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) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 16
Next
DURHAM, NC – FEBRUARY 18: Bryant Crawford
DURHAM, NC – FEBRUARY 18: Bryant Crawford /

Last week: Loss 78-70 at Syracuse – Home win 79-62 vs Georgia Tech – Home loss 90-84 to NC State

Wake Forest has switched spots with Georgia Tech in our latest rankings. Head coach Danny Manning made the NCAA tournament for the first time as head coach of Wake Forest last year. This year has been extremely different as a team that is not exactly young, is struggling to find ways to get it done. There is no such thing as a moral victory in the standings. But there are moral victories in my power rankings.

The Demon Deacons lost by six points in their only game last week against Miami. It was an impressive loss considering they put up 81 points on a Miami team that is a top-five ACC defense. The game would’ve been a lot closer if they didn’t shoot 66.7 percent from the free throw line. Bryant Crawford went five-for-eight from the 3-point line, but went 50 percent from the free throw line. So as it has went all season for the Demon Deacons, the good has been canceled out by the (mostly) bad.

Syracuse was next for Wake Forest following the loss to Miami,  and this time their turnovers cost them. They had 14 turnovers in the loss. The turnovers doomed them, as they were already having trouble keeping up with Syracuse’s Tyus Battle, who dropped 34 points against them.

The silver lining for Wake Forest is that their recent win against Georgia Tech puts them 1.5 games back of the Yellow Jackets in the conference standings. Because no one wants to inch closer to last-place Pitt.

This week: Wednesday at Pittsburgh (A) – Saturday vs Notre Dame (H)