Sam Bass gives his ACC basketball power rankings heading into week 13 of the 2024-25 season.
Matchup of the week: North Carolina vs. Duke (Feb. 1 – 6:30 p.m.)
Sneaky good matchup of the week: Wake Forest vs. Louisville (Jan. 28 – 7 p.m.)
All games in EST.
1) Duke Blue Devils
Last week‘s ranking: 1 (-)
Record: 17-2 (9-0)
Last week: W vs. Wake Forest (63-56)
Next week: vs. NC State (Jan. 27 – 8:30 p.m.), vs. North Carolina (Feb. 1 – 6:30 p.m.)
Quality wins: at Arizona, Auburn, at SMU, Pittsburgh, at Wake Forest
Bad losses: None
Duke continues to impress, still undefeated in conference play and second ranked in the nation. The Blue Devils have a potential cakewalk to the ACC crown and are staring an undefeated conference slate in the face. However, no matter how good Duke is, their toughest tests are against UNC, and the Tar Heels come into town for the rivalry matchup on Saturday.
2) Louisville Cardinals
Last week’s ranking: 2 (-)
Record: 15-5 (8-1)
Last week: W vs. SMU (98-73)
Next week: vs. Wake Forest (Jan. 28 – 7 p.m.), at Georgia Tech (Feb. 1 – 3:45 p.m.)
Quality wins: Indiana, West Virginia, North Carolina, Clemson, Pittsburgh, at SMU
Bad losses: None
Louisville is a very good basketball team and continues to click at a high level. The Cardinals are riding high off a dominant road win at SMU and are second in the conference, as well as nationally ranked. Before a road test against Georgia Tech, Louisville will host Wake Forest for a very quality matchup, and a win all but locks them in as the second-best team in the conference.
3) Clemson Tigers
Last week’s ranking: 3 (-)
Record: 17-4 (9-1)
Last week: W vs. Syracuse (86-72), W vs. Virginia Tech (72-57)
Next week: at NC State (Feb. 1 – 1:30 p.m.)
Quality wins: San Francisco, Penn State, Kentucky, at Pittsburgh
Bad losses: None
Clemson is quietly putting together a really quality season. Aside from the win over Kentucky in the ACC/SEC challenge, the Tigers do not necessarily have wins that jump off the paper, however, a 17-4 mark and 9-1 in conference should be plenty to get them in tournament discussions.
4) Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Last week’s ranking: 4 (-)
Record: 15-5 (7-2)
Last week: W vs. North Carolina (67-66), L vs. Duke (63-56)
Next week: at Louisville (Jan. 28 – 7 p.m.), vs. Pittsburgh (Feb. 1 – 12 p.m.)
Quality wins: Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina
Bad losses: None
Wake battled for a win over UNC, leading by as many as 8 with just over a minute to go but making it interesting, allowing UNC to battle within 1. Alas, Wake scraped the win, moving them to 7-1 in conference, but shortly fell to Duke in a matchup that was not too favorable for the Deacs. Wake has a great opportunity to make some noise in the standings if they can win at Louisville.
5) Pittsburgh Panthers
Last week’s ranking: 5 (-)
Record: 13-6 (4-4)
Last week: W vs. Syracuse (77-73)
Next week: vs. North Carolina (Jan. 28 – 9 p.m.), at Wake Forest (Feb. 1 – 12 p.m.)
Quality wins: LSU, at Ohio State
Bad losses: at Florida State
Pitt bounced back with a solid win against Syracuse after hitting a bit of a skid. The Panthers looked like the second best team in the league for a while, but could not win big games and lost a couple that they should not have. They have two opportunities to get back on the bubble. hosting UNC and traveling to Winston-Salem for a loaded week.
6) Stanford Cardinal
Last week’s ranking: 8 (+2)
Record: 14-6 (6-3)
Last week: W vs. Miami (88-51), W vs. Florida State (78-71)
Next week: vs. Syracuse (Jan. 29 – 11 p.m.), at SMU (Feb. 1 – 6 p.m.)
Quality wins: at Santa Clara, at Cal, at North Carolina
Bad losses: Grand Canyon, Cal Poly
Stanford has been very surprising this season. The Cardinal, now at 6-3 in conference play, have a couple of outstanding losses that will likely keep them out of the field unless they run the table, however, what they have been able to do in their first ACC season has been tremendous. Maxime Raynaud is on track for first team honors, as he has averaged a 20.5 point 11.7 double double this year.
7) SMU Mustangs
Last week’s ranking: 6 (-1)
Record: 15-5 (6-3)
Last week: L vs. Louisville (98-73), W vs. NC State (63-57)
Next week: vs. Cal (Jan. 29 – 9 p.m.), vs. Stanford (Feb. 1 – 6 p.m.)
Quality wins: Washington State, Virginia, LSU
Bad losses: None
SMU had a tough home loss that was pretty uncompetitive against Louisville but squeaked out a win against NC State to get back in the win column. The Mustangs are right in the middle of the ACC, and despite having some good wins, have been unable to be dominant against bad teams like the best teams should.
8) North Carolina Tar Heels
Last week’s ranking: 7 (-1)
Record: 13-8 (6-3)
Last week: L vs. Wake Forest (67-66), W vs. Boston College (102-96)
Next week: at Pittsburgh (Jan. 28 – 9 p.m.), at Duke (Feb. 1 – 6:30 p.m.)
Quality wins: Dayton, UCLA, at NC State
Bad losses: Stanford
UNC had a rough week. After losing to Wake despite efforts to come back late in that game, UNC struggled to beat a bad Boston College team, needing overtime to win that game. Good or bad, the Tar Heels have two games circled on their schedule every year and they are both against Duke, with one this Saturday.
9) Cal Golden Bears
Last week’s ranking: 10 (+1)
Record: 11-9 (4-5)
Last week: W vs. Florida State (77-68), W vs. Miami (98-94)
Next week: at SMU (Jan. 29 – 9 p.m.), vs. Syracuse (Feb. 1 – 10 p.m.)
Quality wins: at USC
Bad losses: Cornell, Virginia Tech
Cal beat both Florida teams this week, like their California counterpart Stanford did. Florida State and Miami both hung close, with Miami even sending the game to overtime, but Cal improved to 11-9 this season. It has been a bit of an adjustment year for Cal, with no real challenges on the schedule, however, a 4-5 mark in conference is solid, especially given expectations going into the season.
10) Florida State Seminoles
Last week’s ranking: 9 (-1)
Record: 13-7 (4-5)
Last week: L vs. Cal (77-68), L vs. Stanford (78-71)
Next week: vs. Virginia Tech (Jan. 29 – 7 p.m.), at Boston College (Feb. 1 – 2 p.m.)
Quality wins: at Rice, at Pittsburgh
Bad losses: at Cal
Florida State lost two games on the West Coast last week to drop them below .500 in conference. Fortunately for FSU, the bottom of the league is so packed that a couple of losses will not send them into “worrying about making the ACC Tournament mode,” but the bid to the conference playoffs seems to be the only thing FSU will be granted this season.
11) Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Last week’s ranking: 13 (+2)
Record: 9-10 (3-5)
Last week: W vs. Virginia (74-59)
Next week: vs. Georgia Tech (Jan. 28 – 9 p.m.), at Miami (Feb. 1 – 8 p.m.)
Quality wins: None
Bad losses: Elon, Georgia Tech
Notre Dame dominated Virginia on the road in their lone game this week, looking very dominant, albeit against a very bad team. The Irish now sit at just a game below .500 overall and 2 games below in conference, marks they hope to turn around this week against two weaker teams.
12) Syracuse Orange
Last week’s ranking: 12 (-)
Record: 9-11 (3-6)
Last week: L vs. Clemson (86-71), L vs. Pittsburgh (77-73)
Next week: at Stanford (Jan. 29 – 11 p.m.), at Cal (Feb. 1 – 10 p.m.)
Quality wins: None
Bad losses: Notre Dame, at Florida State
Syracuse lost two games after it seemed like they began to pick it up a little, dropping them to 9-11 and a brutal 3-6 in conference. Now, the Orange have to try and battle back to .500 in California against two teams playing great basketball in Stanford and Cal.
13) NC State Wolfpack
Last week’s ranking: 11 (-2)
Record: 9-10 (2-6)
Last week: L vs. SMU (63-57)
Next week: at Duke (Jan. 27 – 8:30 p.m.), vs. Clemson (Feb. 1 – 1:30 p.m.)
Quality wins: None
Bad losses: Virginia, Virginia Tech, Cal
NC State really showed a slim glimpse of being alright this year and then lost all of that in the blink of an eye. The Wolfpack dropped a game to SMU this week to fall below .500 and 2-6 in conference, good for second-to-last in the standings. Now, they need to battle for an ACCT bid, and as NC State fans know, anything can happen there.
14) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Last week’s ranking: 16 (+2)
Record: 9-11 (3-6)
Last week: W vs. Virginia Tech (71-64)
Next week: at Notre Dame (Jan. 28 – 9 p.m.), vs. Louisville (Feb. 1 – 3:45 p.m.)
Quality wins: None
Bad losses: North Florida, at Florida State
Georgia Tech had a nice win over their fellow Tech team, beating Virginia Tech by 7 in their lone game this week. The Yellow Jackets improved to 3-6 with the win, and that win could prove critical for ACC Tournament purposes.
15) Virginia Cavaliers
Last week’s ranking: 15 (-)
Record: 9-11 (2-7)
Last week: W vs. Boston College (74-56), L vs. Notre Dame (74-59)
Next week: at Miami (Jan. 29 – 7 p.m.), vs. Virginia Tech (Feb. 1 – 4 p.m.)
Quality wins: None
Bad losses: at Cal
Virginia looked a lot like their old self against Boston College and then just relapsed into what they have been this season in a blowout loss to Notre Dame. It has been a brutal season for Virginia fans, who never thought they would be without Tony Bennett fighting to not be in last in the ACC. It is likely Virginia will be heading towards a national search for a coach, as the current staff has not exactly had much success.
16) Virginia Tech Hokies
Last week’s ranking: 14 (-2)
Record: 8-12 (3-6)
Last week: L vs. Georgia Tech (71-64), L vs. Clemson (72-57)
Next week: at Florida State (Jan. 29 – 7 p.m.), at Virginia (Feb. 1 – 4 p.m.)
Quality wins: None
Bad losses: Jacksonville
Virginia Tech lost two this week to fall to 3-6 in conference. Despite having a rough season, the Hokies are still in the ACCT field as it stands, which Hokie fans have to be happy with. They play on the road twice this week, hoping to steal one win.
17) Boston College Eagles
Last week’s ranking: 17 (-)
Record: 9-11 (1-8)
Last week: L vs. Virginia (74-56), L vs. North Carolina (102-96)
Next week: vs. Florida State (Feb. 1 – 2 p.m.)
Quality wins: Boise State
Bad losses: Dartmouth, Georgia Tech, Virginia
BC got whopped by Virginia during the week, but took UNC to overtime on Saturday, losing and dropping to 1-8 in conference. The Eagles have a bad team, and playing UNC close is a bit of a consolation. They have a home matchup with FSU this week on Saturday, hoping to steal a win and push the needle in the standings.
18) Miami Hurricanes
Last week’s ranking: 18 (-)
Record: 4-16 (0-9)
Last week: L vs. Stanford (88-51), L vs. Cal (98-94)
Next week: vs. Virginia (Jan. 29 – 7 p.m.), vs. Notre Dame (Feb. 1 – 8 p.m.)
Quality wins: None
Bad losses: Drake, Charleston Southern, Mount St. Mary’s, Virginia Tech
Not much to say about Miami, who lost two more including a 37-point blowout against Stanford. Miami is the worst team in the conference by a long shot. However, they could get on the board at home against Virginia, who has not won a game on the road this season.