Every team has at least one game in the books, how do they stack up?
We do weekly Power Rankings on Fridays, correct? I don’t remember. I could look but who has the damn time in the COVID world? We can use that excuse for anything, right? Even complete and utter laziness. I am going to call it “being busy” but we all know that is a stretch.
So, what have we learned? I would hope that we are all seasoned enough fans at this point that we know better than to overreact but where is the fun in that? Georgia Tech clearly won’t win a game this season, Kihei Clark is a shadow of his former self and Louisville is going to run away with this league. Those are all foregone conclusions at this point.
The first overreacting ACCBR Power Rankings are here and boy oh boy were they heartbreaking to write.
| Rank | Team |
| 1 | Louisville |
| 2 | Virginia Tech |
| 3 | Duke |
| 4 | UNC |
| 5 | Virginia |
| 6 | Florida State |
| 7 | Clemson |
| 8 | Miami |
| 9 | NC State |
| 10 | Syracuse |
| 11 | Notre Dame |
| 12 | Wake Forest |
| 13 | Boston College |
| 14 | Pittsburgh |
| 15 | Georgia Tech |
Like I said, overreactions abound even though we all know these trends will not hold. Virginia Tech is already starting to shake like an addict during a long work day and three teams have only played a single game.
In my not so humble opinion, you have to reward Louisville for simply winning all of their games thus far. Victories over Seton Hall and a very good Western Kentucky team in dominating fashion are good early season resume’ builders. Jae’Lyn Withers has been the biggest pleasant surprise on a team that is full of a pleasant surprises. Freshmen JJ Traynor and Dre Davis are both playing fantastically while the backcourt duo of Carlik Jones and David Johnson looks like one of the best in the country.
It’s difficult not to place VPISU in the two slot given what they have done so far this season. Taking down a team of the caliber of Villanova earns you immediate and well deserved respect. The problem with this team is that this exact scenario played out last season. The Hokies started 6-0 and defeated Michigan State before falling off in fantastic fashion in 2019-20. The difference this season is that this team is more experienced, deeper, and will benefit from the return of arguably the best shooter in the ACC in Jalen Cone who played 14 minutes last night.
Duke, Virginia, and UNC all have issues that they need to work out but they are too talented and will eventually do so. If you think any of these three finish outside of the top five by season’s end, you’re overreacting.
FSU has only played one game and haven’t quite found themselves and Clemson is the Bachman Turner Overdrive of the group. They are simply takin’ care of business early on. All of the of faith that the misguided masses had in Georgia Tech should have been placed in the Clemson collection plate.
Speaking of the Jackets, what can you say other than they are the Motley Crue of the ACC? It’s the same ol’ situation in Atlanta. A talented roster marred by poor coaching decisions and underwhelming early results. You would think that GTech fans would be used to it by now. Josh Pastner has lost at home to a team ranked outside the top 100 in Kenpom every single season he has been on campus.
- 2016-Ohio (105) 67-61
- 2017-Grambling State (295) 64-63, Wright State (133) 85-81
- 2018-Gardner Webb (163) 79-69
- 2019-Ball State (116) 65-47
- 2020-Georgia State (115) 123-120, Mercer (152) 83-73
This will be blamed on finals by fans. The safest bet in college basketball is betting on GT not to cover right before and/or right after finals week.
Things will eventually level out but the core conclusion of these Power Rankings is that things are far from decided so you might as well enjoy the anarchy.
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