ACC Basketball Power Rankings: Week 8
With another ACC week in the book, we have our updated power rankings for the conference
Heartbreak.
That is the only word I can use to describe last week. UNC was the better team and yet lost by one to a team playing with 5 guys one of which had four fouls. But then again I didn’t have heartbreak. See I am a realist and anyone who had watched the Heels play this season knew they were going to blow that game. They knew it when Kennard started making everything. They knew it when Theo Pinson blew that fast break at the end of the first half. They knew it when Carolina failed to slam the door closed on Duke.
Realizing who your team is early helps take away the heartbreak that comes with games like that. As we go through the happenings of this past week, keep that thought in mind. Fans who don’t get it, get frustrated. Fans that do, shrug and move on.
Monday: Kansas wins their 38th straight home win. It is hard to believe that there was a time when people thought someone other than Kansas would win the Big 12. What am I talking about? I was one of those people. I thought this year Oklahoma or West Virginia or Iowa State had a chance. Of course that is every season and as of this writing Kansas has a healthy two game lead with four games to play. Two of those games are at home and if you missed the headline, Kansas doesn’t lose at home. Sure it could happen, just don’t bet on it. What you should bet on is a 12th straight Big 12 title for coach Bill Self and maybe next year we wont think he wont make it 13.
Tuesday: Baylor beats Iowa State in OT. Two straight Big 12 Headlines? Yeah well the Big 12 is good. It has a chance to send 70% of it’s league to the big dance for the second year in a row. That’s pretty impressive. Well Baylor looks to not only be one of those seven teams but has a chance to be one of the top four, thanks to this win coupled with a win later in the week against Texas. Baylor is coming together at the right time and with a healthy roster, isn’t just a threat in the Big 12 tournament but the NCAA one as well.
Wednesday: Blue Blood Battle, part I. So I talked a little about this game in the introduction, however I do have one last comment to make. Roy not calling timeout before the final play did not cost the Heels that game. Let me make this clear. Roy Williams not calling timeout did not cost the Heels that game. In this fast paced time we all want to narrow everything down to one play. One key decision. And it is easy to pin it all on a Hall of Fame coach who did what he always does in that situation. If you thought Roy was calling timeout there then either this was your first UNC game or you don’t pay attention.
Should he have called timeout? That is a different question. However that game was lost when Brice got uninvolved and I am sorry Mr. Paige and Mr. Berry, I am not crediting Duke’s defense for that. Did Roy make a bad call not calling a timeout? Maybe. But that game was lost when Carolina didn’t make an adjustment and that falls on more than just one play or one hall of fame coach.
Thursday: Maryland falters again. Maryland’s loss to Minnesota was their second in a row. Melo Trimble, who at one point was a first team All American, has caught the Marcus Paige disease. The guy just can’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. A team that had won five straight and looked like a one seed lock, will need some help to even win their conference.
Friday: Princeton and Yale. In what was the matchup of the night, the Ivy league just got competitive. If Yale had won, the Bulldogs would have a two game lead, with four games to play and the tie breaker. Instead Princeton won. Now both squads have one loss and have split the regular season. In the only conference that doesn’t have a tournament, head to head is huge. With only two weeks to play what is more likely is a tie breaker playoff for the second year in a row. If this keeps happening the Ivy might have a tournament after all.
Saturday: How Dominate is UK? I ask this because after winning four straight by an average of 22 points per game, Kentucky goes to Texas A&M, losers of four of their last five, and promptly loses. Of course this game had the questionable technical. But sorry Wildcat fans, you throw the ball you’re getting T’d up. I know it happened my junior year of school and all I did was toss the ball behind me sitting on the ground. Kentucky is going to make the tournament but whether or not they make a third consecutive final four is still very much in question.
Sunday: Utah reemerges. The Utes were left for dead back around the middle of January. They had one good win against Duke and were sitting at 1-3 in the Pac 12. Since then they have won 9 of 11 and are currently half a game behind Oregon and Arizona for the Pac 12 crown. What seemed like a potential NIT season has turned into a definite NCAA one. Plus with a lottery pick at center, Utah could be very dangerous come tourney time.
Of course the bigger thing is when your team isn’t the team you thought they were. When something clicks and all the pieces come together. When something happens: a banked in three, a return of a key member, or a heartbreaking loss to a rival, and everything changes. That has happened several times this season in ACC play. Could it be happening again? We will get to that later in the rankings, but for now let’s start as always with the bottom tier.
Note: All games and records as of 2/21
Next: The Barrel's Bottom