ACC Basketball: Conference improves its position with strong November, December

KenPom and BartTorvik both have the ACC rated fourth in their conference rankings, with conference play set to tip off tonight with four games.

Fourth might not sound like bragging, but it’s better than where we were at the end of the 2022-2023 season, when the ACC was ranked seventh, behind the Pac-12 and Mountain West, and in the vicinity of the AAC and West Coast.

There is no Pac-12 right now, but the ACC has legit passed the Mountain West and also the Big East, though there’s still a wide gulf between the ACC at four and the top three – the SEC, the Big Ten and the Big 12.

Looking ahead

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The improved standing in the conference rankings has to help looking ahead to March Madness.

Currently, KenPom and BartTorvik both have eight teams in position to get at-large NCAA Tournament bids – I’m including Miami (11-2, KenPom: 36, BartTorvik: 36) and SMU (11-2, KenPom: 40, BartTorvik: 41) as bubble teams.

Both algorithms have Miami finishing out at 22-9, and SMU at 21-10.

Looking at the NET, the ACC teams in contention right now include:

• Duke: 11-1, NET: 3
• Louisville: 10-2, NET: 15
• North Carolina: 12-1, NET: 16
• Virginia: 11-1, NET: 24
• SMU: 11-2, NET: 31
• NC State: 9-4, NET: 32
• Miami: 11-2, NET: 37
• Clemson: 10-3, NET: 38
• Cal: 12-1, NET: 47

KenPom has Cal finishing 21-10, 9-9 in the ACC; BartTorvik has Cal at 20-11, 8-10 ACC.

That may be on the other side of the bubble.

Schedule

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Tuesday, Dec. 30

• Florida State at #12 North Carolina | ESPN2 | 7 p.m.
• Pitt at Miami | ACCN | 7 p.m.
• Notre Dame at Stanford | ESPN2 | 9 p.m.
• #16 Louisville at Cal | ACCN | 9 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 31

• Wake Forest at NC State | ESPN2 | noon
• Clemson at Syracuse | ESPN2 | 2 p.m.
• #21 Virginia at Virginia Tech | ACCN | 2 p.m.
• Georgia Tech at #6 Duke | ACCN | 4 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 2

• #16 Louisville at Stanford | ACCN | 8 p.m.
• Notre Dame at Cal | ESPN2 | 11 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 3

• #21 Virginia at NC State | ESPN2 | 11 a.m.
• Virginia Tech at Wake Forest | ACCN | noon
• Clemson at Pitt | The CW | noon
• Boston College at Georgia Tech | ACCN | 2 p.m.
• #12 North Carolina at SMU | The CW | 2:15 p.m.
• #6 Duke at Florida State | CBS | 3:45 p.m.

Video: The ACC has improved

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