Most teams are halfway through their ACC schedules, so it's a good time to assess where everyone stands.
Here are your updated ACC standings through Monday's games:
| ACC Standings (2/2/2016) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Team | Record | Trend | ||||||
| 1 | North Carolina Tar Heels | 8-1 | Even | ||||||
| 2 | Louisville Cardinals | 7-2 | Even | ||||||
| 3 | Clemson Tigers | 6-3 | Down | ||||||
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 6-3 | Even | |||||||
| Pittsburgh Panthers | 6-3 | Even | |||||||
| Virginia Cavaliers | 6-3 | Up | |||||||
| 7 | Miami-Florida Hurricanes | 5-3 | Even | ||||||
| 8 | Syracuse Orange | 5-5 | Up | ||||||
| Florida State Seminoles | 5-5 | Up | |||||||
| 10 | Duke Blue Devils | 4-4 | Even | ||||||
| 11 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 4-5 | Down | ||||||
| 12 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | 2-6 | Even | ||||||
| 13 | North Carolina State Wolfpack | 2-8 | Up | ||||||
| 14 | Wake Forest Demon Deacons | 1-8 | Even | ||||||
| 15 | Boston College Eagles | 0-8 | Even | ||||||
North Carolina is clearly in the driver's seat as not just the favorite in the ACC but one of the national title favorites as well. In a conference where everyone is beating everyone else, the Tar Heels' 8-1 record is looking really good, despite last night's loss at Louisville. Still, much like Notre Dame, their "back 9" is much tougher than their front 9, so they'll likely pick up a couple more losses but still cruise to a regular season ACC title. (Upcoming: 2/6 @ Notre Dame)
Louisville took a step back with a rough home loss to Virginia but finally got themselves a good win over UNC last night. They look to be in good shape for a double bye midway through the season (2/6 vs. BC). Virginia's week turned out to be excellent following their lucky-as-can-be win at Wake Forest and manhandling of Louisville in Kentucky (2/3 vs. BC, 2/6 @ Pitt). Their game at Pitt this week could indicate if they are truly back, but they are all of a sudden in solid shape.
A bit up-and-down for the rest of the 3rd place teams, as Notre Dame, Clemson, and Pittsburgh all dropped one game and won another. Clemson may be in best position of the three with many of their toughest games behind them (2/2 @ Wake, 2/6 @ VT). Both Pitt (2/6 vs. UVA) and Notre Dame (2/3 @ Miami, 2/6 vs. UNC) have brutal stretches coming up that could decide whether they are contenders or pretenders.
Miami has an extra game left on their schedule but has a lot remaining against tough teams. This might be their "easiest" week of the season remaining (2/3 vs. ND, 2/7 @ GT).
Syracuse had a great week at home and may be hitting their stride with Jim Boeheim back in the saddle (2/2 vs. VT). Same goes for bubble-team Florida State with a nice wins over Clemson and NC State (2/6 @ Wake).
As everyone knows, Duke has hit a rough patch, with only a win at NC State to soften the blow of losing 4 of their last 5. A soft week gives them a chance to get back to their winning ways and Amile Jefferson another week to recover from injury (2/2 @ GT, 2/6 vs. NC St).
Virginia Tech has regressed, as most expected, with four straight losses and will have a tough road ahead. Buzz did a nice job picking up 4 wins this season, but it's hard to see him getting too many more the rest of the way (2/2 @ Syracuse, 2/6 vs. Clemson).
Georgia Tech was thisclose to picking up a pair of wins after almost taking down Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. Close losses are just Brian Gregory's thing at this point (2/2 vs. Duke, 2/7 vs. Miami). NC State picked up an unexpected and fairly comfortable win over Miami, as the Wolfpack showcased a talented roster that hasn't met expectations this season (2/6 @ Duke).
Wake Forest came to South Bend on Sunday having faced the most devastating loss of the season to Virginia, and the wheels quickly came off. Can Danny Manning get them back on anything resembling a track (2/2 vs. Clem, 2/6 vs. FSU)?
Which leaves us with Boston College. The Eagles look like they are historically bad for a power conference team, checking in at 257th in KenPom. Jim Christian obviously has plenty of excuses with such a young roster, but this is historically bad we're talking about. I think they should ditch him after this year, but they won't after just two seasons. He hasn't been able to carve out any sort of competency or competitiveness to justify staying, and did I mention they are historically bad? Their closest conference loss is by 14 (2/3 @ UVA, 2/6 @ Louisville).
