Column: ACC Basketball Race Finally Heating Up as Tournament Approaches

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For the longest time, it seemed like the ACC was a two-horse race between Florida State and Virginia. The normal big dogs from the conference weren’t separating themselves and COVID-19 pauses were affecting several teams’ momentum. But just when you thought you knew what was up, crazy stuff starts happening, and that’s a good thing. The recent shifts (ie: Virginia’s sudden fall; Duke’s sudden rise) have put the conference in the most exciting and watchable spot it’s been in all year.

The league is always better when Duke is playing well and they may be the hottest team in the conference right now. Unlike Virginia, who started with 11 wins in their first 12 ACC games, the Blue Devils are getting hot at the right time and making it hard to imagine the selection committee leaving them out.

Florida State, also unlike Virginia, who’s dropped three straight, has remained solid. They’re the class of the ACC; the Seminoles are the highest-ranked ACC team in KenPom’s rankings (No. 11) and the favorite to win the league, according to Sports Betting Dime.

As for Virginia, they’re clearly struggling — on both ends of the floor, in my opinion — but the metrics aren’t burying them. The Wahoos have only fallen five spots in the KenPom ratings from before the start of their three-game skid (No. 9) until now (No. 14). With their unique style and pedigree, they’re obviously a team you can’t count out, Tony Bennett just needs to right the ship. It should be noted they lost three ACC games in a row in 2018-19 before ripping off 15 wins in 16 games en route to the national title.

So Duke, Florida State, and Virginia are obviously dangerous teams at this point, but others have made things interesting as well. Clemson, for instance, has put themselves back on track with a great February. They’re 4-0 this month with wins over North Carolina and Georgia Tech, and their overall resume is arguably the best in the entire conference, no lie. The Tigers have six wins against KenPom Top 35 teams, including big non-con triumphs over No. 10 Alabama, No. 18 Purdue, and No. 28 Maryland. Clemson is also one of two teams who have taken down the mighty Seminoles. The other, Georgia Tech, also has their name ringing throughout the halls of the ACC.

The Jackets are on a three-game winning streak and have a golden opportunity in front of them with Syracuse and Duke coming to town over the next seven days. This is not the team that lost to Georgia State and Mercer earlier in the season. No, this team is experienced and feeling themselves. If you don’t know Jose Alvarado, get yourself familiar — he’s the kind of guy every ball coach wants.

Blue bloods Louisville and North Carolina have been up and down all season but found themselves on the right side of the bubble in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology release on February 23rd.

Virginia Tech recently got star Tyrece Radford back and joins Clemson as teams who “should be in” the Big Dance.

Syracuse is listed as a team that has “work to do” in terms of their tournament resume. As much as I want to see them in there as an Upstate NY native, they have ZERO wins inside KenPom’s Top 50. Luckily, they end with three teams inside the Top 40 so, yes, there’s work to do indeed.

Casey Pazzalia is the founder of Slackie Brown and its subdomain Virginia Gameday. He’s a credentialed media member at college basketball arenas all over the Virginia region and a former Virginia high school basketball reporter.