ACC Basketball: Duke clear ahead, Pitt dead last in latest power rankings

Few teams in college basketball got to enjoy bringing back nearly their entire roster as Notre Dame did. In fact, this program has a whole bunch of experienced seniors to work with. But this is also the same core that has yet to make an NCAA Tournament appearance and struggle to get stops defensively. And through six games, very little has changed for them.

The Irish is at .500, with their more impressive performance coming in a close loss to Saint Mary’s in the Maui Invitational. They also lost to Texas A&M convincingly, a bad sign for a team looking to build an at-large resume. Up to this point, the Fighting Irish only has wins against Cal State Northridge and High Point, nothing that matters really.

What’s interesting is that the two newcomers to the rotation have played extremely well. Yale transfer Paul Atkinson is averaging 12.3 ppg and 6.3 rpg, while freshman guard Blake Wesley may be the team’s best player overall, putting up 13.0 ppg in just 20 mpg off the bench. The issue is the two guys they seem to have overshadowed in big man Nate Laszewski (8.5 ppg and 9.3 rpg) and point guard Prentiss Hubb, a preseason All-ACC player now averaging just 6.0 ppg and 3.2 apg.

If Hubbs doesn’t improve, the Irish has no shot at making the NCAA Tournament. They still play just seven guys in the rotation and only a couple of them should be considered average or better defenders. The only thing they have going for them is that they open ACC play on the road at Boston College and Pittsburgh. Anything other than 2-0 against those teams would likely have the Irish in the basement with them.