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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - DECEMBER 22: Jayden Gardner #1 of the Virginia Cavaliers defends Hunter Tyson #5 of the Clemson Tigers in the first half during a game at John Paul Jones Arena on December 22, 2021 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /

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ACC Basketball James Karnik Boston College Eagles (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images) /

team. 431. . 6-5 (1-0). . Eagles . 14

The conference win over Notre Dame gave the Eagles plenty of confidence that they could compete in the ACC a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, losing to Saint Louis (not a bad loss) and at home against Albany (really bad loss) took the Eagles back towards the bottom.

The issue that Boston College is going to face is the lack of high-end talent on the roster. Their leading scorer is DeMarr Langford, who averages 12.1 ppg in 36 mpg. Guards Makai Ashton-Langford and Jaeden Zackery also are in double figures but as a team, they average just 67.3 ppg, good for the bottom-third in the country. Making matters worse, College of Charleston transfer Brevin Galloway is now out for the season with an injury, limiting their depth even more.

What this team does have going for them is a solid trio of bigs (James Karnik, Quinten Post, and T.J. Bickerstaff) that have been very good defensively. That’s going to be important against opponents such as Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech but it’ll be up to the guard play to determine how many more wins they can get in league play. The Notre Dame win showed they are capable but the Albany loss also showed why 14 is a good spot.