wins, the Demon Deacons have won two of their last three away from home.
11. Georgia Tech (13-10; 5-6)
Last week: 7
Noting: The Yellow Jackets lost both games last week (at Clemson and at Wake Forest) after winning both at home the prior week (over Florida State and Notre Dame).
12. Clemson (13-8; 3-6)
Last week: 12
Noting: Three of the Tigers’ next five games are on the road, where they are 2-4 in league play.
13. North Carolina State (14-10; 3-8)
Last week: 11
Noting: The Wolfpack scored 45 points in Saturday’s first half against Miami, but wound up losing at home in league play for a fourth time.
14. Boston College (9-15; 2-9)
Last week: 14
Noting: The Eagles have lost nine of their last 10, including 0-5 on the road, after opening league play New Year’s Day with a win over Syracuse.
15. Pittsburgh (12-11; 1-9)
Last week: 15
Noting: The Panthers have the worst league record but the top two scorers in Jamel Artis (20.7 ppg.) and Michael Young (20.4).
