Busting Brackets
Fansided

ACC basketball: Power ranking the league down the stretch

By Michael Walton

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - January 31: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers reacts to a call in the first half during a game against the Louisville Cardinals at John Paul Jones Arena on January 31, 2018 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - January 31: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers reacts to a call in the first half during a game against the Louisville Cardinals at John Paul Jones Arena on January 31, 2018 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
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Last week: Home loss 80-69 vs Duke – Loss 79-62 at Wake Forest – Home loss 76-56 to Virginia Tech 

Oh how quickly things change. In our last edition of ACC Power rankings Georgia Tech was one spot up at 13. A complete lack of outside shooting has been Georgia Tech’s main issue all season. They fought hard in the loss at Boston College, but destroyed any momentum they had going by getting destroyed by a Louisville team that was playing without arguably their best player in Deng Adel.

Recently, the problem has  become even more pronounced. That is something I didn’t think was possible, but starting point guard Jose Alvarado suffered a season-ending elbow fracture against Duke and made their issues even worse. Their continuity was thrown off because Alvarado was one of two players to start every game this season for the Yellow Jackets. They are the worst 3-point shooting team in the ACC percentage-wise, but the loss of Alvarado in their most recent loss to Wake Forest, the Yellow Jackets shot 11.1 percent from the 3-point line, making one of nine 3-point attempts.

Losing Alvarado – and to a lesser extent freshman Curtis Haywood II (37 percent 3-pt shooter) – has pretty much robbed the Yellow Jackets of all of their perimeter scoring threats sans sophomore Josh Okogie. There is only so much you can ask one player to do, but expect Okogie to see his 28 percent usage rate rise. Georgia Tech’s next two games are against a Virginia Tech team with the 3rd best Adjusted offensive rating in the ACC per sports-reference.com and a Virginia team that is currently #1 in the nation, with far and away the best defense in the country.

Okogie has scored 21.2 ppg over his last five match-ups, including a big 29-point performance against Duke. If the Yellow Jackets continue to ride the hot-hand, they can get to a .500 record in conference play. Pushing the pace and getting to the free throw line would really benefit an offense that is struggling from a lack of reliable options.

This week: Wednesday at Virginia (A) – Saturday at Clemson (A)