ACC Basketball News & Notes: Just weeks left in the season

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There are five games left in the regular season for teams in the ACC. Time is winding down for teams to make their move as the postseason nears. With that in mind let’s see where things stand.

We start with the polls. In the Associated Press Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll, three teams are in. Duke is ranked #3 in both polls. The Blue Devils are unbeaten at home this season, 15-0 overall and 8-0 in league play. The Clemson Tigers are #18 in the AP poll, and #17 in the USA Today poll. Louisville is at #25 in the AP poll, and #22 in the USA Today poll. In the NET Ranking, Duke is at #2, Louisville at #26, Clemson at #27, SMU at #40, UNC at #47, and Pittsburgh at #51. In the latest KenPom, Duke is at #2, Louisville at #23, Clemson at #25, SMU at #45, and North Carolina at #48.

This week, we are going to look at the bottom three teams in the league. Why? Because not everyone makes the ACC tournament. The bottom three, North Carolina State (10-15, 3-11) Boston College (10-15, 3-12), and Miami (6-19, 2-12) are in the most danger of not making the field. Last Saturday at home, the Wolfpack scored a big win over BC by a 70-62 score. NC State guard Jayden Taylor scored 19 points in helping the Wolfpack get their third home league win of the season. On Wednesday night, NC State heads to Chapel Hill to face the Tar Heels. Then on Saturday, they are home to see Wake Forest.

For the Eagles, they are home this week for two games. First, on Tuesday they face Virginia Tech. Then on Saturday, they will see Georgia Tech. The Eagles are just 2-5 at home in league play. Next week, BC will make the California trip with games at Stanford and California-Berkeley. On the road in conference play, BC is 0-7. Donald Hand Jr. is doing all he can to keep BC in the hunt. He had 21 vs NC State last Saturday and has had 20+ games eight times this year, eighth most in the league. Hand is also third in most improved scoring from a year ago. Last season he averaged five points a game and this season he is at 16.5, an improvement of +11.5 points.

Of the three at the bottom, the team with the biggest hill to climb is Miami. Tonight, they are at Florida State. The Hurricanes are yet to win on the road at 0-7 in the league and overall. On Saturday, they host Virginia Tech. Miami is 2-5 at home in league play and 6-8 overall. In their loss to Pitt last Saturday, graduate center Lynn Kidd had a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds. It was his fifth double-double of the season. The 15 boards were a season high.

Sophomore guard Nathan Georges of Georgia Tech is this week’s ACC Player of the Week. He averaged 24 points, 6.5 assists and five boards. He played all but three seconds in leading his team to home wins over Stanford and California. For the tenth time this year, Duke’s forward Copper Flagg is this week’s ACC Rookie of the Week.

Next week we will look at the stretch run to the postseason in the ACC.