ACC men's basketball power rankings (Week of Jan. 15)

Who’s moving up? Who’s sliding down?

Following are the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball power rankings from NDI’s Tom Noie for the week of Jan. 15. Coaches’ quotes come from the Jan. 15 press conference. Coaches from Duke, Florida State, Miami and Boston College did not participate in the call because their teams played that night.

Records are through Jan. 14.

1. VIRGINIA (16-1 overall; 5-0 ACC)

Last week: 1

Noting: Winners of eight in a row and the league’s lone undefeated, the Cavaliers have moved from being unranked in preseason to the No. 2 team in this week’s Associated Press poll.

Quoting: “There’s no secret formula. It’s not like we spend five hours a day playing defense. It’s important to us.”

-Virginia coach Tony Bennett.

2. CLEMSON (15-2; 4-1)

Last week: 2

Noting: The Tigers take an all-time record of 0-58 in games in Chapel Hill into Tuesday’s game at North Carolina.

Quoting: “I don’t know if we’re as good (defensively) as some of the other teams’ I’ve coached. We are older. We do have a chance to be a good defensive team.”

-Clemson coach Brad Brownell

3. LOUISVILLE (13-4; 3-1)

Last week: 10

Noting: Prior to the Jan. 10 victory at then-No. 23 Florida State, Louisville had lost its previous 12 road games to ranked teams since March 5, 2015 at SMU. That’s when Louisville spent its one season in the American Athletic Conference.

Quoting: “Coming off a very good week for us, but the road doesn’t get any easier going to up to Notre Dame, a place where we’ve never won (since 1994). We’ve got our hands full.”

-Louisville interim coach David Padgett.

4. DUKE (15-2; 3-2)

Last week: 12

Noting: Of the team’s 24 double doubles this season, 23 have come from freshmen. Entering Monday’s game, Marvin Bagley III had 14, Wendell Carter seven and Trevon Duval two.

Quoting: “It was different, but it was good. We were prepared as a coaching staff, as a team. Obviously, all of us would’ve wanted Coach out there and we wish that he could’ve been, but we respect his decision and always looking out for us and that won’t hurt the team.”

-Duke associate head coach Jeff Capel following Saturday’s win over Wake Forest, a game that coach Mike Krzyzewski missed with an illness.

5. NORTH CAROLINA (14-4; 3-2)

Last week: 11

Noting: The Tar Heels entered this week ranked in the Top 25 of the Associated Press poll for the 72nd consecutive week.

Quoting: “We need to play a heck of a lot better than we did Saturday in South Bend. We were very lucky to win.”

-North Carolina coach Roy Williams

6. MIAMI (Fla.) (13-3; 2-2)

Last week: 4

Noting: Entering Monday’s home game against Duke, Miami had played a league-low six home games. The Hurricanes were 6-0 and had won 33 of their last 35 at the Watsco Center.

Quoting: "That's like guess work. It's like going to the store and buying a lottery ticket with the numbers you think are going to win.”

-Miami coach Jim Larranaga on national polls following Saturday’s loss at Clemson.

7. NOTRE DAME (13-5; 3-2)

Last week: 3

Noting: Sophomore guard Nikola Djogo set career highs for points (five) and minutes (24) against Georgia Tech, then again against North Carolina when he scored 12 points in 25 minutes.

Quoting: "I am really proud of this group given our injury situation."

-Notre Dame coach Mike Brey

8. GEORGIA TECH (10-7; 3-1)

Last week: 9

Noting: The Yellow Jackets have held four-straight opponents to 60 points or fewer. Tech is 7-0 when keeping opponents from scoring more than 60.

Quoting: “Anytime you can win on the road, it’s a great thing. If we can be judged on post-Christmas, we’re more of a team (but) there are no off nights in this league.”

-Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner

9. FLORIDA STATE (13-4; 2-3)

Last week: 6

Noting: Monday’s game at Boston College opened a stretch of four of six league games on the road for the Seminoles, who are 2-2 away from home.

Quoting: “We energized ourselves and gave tremendous effort, like the game really meant something to us as a team.”

-Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton following Saturday’s double-overtime victory over Syracuse.

10. BOSTON COLLEGE (12-6; 2-3)

Last week: 5

Noting: Guard Ky Bowman opened the week as the only player in the nation averaging at least 16.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.

Quoting: “Rebounding is going to be a huge key come (Monday) night (against Florida State). They know it and we know it and it is going to be a key every night in the ACC.”

-Boston College coach Jim Christian following Saturday’s victory over Dartmouth.

11. VIRGINIA TECH (13-5; 2-3)

Last week: 7

Noting: Justin Robinson scored a career-high 23 points in Saturday’s loss at Louisville.

Quoting: "Where we have to get better as a team is defensively."

-Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams

12. NORTH CAROLINA STATE (12-6; 2-3)

Last week: 8

Noting: The Wolfpack had a chance to win a third-straight game against a ranked opponent before Sunday’s 68-51 loss at No. 2 Virginia. North Carolina State was coming off consecutive wins over Duke and Clemson.

Quoting: “It’s been a very good, crazy week for us.”

-North Carolina State coach Kevin Keatts

13. SYRACUSE (12-6; 1-4)

Last week: 13

Noting: Two Orange are averaging over 40 minutes per game in ACC games – guard Tyus Battle is at 41.2 and forward Oshae Brissett is at 40.2.

Quoting: “I’m always worried. I’m worried when we start the season. You have to try and play better tomorrow. We’ve done a lot of good things, we’ve just got to play a little better.”

-Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim

14. WAKE FOREST (8-9; 1-4)

Last week: 14

Noting: The Demon Deacons lost for the 18th-straight time Saturday at Duke. Wake is 16-62 all-time at Cameron Indoor Stadium, where it last won during the 1996-97 season thanks to 26 points and 14 rebounds from power forward Tim Duncan.

Quoting: “We’ve got to do a better job of attacking the paint offensively. We’ve still got to get to the free throw line.”

-Wake Forest coach Danny Manning

15. PITTSBURGH (8-8; 0-5)

Last week: 15

Noting: Working with its 13th different starting lineup, Pittsburgh trailed Georgia Tech 21-1 in the first seven minutes of Saturday’s loss, its fifth in a row.

Quoting: “We were not very good the last time and we certainly are going to have to be a lot better than that to have a chance for any success in this league.”

-Pittsburgh coach Kevin Stallings