ACC Basketball power rankings: Wake Forest rises, Virginia slides down

If you exclude the five “buy games” on the schedule, Virginia Tech would be 2-5 against legitimate opponents on the season. Their numbers look good, particularly on defense but overall, this season hasn’t played up to expectations.

The blame can’t be put on the frontcourt, as leading scorer Keve Aluma (15.0 ppg and 6.4 rpg) and Justyn Mutts (10.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.8 apg) have done all they can in the offense. But the issue has been more with the guards, primarily at the playmaking spots.

Wofford transfer Storm Murphy (8.2 ppg and 2.7 apg) hasn’t been what the Hokies needed as a legit starting point guard but hasn’t been awful. But he and sharpshooter Hunter Catoor aren’t much passers and are only effective when they’re shooting the ball well. Junior guard Nahiem Alleyne (10.1 ppg) has been okay but the late departure of Tyrece Radford to Texas A&M late last offseason has been something the Hokies haven’t recovered from, as the losses have shown.

Losses to Wake Forest and Duke in league play isn’t a big problem but a road game at North Carolina this week could have them at 0-3, with a record around .500 overall. That’s a far cry from being potentially the second-best team in the ACC but if the guards can improve, that’s still a possibility.