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ACC Basketball power rankings: Duke ahead of pack as conference play starts

By Michael Walton

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 31: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils huddles with his team during the second half of their game against the Boston College Eagles at Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 31, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 88-49. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 31: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils huddles with his team during the second half of their game against the Boston College Eagles at Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 31, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 88-49. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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SUNRISE, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 21: The Florida State Seminoles (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Louisville suffered a nail-biting true road loss to Kentucky but outside of that, it has been a strong stretch for the top four teams in ACC Basketball.

The ACC is still as strong as ever and as we enter the true start of conference play, there are lots of intriguing storylines that will unfold over the next several weeks. Right now ACC Basketball has five teams ranked in the top-40 in KenPom (No. 2 Duke, No. 7 Louisville, No. 18 Florida State, and the unranked NC State ) and North Carolina, at 47th in KenPom, has a chance to be a fast riser if and when stellar freshman Cole Anthony returns to the court.

We know what the big dogs of the conference will be up to as we start conference play. Teams like Duke and Virginia will be looking to stay the course and avoid upsets to feisty ACC foes like Boston College and Virginia Tech.

Louisville and Florida State will also be going head-to-head this week in a game that will represent the first instance of the conference beating up on itself, as one of those two ranked teams will likely take brief tumble in the polls following a loss, despite it being a “good” loss in the grand scheme of things.

The bottom half of the conference is looking as competitive as ever, with teams like Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Syracuse having win streaks of at least three games. In fact, seven teams in the 15-team ACC are on win streaks of at least three games, yet another way you can see just how strong the ACC is looking as they try for another seven (or more) bid season.