ACC Basketball: UVA leads final 2020-21 regular season power rankings

As the ACC Basketball tournament tips off in the Greensboro Coliseum this week, here’s a quick look at where every team stands at the conclusion of the regular season. In a year where elite programs like Duke and UNC struggled, by no means was this an off-year for the conference as a whole.

Since a lot of the top teams beat up on each other no team really rose to be a national favorite entering march madness. But this is still a deep conference and there’s always a team or two in it that makes a run this time of year.

The ACC looks to be getting 7-8 NCAA tournament bids this year. A team that’s definitely receiving one of those bids is the defending national champion Virginia Cavaliers (2019). This year they have the best rank and record in the conference as well as a one seed in the ACC Tournament, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they have the strongest resume.

15. Boston College 4-15 (2-11)

ACC Tournament Seed: 15

Best Conference Win: Notre Dame (94-90)

Best Non-Conference Win: Rhode Island (69-64)

14. Wake Forest 6-15 (3-15)

ACC Tournament Seed: 14

Best Conference Win: Pittsburgh (76-75)

Best Non-Conference Win: Delaware State (111-51)

13. Miami 8-16 (4-15)

ACC Tournament Seed: 13

Best Conference Win: Louisville (78-72)

Best Non-Conference Win: Purdue (58-54)

12. Pittsburgh 10-11 (6-10)

ACC Tournament Seed: 12

Best Conference Win: VA Tech (83 -72)

Best Non-Conference Win: Northwestern (71-70)

11. Notre Dame 10 -14 (7-11)

ACC Tournament Seed: 11

Best Conference Win: FL State (83-73)

Best Non-Conference Win: Kentucky (64-63)

10. NC State 13-9 (9-8)

ACC Tournament Seed: 9

Lost to Duke, Syracuse (twice), UVA, UNC, Miami, FL State, Clemson, St. Louis

Best Conference Win: UVA (68-61)

Best Non-Conference Win: UMass Lowell (90-59)

9. Duke 11-11 (9-9)

ACC Tournament Seed: 10

Lost to Michigan State, Illinois, VA Tech, Pitt, Louisville (twice), Miami, UNC (twice), Notre Dame, Georgia Tech

Best Conference Win: UVA (66-65)

Best Non-Conference Win: Bellarmine (76-54)

8. Syracuse 15-8 (9-7)

ACC Tournament Seed: 8

Lost to GA Tech, Duke, Clemson, UVA, Pitt (twice), UNC, Rutgers

Best Conference Win: VA Tech (78-60)

Best Non-Conference Win: Georgetown (74-69)

7. Louisville 13-6 (8-5)

ACC Tournament Seed: 7

Lost to UVA, UNC, Clemson, FL State, Miami, Wisco

Best Conference Win: VA Tech (73-71)

Best Non-Conference Win: Western KY (75-54) Honorable mention: Seton Hall (71-70)

6. North Carolina 16-9 (10-6)

ACC Tournament Seed: 6

Lost to Syracuse, Marquette, UVA, Clemson, FL State, GA Tech, NC State, Iowa, Texas

Best Conference Win: FL State (78-70)

Best Non-Conference Win: Stanford (67-63)

5. Georgia Tech 15-8 (11-6)

ACC Tournament Seed: 4

Lost to Clemson, UVA (twice), Louisville, Duke, FL State, Mercer, Georgia State

Best Conference Win: FL State (76-65)

Best Non-Conference Win: Kentucky (79-62)

4. Clemson 16-6 (10-6)

ACC Tournament Seed: 5

Lost to Syracuse, Duke, FL State, Georgia Tech, UVA, VA Tech

Best Conference Win: FL State (77-67)

Best Non-Conference Win: Alabama (64-56) Honorable mention: Purdue (81-70)

3. Virginia 17-6 (13-4)

ACC Tournament Seed: 1

Lost to Gonzaga, San Francisco, VA Tech, FL State, Duke, NC State

Best Conference Win: Georgia Tech (57-49)

Best Non-Conference Win: Kent State (71-64)

UVA played more games which helped their record but I don’t see enough quality wins. What I see is too many losses to good teams to be power ranked #1. Also a couple of bad losses like an early non-conference defeat to San Francisco and losses to Duke and NC State.

They beat good teams like Clemson and GT as well as UNC, Louisville, and Syracuse but they couldn’t beat Virginia Tech and Florida State which is ultimately why I put those two teams ahead. A better non-conference resume or beating Gonzaga would’ve helped a lot.

2. Virginia Tech 15-5 (9-4)

ACC Tournament Seed: 3

Lost to Georgia Tech, Pitt, Cuse, Louisville, Penn State

Best Conference Win: UVA (65-51)

Best Non-conference Win: Villanova (81-73)

After starting the year on fire with a win against Villanova in the second game of the season, Virginia Tech’s momentum came crashing to a halt two games later when they lost by 20 to Penn State. They bounced back nicely winning 5 of their first 6 conference games with the one loss coming from a 2-point road defeat to Louisville.

VT struggled down the stretch with ugly losses to Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and a 16-point home loss to Georgia Tech which hurt their rank nationally but the home win over UVA on January 30th is enough for me to give them #2.

1. Florida State 15-5 (11-4)

ACC Tournament Seed: 2

Lost to Notre Dame, UNC, Georgia Tech, Clemson, UCF

Best Conference Win: UVA (81-60)

Best Non-conference Win: Florida (83-71)

With the same record as Virginia Tech except with two more conference wins, Florida State is my regular season #1 in the ACC for not only their 21-point blowout win over Virginia but for splitting with a Georgia Tech team that gave Virginia Tech a lot of trouble.

They also split with Clemson, UNC, and lost games they shouldn’t have to teams like UCF and Notre Dame in the regular-season finale. In my opinion, the top 3 teams are neck and neck with 4,5, and 6 not far behind at all but if FSU can knock off UVA or V-Tech in the ACC tournament, then I’d probably keep the noles at #1.