The Confidential

Confidential Correspondents’ Basketball Poll: December 16, 2014

The Confidential routinely polls its correspondents to rank the top ACC basketball teams.  The season is very young, but here is a quick look at the current top 10:

1. Duke (9-0), 48 pts, 4 first place votes.  The Blue Devils remain #1 on the strength of quality wins on the road in Madison and against Michigan State.
2. Louisville (9-0), 44 votes.  The Cardinals now have wins against Ohio State, Minnesota, and Indiana, as the top of the ACC is quite strong relative to the Big 10.
3. Virginia (9-0), 43 pts, 1 first place vote.  Virginia is one of the three ACC teams in the top 6 nationally.  Wins at Maryland and Virginia Commonwealth have the Wahoos a close third to Louisville.
4. Notre Dame (10-1), 34 pts.  The Fighting Irish defeated Michigan State to pick up a good win, and are also 1-0 in the ACC after defeating Florida State.
5. Miami (9-1), 30 pts.  The Hurricanes have wins over Florida and Illinois, but the recent loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay was a bit stunning.  Still, Miami has a better record than 10 other ACC schools.
6. North Carolina State (8-2), 25 points.  NC State has a win over Wake Forest, but those losses to Wofford and Purdue have them a surprising #6 overall.  Again, however, most ACC schools have at least three losses so far.
7. North Carolina (6-3), 18 points.  The Tar Heels are ranked in the top 25, but have those three losses–albeit to Kentucky, Butler, and Iowa.  Wins over UCLA and Florida continue to help the resume.
8. Georgia Tech (7-2), 14 pts.  The Yellow Jackets fans are 7-2, giving them a leg up on the remainder of the ACC.  But one of those losses was to South Carolina Upstate.  Maybe SCU will be this year’s Atlantic Sun surprise?
9. Syracuse (6-3), 8 pts.  Syracuse’s loss to Michigan looks worse, after Michigan imploded in losses to NJIT and Eastern Michigan.  The losses to Iowa and St. Johns are disappointing, but not unprecedented.  Orange fans are not pleased though.
10. Boston College (6-3), 5 pts.  The Eagles are still looking for a great win.  They will get many opportunities in the ACC.  For now, they have a resume that the correspondents deem slightly better than Clemson and Pitt.

Others: Pitt 4 pts. Clemson 2 pts. Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Florida State did not receive votes.

What do you think–do we have anyone over-ranked or under-ranked?