Another crazy week in the ACC and some teams have definitely moved all over the place. Let's give it a go, shall we?
Duke is staying in this spot. The Blue Devils looked downright bad in their loss to Georgetown and there are some flaws in Duke's game. Kyle Singler, everyone's choice for All-ACC, has been pretty bad in ACC play and I'm hoping that the pundits start to realize this. He went 4-14 in the loss and he's shooting 40% from the floor on the year. In ACC play, he's shooting 39% and 29% from 3PT. Despite his poor 3PT%, he still finds a way to shoot over 5 threes a game. Duke is as good as their shooters, but their defense is going to need to dictate the game if they hope to make a deep NCAA run.
2.) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Why not? GT earned it this week with a big win against Wake Forest and they looked good doing it. Derrick Favors played a terrific game and the supporting cast added a lot of production. If the Jackets are hitting from long range, they can beat any team in the nation. But the key for Georgia Tech is to maintain some sort of consistency.
3.) Florida State Seminoles
Florida State moves up to three because their defense keeps them in games. They match up well against a lot of the ACC teams and Solomon Alabi is a terrific player. But Chris Singleton needs to be hitting shots for the 'Noles to win their big ball games.
4.) Clemson Tigers
After three straight losses, the Tigers looked like they were back on track with a win over Maryland. Clemson's press, when effective, is a great weapon for them and they just need to be healthy to finish strong in the ACC.
Wake looked ugly in their loss to Georgia Tech. They couldn't hit anything and GT was hitting all their shots and out-muscling the Demon Deacons. The reason Wake is above Virginia and Maryland though is because Wake captured wins against both teams and their schedule is very favorable in their last 9 games.
Virginia put a whooping on UNC and their moving up because of, yeah you guessed it, consistent defense. Tony Bennett is doing more with less than anyone in the conference and this team doesn't look like they're going away any time soon.
I'm sure someone will come along and tell me that Maryland deserves to be higher because they are tied for second in the league, but they just aren't doing it for me. Their remaining schedule sees them playing @FSU, two games against Duke and games against Clemson and Georgia Tech. They also have two games against UVA in there. They have a chance to prove me wrong if they beat FSU and UNC this week, but they just haven't shown me anything against top opponents to earn a higher ranking.
Virginia Tech is just hanging around. They're 3-3. They're 16-4 with a couple quality wins, but no marquee win. Somehow they lost to Miami. They might finish 8-8, but they need to win the games they are supposed to win.
Their win against Clemson moves them up a few spots in the rankings here. They've got a murderer's row in their next three games: Duke, @Wake, @Florida State. BC won't finish with more than 5 or 6 wins in conference.
The wins against Michigan State and Ohio State feel like forever ago. UNC has won 2 of its last 7 games and is going nowhere fast.
11.) Miami Hurricanes
The 'Canes grabbed a nice win over VT on Sunday, ending their four game losing streak. They've got a rough stretch coming up too: @Wake, @FSU, GT, @Clemson, Duke. The schedule gods really screwed Miami this year.
12.) N.C. State Wolfpack
State is not very good, but it is just strange that their two conference wins are against Florida State and Duke, two NCAA Tournament teams. And they beat Marquette. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but something tells me their struggles might have something to do with coaching...