ACC Basketball power rankings: Dukes falls down, NC State and Pittsburgh moves up

9. Syracuse Orange – 15-10 (8-6)

The Orange may be cemented at the No. 9 spot because they’re certainly too good to be in the group of “bad” teams playing on the first day of the ACC Basketball Tournament. But they also aren’t one of the eight teams in the top half of the bracket that at least have some kind of NCAA Tournament hopes. It makes judging this team and Coach Jim Boeheim hard this year.

Syracuse had just one game this week and it was against Florida State on the road. And it actually had some implications standings-wise as both the Seminoles and Boston College have outside shots at overtaking the Orange in order to avoid having to play in the first round.

It was a rough start for the Orange, down six points in the first half. But an offensive explosion by the guards allowed Syracuse to come back and prevail, 76-67. Joe Girard had 26 points on 5/8 shooting from deep, while Jesse Edwards had 18 points and 12 rebounds. Judah Mintz, part of the “Big 3”, had 16 points and six assists.

The Orange are at home this week with two major games, with NC State and Duke coming to town. The win over the Seminoles gave them some breathing room in the standings but going 0-2 would be a setback for them.