This past week in the ACC might have been one of the most fun weeks in years. You had upsets that didn't absolutely tank the conference. You had coaches blowing up at reports and referees. You had rivalry games give some unbelievable moments. This is what feeling like the ACC is getting back to normal should feel like. No one should be grumbling about a loss and going "well that's just going to destroy our conference hopes", well until they lose to Pitt. Welcome to the new and improved ACC, everyone!

Rankings

18: Boston College (7-7) 0-1 last week; Previous ranking (18)

Why: I'd like to understand how Boston College scored only 53 points on 66 shots from the field and 20 shots from the stripe against Georgia Tech. What do you mean they shot 4-for-29 from three? They were outscored 17-5 over the last five minutes of the game? I've honestly run out of things for this BC team, which means they're inevitably going to beat NC State on Tuesday because the ACC doesn't deserve nice things.

17: Pitt (7-8) 0-2 last week; Previous ranking (17)

Why: There actually might not be a more frustrating team than the Pitt Panthers. I know coming into their game Saturday they had lost 13 straight games to Clemson, and it was made 14. But just watching the second half of this game, plus the first half against Miami, and you see so much talent on this team you can't help but have an inkling of hope. There's just so much on Cam Corhen with them not having even an iota of another playable big. He only played 34 minutes against Clemson and that's because he fouled out. It's just purely unsustainable,

16: FSU (7-8) 0-2 last week; Previous ranking (16)

Why: I will not be fooled by their performances against either of UNC or Duke. This is not a team that is going to consistently shoot 37% from three, which is what they did during their Tobacco Road swing, and teams won't shoot nearly as bad there as UNC did. I will say they play hard and that's what you wanted to see out of them. Signs of life. After a week off, can they continuously do that?

15: Georgia Tech (10-5) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (15)

Why: We all could've seen how this Georgia Tech team would go. The freshmen needed time to get up to speed, and we find out during conference play that they're not an outright bad team, but definitely not good enough to do anything because of the dumb losses they had in the non-conference. It will not stop them from scaring the high end of the league and working their way through the bottom grouping of the league. They'll beat a Virginia Tech or Notre Dame and completely end their tournament hopes before losing by 30 in their next game. At least they're consistent!

14: Notre Dame (10-5) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (14)

Why: If you haven't watched Notre Dame beat Stanford 47-40, I very much encourage you go to Youtube and watch the game where there were 31 combined shots made. The obvious story of the last few days has been Micah Shrewsberry getting publicly reprimanded by the ACC after what could be best described as an elite pass rushing rep once the buzzer hit, charging at an official after they called a very late foul which gave Cal a continuation call on a made three (for a four point play), reversed the call, and then reversed the reversal. You just can't do that, but I also don't blame him. On this court you can see this is a team that is one piece away from being one that's a problem for everyone. Unfortunately it's still going to be a while for Markus Burton.

13: Syracuse (9-5) 0-1 last week; Previous ranking (13)

Why: The bottom six of the league made it very easy on me, and I appreciate them. Honestly, I thought the Orange were going to end up pulling it out against Clemson at hone. The first 10 minutes of the second half was just too much for them to rally back from. It feels like being a broken record at this point but they've just whiffed on Nait George. He's been awesome at creating open looks for others and actually been fine defensively. He's just an absolute dud when it comes to scoring by himself and a turnover rate of 23.8 just isn't going to cut it at all. They don't need him to be otherworldly, they just need much better than this.

12: Virginia Tech (12-3) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (12)

Why: This may be the first one that gets me yelled at but I'm sticking with it. We're also getting into the "circle of suck" territory where you're going to have to start putting people above/below people they beat/lost to. The 3OT win over UVA was an awesome watch and every thing you'd want out of a rivalry game, especially with VT so shorthanded. They then laid an egg for most of the Wake Forest game, eventually fought back to take the lead late, but couldn't close. I am not worried about Neo Avdalas, but there might be something to his turnover rate spiking in these bigger games. The offense just flows better right now when Hammond has the keys to the offense and Neo is a secondary creator. It's honestly kind of wild they're getting nothing out of Izaiah Pasha for how much of a factor he was supposed to play. Amani Hansberry looks awesome and I love the fact that one of his similarities on KenPom right now is 2017 Kyle Kuzma. No notes.

11: Wake Forest (10-5) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (11)

Why: Wake is going to be stuck here until they actually do something. They go on the road and just throw up a dud against an NC State team that was trying to keep them in the game. They come back home, turn over a VT team that is one of the best in the country at not doing that but is only up 4 at half? They need the best performances all year from Nate Calmese and Tre'Von Spillers to win the game, and honestly man they had to have it. I'm circling Spillers more than I am Calmese. The differences between wins and losses for Nate haven't been otherworldly, but for Spillers it's a completely different player out there. Wake needs him to either stay as locked in as he was in that game or at least find a middle ground.

10: NC State (10-5) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (9)

Why: Will Wade sat here and went on a tirade against a local media outlet after the Wake game due to his question about Darrion Williams not exactly performing well right now. He went on about how he affects winning and all these passionate things. Williams rewarded his coach defending him by playing 31 minutes against Virginia, scoring seven points on 3-of-8 shooting, being a -19 in a 15 point home loss.Now Tre Holloman will be out, not long term. Is there anything more dangerous than a sleepy game in Conte Forum?

9: Stanford (8-2) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (13)

Why: If you just look at the game against Louisville, you'd think this Stanford team deserves to skyrocket and be a top 5 team in the conference. Then you'd almost forget they scored 40 points three days prior. At home.

8: Miami (12-2) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (7)

Why: Miami moving down has a lot less to do with anything wrong they've done and more of the achievements of everyone else. It's been pretty smart scheduling by Jai Lucas in the non-conference. They had a major scare against Pitt, but found a way. Is it weird that this team reminds me of SMU last year that would essentially be the gatekeeper?

7: Cal (13-2) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (6)

Why: First, the Louisville game was one of the most atrocious refereed games I've seen this year in college basketball. And they let one of the refs do ND/Cal??? ACC what are we doing here? In a week we saw the entire spectrum of Dai Dai Ames. Against the Cardinals, Ames couldn't but a shot, going making only three of his 12 shots. Against the Irish, he only went 9-for-16 from the field, including the controversial game-winner. The Cal Castaways are going to be a fan favorite this year, just maybe not in South Bend.

6: North Carolina (13-2) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (3)

Why: This might be harsh, but you can't look like what you did last week and not move down. The first 25ish minutes against Florida State, the Tar Heels looked just like a team that hadn't played in eight days. They followed that up by almost letting SMU drop 100 on them. Kiyan Evans has not been what they signed up for, but maybe what we all expected. Derek Dixon may have hit a wall, and while Luka Bogavac can score, I don't exactly expect anything from him defensively. They've got a real point guard problem, and I'm not exactly sure how that gets fixed.

5: SMU (12-2) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (8)

Why: I'll eat my crow on this SMU team, they kinda rock. Boopie Miller has really found his own, BJ Edwards is steady, and Jaron Pierre is an excellent Robin for this team. What I was most impressed with in the UNC game though was their front court. Jaden Toombs played 20 awesome minutes off the bench with Samet Yigitoglu in foul trouble battling on the interior. Now the question becomes was that a blip or the norm? Regardless, this is one of the best offenses in the country.

4: Virginia (12-2) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (4)

Why: The Virginia Tech loss could've been one that tanked UVA for a week or so, especially with Jacari White shelved. But then we realized it's Sam Lewis' world and we're just living in it. 20 first half points in a road shellacking against NC State is just the remedy one needs to not let a loss gets you down. Maybe this Ryan Odom guy is a good coach?

3: Louisville (11-3 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (2)

Why: The west coast swing is hard. There's a reason only one team has gone perfect doing it so far across this year and last. That being said, Louisville probably shouldn't have taken a loss to Stanford. The vibes are also just weird. Kasean Pryor was a healthy scratch, Kobe Rogers can't be the guy to defend a number one, and Mikel Brown is dealing with a back injury. They're still an awesome team, especially with Sananda Fru coming into his own, but maybe the floor of this team isn't as high as we all originally thought? The ceiling is still there though and that can't be forgotten.

2: Clemson (12-3) 20 last week; Previous ranking (5)

Why: I'm rewarding a 2-0 week with a jump, partially because Brad Brownell is immortal but also because they're just getting better. Syracuse and Pitt aren't exactly world beaters, but winning on the road is extremely hard and their last three games have come away from Littlejohn Coliseum. They've really started to hone in on the depth of their team being their strength so even when a Dillon Hunter has an off game, Butta Johnson or RJ Godfrey can take over.

1: Duke (13-1) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (1)

Why: The Blue Devils are 2-0 in conference play and you might not find a more upset group about it than them. They've taken a step back defensively in their last three games, so much so they've had to completely go away from switching and just play a zone. It feels like the young core hasn't really felt the gravity of the season. They aren't inevitable right now and that may lower their ceiling.