As if ending a season without an NCAA Tournament could get any weirder, it certainly has been an odd season this year in college hoops. And in the ACC, which has just three teams in the Associated Press Top 25, none of which are in the Top 10, it’s been an even weirder year.

As teams do their best to get games in while others fall off the schedule with regularity, we’ve done our best to take a snapshot of a confusing league in our first Power Rankings of the year.

1. Virginia Cavaliers (9-2, 5-0)

These rankings are always an intersection of how good a team has been all year and how they have played lately. UVa might not have the best resume in the conference. In fact, with no good non-conference wins, the Wahoos certainly don’t have the best collection of wins. But they are playing better by the day and are the only unbeaten in league play as of now. The Cavaliers have won five straight since being flogged by Gonzaga, and peaked on Saturday with a 85-50 drubbing of then-No. 12 Clemson on the road. We’ll see how good that win is by season’s end, but beating any ACC foe that badly in their building is an accomplishment. UVa’s defense has been a work-in-progress but its offense seems to be coming together. Unfortunately, the next game against NC State, scheduled for Wednesday night, has been postponed. As of now, the Hoos are expected to be back in action on Saturday against Georgia Tech.

2. Virginia Tech Hokies (11-2, 5-1)

There is a strong case to be made that Tech should be in the No. 1 spot as of now. The Hokies have a league-high 11 wins and are tied with UVa in league wins with five. Their lone league loss came in a two-point setback at Louisville, the program that most owns the Hokies in the ACC. Since then, Tech has reeled off victories over Notre Dame, Duke, and Wake Forest on the road. Tech has a chance to keep rolling with games coming up against BC, Syracuse, and the Irish again before hosting UVa on the 30th in what looks like a huge game at this point. Forward Keve Aluma has been a revelation for the Hokies after transferring from Wofford and sitting out last year. The big man is averaging a team-high 14.8 points and 7.3 boards per contest, and has the Hokies in contention for an ACC title.

3. Florida State Seminoles (8-2, 4-1)

There is a case to be made for FSU to top the power rankings as well, though not as strong as the Hokies’ claim, at least based on the total body of work. But the Seminoles are just as hot as anyone in the league right now. FSU last lost on December 29th at Clemson, its lone league setback to this point. Since then, the Noles had a pair of games postponed before returning to the floor last week, rolling NC State at home before handling UNC and beating Louisville by 13 on the road. The defending league champs appear to be rounding into form and have a few days off before a rematch against No. 20 Clemson on Saturday afternoon.

4. Louisville Cardinals (9-3, 4-2)

The Cardinals have had a rough go of it in recent days, losing at Miami on Saturday before their home loss to FSU on Monday night. Prior to that, the Cards were one of just two remaining undefeated teams in conference play and looked like they could be the best team in the conference. It’s still too early to panic and they have a talented roster led by Radford transfer Carlik Jones. So, it’s like that Louisville bounces back. The Cards host Duke this weekend in an important clash for both teams before winnable games against BC and Syracuse.

5. Clemson Tigers (9-2, 3-2)

The Tigers were rolling before their reality check loss to Virginia on Saturday night. Clemson still has just two losses on the season, both coming at the hands of the top two teams in our rankings. And we’ll soon know if the Tigers are an ACC contender that had a rough night or if their hype in recent weeks has been greatly exaggerated. This writer thinks it will be the latter, simply because Clemson’s offense isn’t potent enough to consistently win ACC games. Its defense is legitimate, however, despite allowing 85 points to UVa. This week should tell us a lot about the Tigers, who face a pair of challenging road games at Georgia Tech and FSU.

6. Pittsburgh Panthers (8-2, 4-1)

Nobody is flying under the radar in the ACC more than Pitt at this point. The Panthers started the season poorly with a loss to St. Francis (PA), which made it look like another long year was in the cards for Jeff Capel and Co. But Pitt then reeled off five wins in a row before losing to Louisville on December 22nd. The Panthers haven’t lost since, with three league wins including two victories over Syracuse and a big one last night over Duke (surrounded by a bunch of cancellations). It’s probably still a little too early to get but so excited about Pitt staying near the top of the standings with three of its wins coming over two lackluster teams, but the win over Duke goes a long way towards legitimizing the Panthers as an improved team with legit postseason aspirations.

7. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (6-3, 2-1)

Like others thus far, Georgia Tech gets an incomplete for its work to this point in the season. An 0-2 start with losses to Mercer and Georgia State was an ominous sign for the Jackets, who entered the season with reasonably-high expectations. But they got back on track in the weeks that followed, with just one loss, a road setback at Florida State. Georgia Tech won its two most-recent ACC games against UNC and Wake Forest, but has had three straight games postponed and hasn’t played since January 3rd. Hopefully the Jackets can get back in action tonight when they’re scheduled to host Clemson. The upcoming schedule doesn’t do Tech any favors after the layoff, though, with games at UVa and Duke after Clemson.

8. Duke Blue Devils (5-4, 3-2)

Duke has played just nine games this season, with six games either postponed or cancelled. Its young roster hasn’t had as many opportunities to gel and improve together as previous Duke teams have had, but it still seems clear that the ceiling for this Blue Devils’ team isn’t anywhere near as high as it was for previous groups. Duke is 3-2 in ACC play and still in the hunt, despite losses at Virginia Tech and at Pittsburgh in its last two games. Duke had the weekend off before the trip to Pittsburgh last night with another tough game coming this weekend at Louisville. If the Blue Devils could have swept those two then they were set to move up to the top tier. But now? If they lose both it’s probably time to start looking at them as a middle-of-the-pack team in the ACC.

9. North Carolina Tar Heels (8-5, 3-3)

With six games played, the Tar Heels are treading water so far in ACC play. UNC won three straight games earlier this month, but they came over Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Miami, with all three games being decided by a total of nine points. Carolina’s win streak came to a halt over the weekend with a 82-75 loss at FSU, which sunk the Heels back to .500 in league play. The good news is that they can get back on track with Wake Forest coming to Chapel Hill tonight. UNC isn’t as bad as a year ago but the Tar Heels have a lot of work to do if they are going to reclaim their typical contender status in the weeks to come.

10. NC State Wolfpack (6-4, 2-3)

While we’ve discussed several teams that are red hot at the moment, NC State is the exact opposite. The Wolfpack have lost three straight games after starting 2-0 in league play, dropping games to Clemson, Miami, and FSU. To make matters worse, the ACC announced on Sunday that the Wolfpack would enter a COVID-related pause, cancelling Wednesday’s game at UVa after Saturday’s contest at Georgia Tech was already cancelled due to issues with the Yellow Jackets. State could return to action on Saturday against UNC but the status of that game remains in doubt as the Wolfpack try to get healthy and eventually back in the win column.

11. Syracuse Orange (8-4, 2-3)

Prior to blowing out Miami last night, the Orange had just one league win and it came in a 38-point blowout at Boston College. Thereafter Syracuse lost to Pittsburgh twice, most-recently by 20 points over the weekend, in addition to another loss at Carolina. The Orange did beat Georgetown this month but didn’t take a lot of momentum into Tuesday’s clash with Miami. With that win, they will have a chance to play spoiler this weekend when they host Virginia Tech. The Orange are a loss or two away from entering our bottom tier.

12. Miami Hurricanes (6-7, 2-6)

Miami had a rough go of it until recently but still seems like a safe bet to finish near the bottom of the league, especially after getting boatraced in the Carrier Dome. The Hurricanes lost five of six games in December, with disappointing setbacks at the hands of Florida Gulf Coast, Pitt, Virginia Tech, Clemson, and UNC. But Miami had won two of its last three, with victories over NC State and Louisville bookending a blowout loss to Boston College leading into last night's loss at Syracuse. The one bright spot this season has been guard Isiah Wong, who was averaging 17.6 points per game heading into last night’s game against Syracuse. The Hurricanes now head home to host Notre Dame on Sunday.

13. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-8, 1-5)

The good news for Notre Dame is that the Irish don’t have to play Virginia again this season, after losing to the Cavaliers twice. The bad news is that they are 1-5 thus far and just 4-8 overall, boasting the longest of shots at a postseason bid. Notre Dame finally got an ACC win last week against Boston College and will be back in action Sunday at Miami.

14. Boston College Eagles (3-10, 1-6)

Speaking of BC, the Eagles beat Miami last week to earn their first league victory in what has been a rough season to date for the Eagles. The end of the Jim Christian era is nigh with 13 games remaining, starting with a trip to Blacksburg on Wednesday night.

15. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (3-5, 0-5)

The Deacs are the league’s lone winless team, with an 0-5 record and losers of five straight. Steve Forbes’ team was picked to finish last in the league, and everyone knew coming into this season that Wake would have growing pains under the new staff with a depleted roster. The Demon Deacons deserve some credit for fighting hard, though, and they nearly upset Virginia Tech on Sunday before losing by four at home. Wake has a chance to pull an upset over in-state rival UNC tonight before traveling down the road to Raleigh next week.

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