ACC basketball power rankings: Will Duke or North Carolina lead conference in 2024-25?

Posted by Admin October 28, 2024 Basketball

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The past three seasons have followed a familiar pattern for ACC men’s basketball programs.

For much of the regular season, questions are raised how strong the historically decorated conference still is. On Selection Sunday, fewer teams than usual make the NCAA Tournament. By the tournament’s final rounds, it enjoys a redemptive arc: The ACC’s death has been greatly exaggerated.

Will that pattern hold in 2024-25? Before the season tips off, here’s where programs stand:

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1. Duke

Cooper Flagg is as touted a freshman as there has been in years. And to think, he’s one of four five-star players in Durham.

2. North Carolina

Reigning conference player of the year RJ Davis returns, but the big question is how UNC will fare down low without program fixture Armando Bacot.

3. Wake Forest

Wake Forest has improved under Steve Forbes, but hasn’t yet made an NCAA Tournament. Expect that to change this season.

4. Louisville

Louisville is talented, but how all its pieces mesh will determine just how much it improves after Kenny Payne’s disastrous college basketball coaching tenure.

5. Pitt

Jeff Capel has deftly molded Pitt into one of the ACC’s best programs after a frustrating first four seasons.

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6. Clemson

After making the Elite Eight, a 2025 NCAA Tournament berth would mark Clemson’s first consecutive appearances under 15th-year coach Brad Brownell.

7. Miami

Few teams in the conference had a more disappointing season last year. Jim Larrañaga’s team should be much more competitive.

8. Notre Dame

Micah Shrewsberry turned what might have been the ACC’s least talented roster into one of the league’s hardest outs by the end of the season.

9. Virginia

Following Tony Bennett’s sudden retirement, this team won’t (and shouldn’t) get the same benefit of the doubt after it was picked fifth in the ACC preseason poll.

10. Syracuse

Adrian Autry turned in a solid debut season after succeeding the legendary Jim Boeheim, leading Syracuse to its most conference wins since its debut ACC season.

11. NC State

Before it caught fire and made its first Final Four since 1983, the Wolfpack was a middling squad whose struggles raised questions about Kevin Keatts’ job security.

12. Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech showed encouraging signs late last season under first-year coach Damon Stoudamire.

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13. SMU

The Mustangs took the widely criticized step of firing Rob Lanier after a 20-win season, but a lineup of deep-pocketed boosters managed to lure USC’s Andy Enfield to help with the ACC transition.

14. Cal

Mark Madsen did commendable work in his first season in Berkeley, guiding the Golden Bears to a 10-win improvement from a 3-29 season.

15. Stanford

Kyle Smith is likely to win with the Cardinal eventually. It just probably won’t be this season.

16. Virginia Tech

After two NCAA Tournament appearances in Mike Young’s first three seasons, the Hokies haven’t gone dancing in either of the past two seasons, and weren’t particularly close to doing so.

17. Florida State

Given the program’s slide since the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Tournament, the retirement question will invariably follow 76-year-old Leonard Hamilton, even with all he has accomplished in Tallahassee.

18. Boston College

Earl Grant has slowly built the Eagles up over three years, a run that peaked last year with a 20-win season at what’s arguably the league’s most difficult job.