By: Kinchen Taylor

Welcome to the inaugural Korner 3’s post. This is going to be my weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, ramblings about all things ACC basketball. I will try to have one common theme throughout these posts. This week’s theme is breaking down all 15 ACC teams into 3 groups, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Cue the music and lets dive in with the ACC teams I view as The Good…

The Good

-Duke (duh)
-Virginia
-UNC
-Virginia Tech
-Louisville
-Syracuse
-NC State

Not much needs to be said about how great Duke is, ESPN pretty much covers all that, but Zion and Company are definitely the best team in the ACC in my opinion. Tre Jones being back helps bring stability to the offense and great on-ball pressure at the defensive end.

Probably the team that just squeaks into the “Good” category is NC State. Since conference play has started, the Pack hasn’t played a good, full 40 minute game. However, of the 7 games they’ve played so far, 4 have been on the road and Markell Johnson finally returned to the lineup after being injured. A tough stretch faces the Pack with home games versus UVA and Virginia Tech followed by a road trip to Chapel Hill.

The Bad

-Florida State
-Georgia Tech
-Pittsburgh
-Boston College

It’s almost insulting to call these teams bad because the ACC is so deep this year, but these teams aren’t that good either. The Noles haven’t been that impressive, especially when they were a Cam Reddish 3 away from beating Duke in Tallahassee. I think they will slowly climb back into the top of the ACC, but it’s going to be a slow climb with how far they fell to start the season with.

Sorry in advance Mychal, but I don’t understand how this Georgia Tech team has won 3 games especially with injuries plaguing the Jackets to start ACC play. Josh Pastner can make a poorly drawn painting look like a Rembrandt. With UNC and Florida State looming ahead, we’ll see how they fair after that mini tough stretch.

The Ugly

-Clemson
-Miami
-Wake Forest
-Notre Dame

Notre Dame has been bit by the injury bug for the past two or three years, but this I believe, is the worst of them all. No Rex Pfleuger and Juwan Durham hasn’t played a whole lot during ACC play. You have the bright spot with John Mooney, who is a Luke Maye Spider-Man Point meme come to life. There’s only so much he can do with that limited of a roster.

I won’t kick a team while they are down but Clemson’s collapse against the Pack on Saturday definitely doesn’t make things any better after starting the season in the Top 25 and talk about returning back to the Sweet 16. The Tigers seem to have capable scorers and defensive threats in Elijah Thomas and Aamir Simms, but end game execution hurts the most it seems.

As we near the halfway point of ACC play, it’s shaping up to be a fun February. The next Korner 3’s post will break down my picks for Midseason All ACC team, Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and maybe some other random awards I want to give out. Thanks again to Mychal and Charlie for letting me in the ACCBR family and looking forward to spewing the hot takes along the way.