Second-ranked UVA left the floor Saturday night after dispatching #8 Louisville with a two-game lead on the rest of the ACC. But the stranglehold that the Cavs would seem to have on the regular-season race could be slipping through the broken left pinky of second-leading scorer Justin Anderson.
With Anderson out four to six weeks recovering from surgery on the broken digit, Virginia is a question mark, with the first part of the answer to come Wednesday night in Raleigh at unranked N.C. State.
The game against the Pack starts a string of six for the ‘Hoos against teams with .500 or below marks in ACC play (a home-and-home with Wake Forest, Pitt, Florida State and Virginia Tech at home, N.C. State on the road, before finishing at Syracuse and at Louisville).
There is never a good time to lose a player like Anderson, but if there was, this would be it for Tony Bennett’s squad.
The four teams sitting two games back – Duke, Notre Dame, Louisville and UNC – will have their hands full with each other, to a degree, in the battle for the first seed in the ACC Tournament.
Notre Dame might have the easiest schedule of the four, with just six games to go (the Irish have already played 12 of their 18 ACC games), a home-and-home with Clemson, the other home game against Syracuse, and road contests at Boston College and Louisville.
Louisville, in addition to the home contest against Notre Dame, gets Virginia at home to conclude the regular season, and also gets N.C. State and Miami at home, with road contests at Syracuse, Georgia Tech and Florida State.
Duke and UNC still get each for a home-and-home, with UNC also getting a home-and-home with Georgia Tech, N.C. State at home, and road games at Pitt and Miami, and Duke getting a home-and-home with Syracuse, home games with Clemson and Wake Forest and a road game at Virginia Tech.
Five weeks down, four weeks to go, a lot still unsettled.
ACC Power Rankings: Week 5
- Virginia (21-1, 9-1 ACC): How will the Cavs respond to the loss of Justin Anderson?
- Duke (21-3, 8-3 ACC): Momentum from big win over UVA, riding high.
- Louisville (19-4, 7-3 ACC): Four losses this year – #1 Kentucky, #2 Virginia, #4 Duke, #12 UNC.
- North Carolina (18-6, 8-3 ACC): Cooled off since winning 10 of 11.
- Notre Dame (21-4, 9-3 ACC): Poor effort at Duke drops Irish from second spot.
- Miami (15-8, 5-5 ACC): Very much on the wrong side of the bubble (62 KenPom, 56 BPI, 54 RPI).
- N.C. State (14-10, 5-6 ACC): Must-win game at home vs. UVA on Wednesday (57 KenPom, 41 BPI, 58 RPI).
- Clemson (14-9, 6-5 ACC): Over .500 in conference, still not in NCAA discussions (85 KenPom, 94 BPI, 73 RPI).
- Pitt (16-8, 5-5 ACC): Flying under the radar (95 KenPom, 93 BPI, 56 RPI) due to weak schedule.
- Syracuse (15-8, 6-4 ACC): Self-imposed postseason ban means Orange is playing for pride. Spoiler?
- Florida State (13-12, 5-7 ACC): Tough out.
- Wake Forest (11-13, 3-8 ACC): Danny Manning hitting freshman coach wall.
- Virginia Tech (9-14, 1-9 ACC): Buzz Williams has Hokies playing good basketball.
- Georgia Tech (11-12, 2-9 ACC): Close loss at Duke last week.
- Boston College (9-13, 1-9 ACC): Good efforts, still coming up short.
– Column by Chris Graham
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