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College Basketball ACC Power Rankings: Week 11

By Charlie Maikis

Jan 14, 2017; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey signals for a play against the Virginia Tech Hokies in the second half at Cassell Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 14, 2017; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey signals for a play against the Virginia Tech Hokies in the second half at Cassell Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports /
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A look at the ACC college basketball power rankings during Week 11 of action

Week 10 was another wild one in the ACC. With the dust beginning to settle and contenders separating from pretenders in most other conferences, the ACC is as much a mixed bag as ever. There was lots of movement in this week’s rankings as eight of the 15 teams in the conference moved at least four spots. The biggest risers were Georgia Tech and North Carolina, each getting a five-spot bump, while the biggest drop, also five spots, came for Miami. Virginia Tech, Louisville, Clemson, Pittsburgh and Duke were the other big movers in a crazy week. As the top few teams look to separate themselves from the pack, those near the bottom need not worry as they’re not as far behind as it seems in a conference as competitive as this one.

That said, let’s get on to the rankings. Here’s how the teams of the Atlantic Coast Conference stack up for Week 11.

15

North Carolina State Wolfpack

Last week: 12-6, 1-4 ACC
Last rank: 13

Mark Gottfried and company had a week to forget. While it looked like they may be able to gain some momentum, they lost to the two teams initially projected to finish at the bottom of the ACC. Both Boston College and Georgia Tech have been surging, but the Wolfpack would have liked to pick up a win in at least one of the two contests. Outside of freshman phenom Dennis Smith Jr. the team has not been able to get much going. Smith put up 31 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists in the loss to Georgia Tech while Maverick Rowan chipped in 17 of his own, but everybody else combined for just 28 points on 11-32 shooting. They host another ACC team desperate for a win in Pitt on Tuesday night, but the game had yet to be played as of the writing of these rankings. If NC State can pick up a win in that game, they’ll look to use the momentum to spur them on as they play two more North Carolina teams, Wake Forest and Duke, in the coming week.

14

Pittsburgh Panthers

Last week: 16-6, 1-4 ACC
Last rank: 10

After splitting close overtime games with Notre Dame and Virginia to open ACC play, the Panthers have been slumping. This week they lost another close game to Louisville before getting blown out of the water by a mediocre Miami team at home. Like NC State, Pittsburgh has been relying on one guy to do it all, and he has. Senior Jamel Artis put up a career-high 43 in the loss to the Cardinals and then a team-high 15 when nobody could get anything going against Miami. Fellow senior forward Michael Young had 17 points in a double-double against Louisville, but fell flat with an 0-10 shooting night and two points against the Hurricanes. They’ll be looking to turn it around and get out of the gutter in their game against NC State on Tuesday night before getting a week off and then another shot at Louisville. If they want to start to turn their season around, they’re going to need to rely on big contributions from their leaders Artis and Young.