By Mychal Hunter
Once again the universe has corrected itself. After last weekend’s barrel full of trash performances we had a Saturday full of great games yesterday with every contest being decided by 11 points or less. Three games were decided by 5 points or less and two went to overtime.
My favorite thing from yesterday was the Chris Lykes vs Coby White show. That was amazing.
I wanted to make sure I did my rankings before the boys did this week, just so I wasn’t influenced by their choices. When I opened the emails this morning I was surprised (and maybe a little disappointed) that we all pretty much agreed in regards to the top 6.
So here they are, the February 10th ACC Power Rankings:
| Team | Mychal | Charlie | Kinchen | Total | |
| Duke | 15 | 15 | 15 | 45 | – |
| UNC | 14 | 13 | 14 | 41 | 1 |
| Virginia | 13 | 14 | 13 | 40 | -1 |
| Louisville | 12 | 12 | 12 | 36 | – |
| Florida State | 11 | 11 | 11 | 33 | 2 |
| Virginia Tech | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 | -1 |
| Syracuse | 9 | 8 | 9 | 26 | -1 |
| NC State | 8 | 7 | 8 | 23 | – |
| Clemson | 7 | 9 | 7 | 23 | 2 |
| Pittsburgh | 6 | 6 | 6 | 18 | – |
| Georgia Tech | 4 | 5 | 5 | 14 | -2 |
| Miami | 5 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 2 |
| Boston College | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 | – |
| Notre Dame | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | -2 |
| Wake Forest | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | – |
So, UNC moves up a spot to #2 after winning their seventh game in a row, while Virginia falls back to #3 after a game in which they simply didn’t look great at home against Duke. I was fairly underwhelmed by the encore game in that rivalry.
All three of us agreeing on 4-6 is boring, but telling. Florida State defeating Louisville in overtime in Tallahassee wasn’t enough for us to move the Seminoles ahead of the Cardinals, while Virginia Tech has lost some luster along with Justin Robinson.
Charlie is buying Clemson probably a week earlier than Kinchen and myself will. Syracuse was impressive while at the same time really not yesterday and NC State struggled mightily one the road while still getting the win.
Pittsburgh stands alone in their own tier in my eyes. They aren’t as good as anyone above them and they aren’t as bad as anyone below them, regardless of the loss to Wake Forest.
Of the bottom teams I think Boston College and Miami are the best to watch. BC’s play can be attributed to Ky Bowman, while Miami has a great coach in Jim Larranaga while also having a killer in Chris Lykes. They simply don’t have any depth.
Georgia Tech could easily be down there with Wake Forest and I was tempted, but ultimately declined. That offense is simply equal to a middle school jv chess team playing basketball for the first time. A change is needed on that bench. That doesn’t necessarily mean Josh Pastner.
Here are some more takes from Charlie and Kinchen:
-Virginia Tech isn’t a good team without Justin Robinson. The offense just isn’t there like it is when he plays.
-Can we say Duke is the best team in college basketball right now? Haven’t seen anyone who will be able to compete with them come March.
-It’s a log jam at the bottom of the conference and will be interesting to see who is officially going to be playing on Tuesday in Charlotte
