The Wolfpacker's ACC basketball power rankings

The start of the ACC season begins this weekend, starting with a pair of games Friday night. That includes NC State hosting Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. The Wolfpacker duo of Matt Carter and Matt Coe tabulated their votes for ACC power rankings, and here is how the list sorted out.

1. Virginia (6-0): A clear-cut No. 1 with wins over Baylor and Illinois on a neutral court plus Michigan on the road. The Cavs appear to have much more of an offensive punch this season than year’s past, scoring at least 70 points in all their wins, including 86 against the Bears.

2. Duke (7-2): The talented, young Blue Devils probably should have beaten Kansas, blowing a late five-point lead in the waning moments of the game on a neutral floor. A lopsided loss on a neutral court to Purdue was a blemish, but Duke responded well with a home win over ranked Ohio State.

3. Miami (7-1): The Hurricanes have some solid wins to their credit, winning away from home over Providence and Central Florida and beating Rutgers at home. There was a lopsided loss to Maryland, also away from home, but the strong backcourt will make the Hurricanes potent this year.

4 (tie). North Carolina (5-3): Easily the ACC’s most disappointing team early in the season, with a three-game losing streak ongoing in games away from home. Perhaps just as unsettling was less-than-impressive home wins over the likes of UNC Wilmington and Gardner-Webb.

4. (tie) Virginia Tech (7-1): The defending ACC champions are off to a good start, but the Hokies have a bad loss to Charleston, albeit on the road, and have played one of the worst schedules thus far in the ACC. The slate is rated 335th nationally according to KenPom.com

6. NC State (7-1): The Wolfpack make a good case for being higher on the ACC power rankings. NC State has good neutral court wins over Dayton and Butler, and the one loss was competitive to Kansas. 

7 (tie). Wake Forest (7-1): The Deacons, like NC State, have some notable wins. The victory at Wisconsin will be a resume builder, while the home win over Georgia is holding up better than originally anticipated. That said, Wake Forest needed overtime to beat La Salle and avoid a second back loss to go with at home to Loyola Marymount.

7 (tie). Notre Dame (7-1): The Fighting Irish were impressive in their dismantling of ranked Michigan State, helping the ACC win the Challenge. That said, a home loss to St. Bonaventure and close calls vs. Radford and Lipscomb dinged the Irish

9. Clemson (6-2): The loss at South Carolina was on the road and early in the season, but given the Gamecocks’ struggles since was not a good defeat. A home win over Penn State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge redeemed that somewhat. The Tigers were also competitive in a neutral court defeat to Iowa.

10. Syracuse (3-4): Here’s where the dividing line currently lies in the ACC. The Orange has home losses to Colgate and Bryant and looked uncompetitive at Illinois. 

11. Pittsburgh (5-3): If there is a team in the bottom third of the ACC that may be underrated, that could be Pitt, who plays at NC State Friday evening. The Panthers have a veteran starting five that’s now healthy and routed Northwestern on the road in their last outing.

12. Boston College (5-3): Close calls in wins over Cornell, Detroit Mercy and Rhode Island keeps BC above .500, but the Eagles were blown out in the second half at Nebraska in the ACC/Big Challenge.

13. Georgia Tech (4-3): The Yellow Jackets looked competitive in a neutral court loss to Utah, but their other tests away from home resulted in double-digit defeats to Marquette and Iowa. Georgia Tech also narrowly avoided a bad loss at Georgia State.

14. Florida State (1-7): The record really says it all for one of the better teams in recent years in the ACC.

15. Louisville (0-7): The Cardinals have played one of the tougher schedules in the ACC, but even before that losing at home to Bellarmine, Wright State and Appalachian State foretold getting trounced by Arkansas, Texas Tech, Cincinnati and Maryland.