The Wolfpacker's ACC basketball power rankings — Week 4

The ACC season continues this week after the Christmas holiday, with a slate of conference games coming this weekend. That includes NC State basketball, who returned from an extended break at Clemson on Friday afternoon.

The Wolfpacker duo of Matt Carter and Matt Coe tabulated their votes for ACC power rankings, and here is how the list sorted out.

Link: Week 3 of ACC basketball power rankings

1. Miami (12-1, 3-0 ACC): The Hurricanes rise to the top of the ACC power rankings after a home win over Virginia. Losing on a neutral court to Maryland is no shame, but Miami has done everything else right. The one caveat is that the Canes have a very favorable early conference slate. A 6-0 league start is very possible after taking care of the two toughest opponents in that stretch — NC State and UVa — on their home court.

Last week: 4

2. Virginia (8-2, 1-1 ACC): Losing to Houston and Miami in back-to-back games is no shame. A little disconcerting for the Cavaliers however is that the offense has struggled to score as much recently. Virginia had 70 points or more in the first six games of the year. However, in the past four contests, the Cavs have not scored more than 64 points, including a pair of ACC games.

Last week: 1

3 . Duke (10-3, 1-1 ACC): A short-handed Blue Devils squad lost at Wake Forest in the first true road game for Duke this season. Perhaps most alarming however was that Wake was in control after a back-and-forth 10-minute start.

Last week: 2 (tie)

4. Virginia Tech (11-2, 1-1 ACC): For a team that had been playing so well, losing an ACC contest at Boston College was a head-scratcher. Virginia Tech is now 0-2 in true road games.

Last week: 2 (tie)

5. North Carolina (9-4, 1-1 ACC): Back-to-back quality wins over Ohio State and Michigan on neutral courts were the kind of wins the conference needed, and for UNC a signal that they are rounding into form after an early-season four-game losing streak.

Last week: 5

6. Clemson (10-3, 2-0 ACC): Clemson recovered from a lopsided home loss to Loyola Chicago by thumping usually-solid Richmond at home and then securing a valuable league road win at Georgia Tech.

Last week: 8

7. NC State (11-3, 1-2 ACC): The Wolfpack won an almost must-have non-conference game vs. Vanderbilt on a neutral court, and then avoided a bad ACC loss to Louisville at home.

Last week: 6 (tie)

8. Pittsburgh (9-4, 2-0 ACC): The Panthers are 1.1 seconds away in a road contest at Vanderbilt from having a 9-game winning streak. Pitt also has two extremely valuable ACC road wins to their credit. If there is a team that is perhaps underrated in the power rankings, Pitt is it.

Last week: 9

9. Wake Forest (9-4, 1-1 ACC): The Deacons may be the enigma of the conference — capable of winning on the road at Wisconsin and beating Duke (albeit shorthanded), but also getting trounced at Rutgers and needing buzzer beaters to win over Appalachian State and Utah Valley.

Last week: 10 (tie)

10. Syracuse (8-5, 1-1 ACC): A five-game winning streak brought optimism surrounding the Orange, but we asked in the last power rankings edition, who have they beaten? A recent home loss to Pittsburgh suggested that the opposition and perhaps not Syracuse may have been the biggest reason for that streak.

Last week: 11

11. Notre Dame (7-5, 0-2 ACC): The Irish have lost four out of five games, including a pair of ACC contests. After a Sweet 16 run a year ago, Notre Dame is one of the early-season disappointments in the conference.

Last week: 10 (tie)

12. Boston College (7-6, 1-1 ACC): The Eagles have been one of the most underwhelming teams in the conference this year, but a win over Virginia Tech leads to a small bump.

Last week: 14

13. Florida State (4-10, 1-2 ACC): The Seminoles may slowly be showing signs of life, but a 14-point loss to St. John’s showed there is still a ways go. FSU has won 3 of 4 include two ACC games. However, those were against Louisville and Notre Dame, and both at home.

Last week: 13

14. Georgia Tech (6-4, 0-1 ACC): The Yellow Jackets had a competitive loss to Utah, but in other well-regarded games they have lost consistently been beaten by double-digits: 24 to Marquette, 16 to Iowa, 16 to North Carolina and 13 to Clemson.

Last week: 12

15. Louisville (2-11, 0-3 ACC): The Cardinals are what they are, a really bad team. One wonders how many ACC games they could possibly win.

Last week: 15