Big Red Louie
Fansided

ACC basketball power rankings: A new team claims top spot

By Presley Meyer

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 12: Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils shoots the ball against the Louisville Cardinals at KFC YUM! Center on February 12, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 12: Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils shoots the ball against the Louisville Cardinals at KFC YUM! Center on February 12, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 8
Next
SYRACUSE, NY – FEBRUARY 23: Zion Williamson (L) of the Duke Blue Devils reacts from the bench against the Syracuse Orange during the second half at the Carrier Dome on February 23, 2019 in Syracuse, New York. Duke defeated Syracuse 75-65. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images)
SYRACUSE, NY – FEBRUARY 23: Zion Williamson (L) of the Duke Blue Devils reacts from the bench against the Syracuse Orange during the second half at the Carrier Dome on February 23, 2019 in Syracuse, New York. Duke defeated Syracuse 75-65. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images) /

An indicator of just how tough the ACC is, Duke is still the favorite to win it all, but they rank third in our power rankings. The Zion-less Blue Devils dropped an ugly one to Virginia Tech on Tuesday, which came on the heels of a week where they lost convincingly to North Carolina, and barely escaped at Syracuse. Teams are beginning to expose some serious flaws in Duke, particularly with a lack of a capable big man (they had to un-redshirt Joey Baker to attempt to help) as well as their inability to shoot from deep.

Duke is a tremendous team, still worthy of one seed consideration. Without Zion Williamson, they do seem much more beatable. RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, Trey Jones, and company are still an incredibly talented bunch, but it feels like they are often searching for answers without their tone-setting leader.

Ball Durham: Obviously the biggest concern with the Blue Devils is the health of Zion Williamson. Coach K updated his status on Monday saying that he was in phase four of four of his recovery process. With games against Wake Forest and North Carolina coming up this week, Duke is getting healthy and that should be a scary sight for the rest of the country

Home/Louisville Basketball