This was the most ACC week you could have ever drawn up.

Two basement dwellers completely stun two teams looking to make the postseason? Check.

A team gets a win that maybe can be a point of the season where they can relatively salvage it and then get bopped at home? Check.

A blue blood steps on a rake multiple times? Check.

This league has delivered week after week, and it's going to keep doing so.

Rankings

18: Pitt (8-10) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (16)

Why: It's really hard to win a conference road game by 23 points and then cement yourself as the worst team in the conference. Congrats Jeff Capel, you accomplished the almost impossible. Louisville is still a good team, there's no question about it. But losing on your home court by 41 points? Really?

17: FSU (7-11) 0-2 last week; Previous ranking (17)

Why: The Seminoles were so close to their first ACC win under Luke Loucks twice last week. With their game against Syracuse, they cut their deficit to 4 and 3 at different points late in the second half. Both times they couldn't convert a layup and gave up three points at the other end. They led Wake Forest late in the second half, but gave up a 14-4 run over the last roughly five minutes of the game and got clamped on the final possession to lose by a single point at home. At least they're getting closer? Having to go to Miami and FSU feel like punishments at this point.

16: Boston College (8-10) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (18)

Why: Honestly, those fans deserved it. In front of of a reported 8,606 fans, the most this year in Conte Forum by a country mile, the Fighting Earl Grants put on a show. Donald Hand Jr. hit a three with under 10 seconds left to send the game to overtime, Fred Payne had a career-high 25 points, and they may have just ended Red Autry's time at Syracuse. It doesn't save Earl Grant's job, but the fans and the team deserve a little bit of fun these days. Good for them.

15: Notre Dame (10-8) 0-2 last week; Previous ranking (14)

Why: The wheels haven't fully come off for this season, it's been a real rough go of it lately for Micah Shrewsberry's team. I was surfing through CBB Analytics to see what they're doing well lately and it's... rebound? The defense hasn't been abysmal but it doesn't really matter when you're playing such abysmal offense. They can't rely on anyone right now.

14: Georgia Tech (11-8) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (15)

Why: I thought GT would go 1-1 this week. Had zero idea they'd get skunked by Pitt and then really would just... pull away from NC State? On the road? Is it actually in Damon Stoudamire's contract to make the lives of a couple of bubble teams hell every year?

13: Syracuse (12-6) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (11)

Why: You lost to Boston College. Yeah.

12: Virginia Tech (14-5) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (13)

Why: A Boopie half-court miracle away from nabbing a resume-altering win, the Hokies bounced back from Wednesday's heartbreak to throttle the Fighting Irish in Blacksburg. Tyler Johnson probably won't be back Wednesday, but he's close and that'd be a massive boost for this team. This team has a little more bite defensively than I anticipated. Can they rebound or protect the paint a couple of ticks better down the stretch?

11: Wake Forest (11-7) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (12)

Why: This team was one Nate Calmese missed floater away from plummeting down the rankings, but they got it to fall, not wasting a performance where they made Rob McCray turn the ball over 11 times by himself. This team is good enough to do what they want to most teams, but the sheer lack of rebounding will by all five members on the court at any given time will be the difference between wins and losses.

10: NC State (12-6) 0-1 last week; Previous ranking (8)

Why: I did pose whether or not it was a bad thing that they had a week off before their next game, and boy did that rear its ugly head against the Yellow Jackets. Another slow start for the Wolfpack, but what was worse? It being another game where Darrion Williams didn't make his presence known. We live in the NIL and social media age. The scrutiny/praise you face after every game is heightened, whether deserved or not. It's just been really hard to justify his price tag with the results so far. He's got to be the engine that makes the Wolfpack go, and he consistently hasn't been that.

9: Stanford (14-5) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (9)

Why: No shame in losing to Duke, especially after the performance they (Ebuka Okorie) had against UNC. This is one of the weirdest resumes in recent history. 4 strong Q1 wins, but a horrid non-conference schedule paired with a Q3 and Q4 loss is... well it's not what you want. I honestly can't tell if they got fortunate with their schedule or if it's going to eventually hurt them.

8: Cal (14-5) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (8)

Why: They were so close to choking that UNC game but they found a way to hold on and split a really important pair of games against Duke and Carolina. They've got a very clear directive the rest of the way, they need to win away from home. The Golden Bears have four wins away from home in the last two seasons: only one this year beating UCLA at the Chase Center, and three last year (@ USC, @ NC State, and a double overtime win in the first round of the ACC Tournament against Virginia Tech). Can't live like that!

7: Miami (15-3) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (7)

Why: If you want someone's team to tank, just let me know and I'll talk positively of them. After keeping Notre Dame at bay, the Hurricanes got punched in the mouth at Clemson and never really had an answer. It doesn't mean they're any less of a team, but I do wonder if we see a cap on their ceiling once they start hitting the cream of the crop in the league.

6: North Carolina (14-4) 0-2 last week; Previous ranking (6)

Why: The west coast swing was brutal for the Tar Heels, with their defense imploding in both games. While coaching is the easy answer, at a certain point players have to hit free throws and essentially have some pride defensively. They don't communicate, there's no urgency, it's just guys going through the motions on the perimeter. If they aren't careful, two losses can become five in no time.

5: SMU (13-5) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (6)

Why: Someone had to be here at 5, and congrats to the Mustangs? They won against Virginia Tech but you never feel great about the prospects of a team that needs a miracle half-court shot to win. They went blow for blow with Virginia, but came up short at home against the Cavaliers. I worry about teams that play this many close games with this much talent. They always give themselves a chance, but I worry with how they play (allowing a lot of drive and kick 3 attempts) someone is just going to get hot and run them off the court.

4: Louisville (12-4) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (5)

Why: After the debacle against Virginia (man that team is good), they took out a week's worth of frustration against Pitt. The news of the week is easily the fact that they're (hoping) to get Mikel Brown Jr. back in practice this week, which would be welcomed by everyone there. They get the week off until Saturday, hosting Virginia Tech, but the Monday matchup with Duke looms large.

3: Virginia (16-2) 2-0 last week; Previous ranking (3)

Why: I love this Virginia team. They defend their tails off, they have different players step up and score when others can't, and they just fight. Is Odom going to work his magic into this team being a 3 seed in his first year?

2: Clemson (16-3) 2-0 last week; Previous ranking (2)

Why: Holding strong on my Clemson stock, this team is just going to bully you. You know they're a stout defense team and then you look and see they're 14th in defense on KenPom? Let's take a look to see what's been working for the defense lately. Oh, everything? Cool, cool, cool.

1: Duke (17-1) 2-0 last week; Previous ranking (1)

Why: Duke just had to ruin my current favorite Wake related trivia with the Blue Devils now being only the second team to sweep the west-coast swing since Cal and Stanford were admitted to the ACC. They are not fixed, that's not the best way to take them torching Stanford and pulling away from Cal. But it did show that they're capable of taking the necessary steps in order to be the great defensive team we saw to open the year. Will it continue? It better if they hope to win the ACC and the national title. A side note, are they just going to stop shooting