2017-18 ACC Basketball Power Rankings: Preseason Edition
College Basketball has returned and with it comes a new round of ACC Basketball rankings.
It’s the start of November, and that means one of two things. Major League Baseball has come to an end, and college basketball is about to begin.
So much has happened since the Tar Heels last took the court, beating the Gonzaga Bulldogs to win the national championship. Let’s take a look at some of that.
First, there was a record number of players who took advantage of the testing period and declared early for the NBA Draft. The draft saw teams only take two seniors in the first round with the earliest going 29th overall. Both of those things are records.
The draft also saw teams take freshmen with 10 of the first 11 picks, with the exception being Frank Ntilikina, a 19-year old point guard from France.
In non-draft related news, multiple coaching changes led to some shake-ups among power teams, as top player Michael Porter, Jr. flipped from Washington to Missouri. There was also some additional shake-ups as players from 2018 moved up to 2017, making this year’s group even more talented.
Finally, the NCAA made some decisions on some long-standing cases. It was determined that Louisville was guilty, while the North Carolina case was outside of its jurisdiction.
Of course, none of this include the FBI investigation which, so far, has already shaken the college basketball landscape, and is just getting started.
Well with all that done let’s move into the preseason edition of the 2017-18 ACC College Basketball Rankings.
Note: I tried to avoid graduating seniors for the biggest loss category and focus on players who had eligibility for this season and either transferred or left early, but couldn’t for every team, as some either had neither or had a transfer of unlikely future impact.