Louisville basketball drops to 8th in latest ACC Power Rankings
Clemson is a team that has just not been able to put the pieces together this season. They are great at getting the opponent to play into their hands and really like to “ugly it up” as much as possible. The Tigers simply can’t close the gap on teams like NC State and Louisville- two games in which they lost heart breakers. A recent loss to Miami hurts their NCAA tournament chances, but they cushion a crucial home match up with UNC with must-wins against Pitt, Notre Dame, and Syracuse.
If the Tigers win three out of the last four, they are probably in the tournament, and deservedly so.
Louisville led the ACC standings just two weeks ago, but late collapses at home to Duke and Virginia and a blowout loss to Syracuse have pushed them outside of ACC tournament double-bye territory.
Still, the Cards boast wins over NC State, North Carolina, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Seton Hall, and Lipscomb. Louisville has held a substantial lead in the second half against Tennessee, Virginia, Marquette, Duke, and Florida State. If this team can learn how to deal with pressure down the stretch, they have tremendous potential.
Until then, late collapses have moved them into 5-10 seed territory in the NCAA tournament, and they will face a tough road ahead.
It’s time to start recognizing that NC State is legit. They came into conference play on fire, and they’ve won every game they are supposed to win. The only obstacle left for the Wolfpack is to beat a ranked team. They were damn close against Virginia, and pushed Duke and North Carolina. With that said, they were never within reach against Louisville, scored 24 points the whole game against Virginia Tech, and still boast zero ranked wins (unless you count Auburn. Are we counting Auburn at this point?).
The Pack are squarely in the NCAA tournament. They are dynamic on defense, and they have some game-changers in Torin Dorn, Markell Johnson, and Braxon Beverly. Maybe this is the week they get over that ranked team hump when they face Florida State.
Cuse is one of only three teams that can say they beat Duke, and they pushed the Blue Devils late in their rematch this week. Syracuse also pummeled Louisville this week, and seems to be on the up-and-up.
Jim Boehiem’s squad doesn’t boast as much size inside as usual, but that 2-3 zone is as lethal as ever. Cuse is trending up at the right time, and their coach has done this a time or two before.
At one point this season, Virginia Tech looked like a team that was capable of sneaking up and stealing the ACC from Duke, UNC or Virginia. But the problems that have plagued the Hokies and Buzz Williams over the last few seasons have reared their ugly heads once again – led by depth issues.
Even with star guard Justin Robinson out of the lineup Virginia Tech has been able to hang with 4-7 range of the ACC rankings with just five losses. The Hokies have been fortunate to have a pretty lax February, picking up wins over the likes of Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and of course the infamous game against NC State but have also dropped winnable games against Louisville, Clemson, and Virginia.
The Hokies still have a shot at the 4 seed in the ACC tournament, which would guarantee a double bye, but would have to finish strong against Duke, Florida State, and Miami – a task that seems pretty tall for a team plagued by injuries and depth issues.