Fansided

College Basketball ACC Power Rankings: Week 13

By Charlie Maikis

Jan 21, 2017; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers guard London Perrantes (32) dribbles the ball as Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets guard Josh Heath (11) defends during the second half at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers won 62-49. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 21, 2017; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers guard London Perrantes (32) dribbles the ball as Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets guard Josh Heath (11) defends during the second half at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers won 62-49. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 8
Next
Dec 10, 2016; Newark, NJ, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Matt Farrell (5) reacts to a call in his game against the Villanova Wildcats during the second half of the fist game at Prudential Center. Villanova won, 74-66. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 10, 2016; Newark, NJ, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Matt Farrell (5) reacts to a call in his game against the Villanova Wildcats during the second half of the fist game at Prudential Center. Villanova won, 74-66. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports /
7

Florida State Seminoles

Last week: 18-4, 6-3 ACC
Last rank: 1

Oh how the mighty have fallen. The first three weeks of these power rankings, the Seminoles were ranked 1, 3, and 1. Going 5-1 in a stretch of six straight ranked opponents will do that for a team. Just when it seemed like they were getting a break, Leonard Hamilton’s team dropped back-to-back games to unranked Syracuse and Miami by a combined 32 points. Florida State’s struggles have mostly come on the defensive end– in their three conference losses, they’ve given up 96, 78, and 82 points.

With all of the size and athleticism on the team, they have the tools to be an elite defensive squad, but they haven’t put it all together just yet. These struggles could just be fatigue. After such a tough six-game stretch, a letdown isn’t unlikely and they found themselves down 26 at halftime to the Yellow Jackets and 18 at the break to the Orange. They came out flat, but were able to outscore their counterparts in the second half. This week they get games against Miami and Clemson. Those are two tough teams, but easily beatable if the Noles play up to the expectations they’ve set.

6

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Last week: 17-6, 6-4 ACC
Last rank: 2

Speaking of the mighty falling, before this week Notre Dame never found themselves outside the top two on these rankings. After falling to Duke at home, they’ve lost three straight, though two of those were to ranked teams and the third was at the last second to surging Georgia Tech. Regardless, Mike Brey needs to find a way to get his offense back on track. One of the best units in the country, they’ve scored just under 63 points per game during their three-game slide. With a defense as porous as theirs, they need to get back to the efficient scoring machine we saw in the first half of the season.

They didn’t shoot better than 43 percent in any of the three games or make double-digit 3s in any of them. Most concerning, however, has to be the free throw shooting. At 80.5 percent on the year, they are second in the nation in proficiency at the stripe, but made just 66 percent this past week. The offense needs to come around quickly as they have a big matchup with UNC this weekend.