ACC basketball rankings: Louisville takes the throne, Coach K blows a gasket, Syracuse sits and UNC falls in Cole Anthony return

Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, we welcome you back to another edition of the proud, preeminent TNIAAM ACC basketball rankings.

Another Monday means another rankings piece, as this time around we all recover from The Big Game and stare down another long work week.

ACC basketball almost never disappoints in entertainment value. At least one head coach is blowing a gasket per week now. In the past seven days, Coach K sounded off on the Cameron Crazies, North Carolina’s Cole Anthony returned only for UNC to lose to Boston College and nobody outside of Duke, Louisville and Florida State want to make the NCAA Tournament. The bottom of the conference is absolutely deplorable and has devolved into a crab in the barrel effect. When does the bottom fall out of the bag for the ACC?

Let’s dive into the conference hierarchy for the umpteenth time. As always, these rankings are backed by an undisclosed methodology which is a sophisticated way to say that I’m making this up as I go.

Photo by Jaylynn Nash/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

1. Louisville (19-3, 10-1)

Last week: Win over Boston College, win over NC State

Louisville reclaims the conference throne as Florida State lost to Virginia and the Cardinals picked up a pair of wins over Boston College and NC State.

Jordan Nwora also temporarily reclaimed his leading-scorer title in the ACC after giving Boston College many a bucket last Tuesday. He dropped 37 points on the Eagles, but a 14-point follow up against NC State allowed Syracuse’s Elijah Hughes to get back on top.

Ryan McMahon, however, might’ve taken the honors as the conference’s top gunner. He went 7-10 from deep on Saturday and scored 23 points. Dicky V probably took an unhealthy level of joy out of his boy’s shooting performance.

Chris Mack’s team is rolling though as his squad has ripped off eight straight wins.

2. Florida State (18-3, 8-2)

Last week: Loss to Virginia, Win over Virginia Tech

There’s trouble in paradise, as Leonard Hamilton allowed an away loss at Virginia. The Cavaliers are still tough defensively, so no shame in losing that game on the road.

Devin Vassell still balled out last week. The ‘Noles bounced back with a win over Virginia Tech over the weekend as Vassell dropped 27 on the Hokies. Balsa Koprivica needs more minutes though. It’s gotta be hard for Ham Sauce to find minutes for everyone.

We need Koprivica.

Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

3. Duke (18-3, 8-2)

Last week: Win over Pittsburgh, huge L for Coach K, win at Syracuse

Coach K flew off the handle last Tuesday by yelling “Shut up! Shut up! He’s one of us!” at the Cameron Crazies for its “Jeff Capel. Sit with us” chant.

But all was made right after K explained that it was just a big misunderstanding. He gave a half-assed apology while pleading for different kinds chants like “Defense!” and “Let’s go!” and “Come on, Duke!”

Maybe Duke students can get really creative and make a cardboard cutouts of the letter ‘D’ and another of a fence. They could even hold them up in unison and chant, “De-fense! De-fense!”

But even after his presser, K took it to the next level the following day. He went as far as to hold a meeting with the Cameron Crazies to give them a 30-minute presentation on how to cheer. What a great leader.

It’s no surprise that Syracuse students trolled by asking him to sit in the student section on Saturday.

Duke won two games last week though. Vernon Carey Jr. is a beast.

4. Virginia (14-6, 6-4)

Last week: Win over Florida State

How about Virginia? Tony Bennett just might have an NCAA Tournament push in him. The Cavaliers picked up their biggest win of the season by taking down Florida State at home.

Mamadi Diakite was hitting 3s and the Hoos might’ve actually found a consistent 3-point threat in Tomas Woldetensae.

Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images

5. Syracuse (13-9, 6-5)

Last week: Loss to Clemson, loss to Duke

Syracuse gets record crowds year in and year out in college hoops and that’s really cool. But losses in front of said record crowds are piling up.

A tough defeat at Clemson was followed up by a home loss to Duke. Jim Boeheim directed his ire at a local reporter by calling his work “the worst kind of journalism” for essentially performing his duty as a reporter. We’ve reached a strange point in time when journalists are called out for doing their job.

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We interrupt these rankings to bring you ACC basketball trivia, brought to you in part by Coach K’s temper and Libman mops.

The answer to the ACC basketball trivia will be released from my twitter account at noon. Follow me there @JamesSzuba. If you think this is just a really bad way for me to raise my twitter following, you’d be 100% correct.

Now back to your regularly scheduled jokes & garbage.

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6. NC State (14-8, 5-6)

Last week: Loss to North Carolina, Loss to Louisville

Tough week for NC State. The Wolfpack is going to Hellems in a hand-basket.

7. Virginia Tech (14-8, 5-6)

Last week: Loss at Miami, loss to Florida State

Equally tough week for Virginia Tech, which has been shot to all hell. The Hokies took an L to Miami without its best player, Chris Lykes.

The Hokies have lost four out of its last five games. Boston College has more wins in its last five games than Virginia Tech.

8. Pittsburgh (14-8, 5-6)

Last week: Loss at Duke, win over Miami

Pittsburgh still chucks up a bunch of bricks, but the Panthers made things interesting at Duke. A decent win on the road at Miami qualifies as a quadrant two victory.

Shoutout to Capel for handling the whole K thing well.

9. Notre Dame (13-8, 4-6)

Last week: Win over Wake Forest, win over Georgia Tech

John Mooney.

Notre Dame beat Wake Forest and Georgia Tech but then again everyone beats Wake Forest and Georgia Tech.

John Mooney was back to his double-double self. TJ Gibbs is playing well, John Mooney is John Mooney and Nate Laszewski is stepping up.

One last thing: John Mooney.

10. Clemson (11-10, 5-6)

Last week: Win over Syracuse, loss to Wake Forest

Clemson basketball has a good shootyhoops team when it plays inside Lil Jon’s Coliseum, but the Tigers are 1-5 on the road.

How the heck does a team only score 44 points against Wake Forest?

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

11. Boston College (11-11, 5-6)

Last week: Loss to Louisville, win at UNC

UNC is bad but how Boston College beat them on the road is anyone’s guess.

12. Georgia Tech (10-12, 4-7)

Last week: Win over Morehouse College

Big ups to Georgia Tech’s for its win over national powerhouse Morehouse College.

Next.

13. North Carolina (10-11, 3-7)

Last week: Win at NC State, loss to Boston College

North Carolina somehow walked into PNC Arena and got a dub. Then Cole Anthony returned for the Boston College game and the Tar Heels lost.

Anthony dropped 26 points and 14-14 shooting from the free throw line, but in the game’s final moments he dribbled the ball aimlessly before chucking up an errant 3-point attempt that caught nothing but air. The guy might as well have been pounding sand as he dribbled out the clock with no sense of urgency.

Just when things start looking up for UNC they go and do something horrific like losing to Boston College. You just can’t lose to BC.

14. Miami (11-10, 3-8)

Last week: Win over Virginia Tech, loss at Pitt

Miami got a shot in the arm with Kam McGusty returning, but without its best player there’s not much to Lykes here.

I’m contractually obligated to say DJ Vasiljevic is the best shooter in the ACC, but he’s making that a hard case right now. DJ is in a bit of a shooting slump.

15. Wake Forest (10-11, 3-8)

Last week: Loss to Notre Dame, win over Clemson

Wake Forest beat Clemson somehow. It’s an incredible occurrence when Wake gets a win. There’s absolutely no chance it wins at Syracuse on Saturday. None. What’s the worst that can happen?