There's been major improvement across the league. More teams are in the top 75, meaning a stark difference in opportunity for everyone from both the bottom of the league (mostly) all the way to the top. Here's a quick example: When using Wab Watch by Chris Gallo you can see how much value essentially there is for each game that you've played and will play. For Wake, their game with the lowest amount of projected WAB is a home game against one of Stanford, Syracuse, and California for .26. They had eight wins of that or less in conference last year. That included games at Miami and Virginia Tech. There's just so much more to gain this year across the conference which is a positive.

The problem is that more than half of the league had opportunities to really super charge this league and propel them back into the conversations they want to be in.

It's a directional win, but you feel like it just could've been better.

Rankings

18: Boston College (5-6) 0-0 last week; Previous ranking (17)

Why: Calling this a reverse GT, as Boston College falls in the rankings without even playing a game. At the time of this writing, they're down by six to Fairleigh Dickinson so it might end up be justified regardless.

17: Pitt (7-6) 2-0 last week; Previous ranking (18)

Why: Pitt had their first 2-0 week since the beginning of the season, completely torching Binghamton at home and Penn State on a neutral court. Are we starting to see freshman Roman Siulepa figure things out? A combined 44 points on 15-of-22 shooting is exactly the scoring punch you want from him. He's still a little bit foul happy, but he's obviously learning.

16: FSU (6-6) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (16)

Why: I debated dropping this team further after getting run off the floor by Dayton, but this feels about right until Pitt decides who they're going to be. They should take care of Jacksonville this evening but they're going to have to really dive into the film room during their extended holiday break as they open the ACC slate with UNC who might get every rebound imaginable against them.

15: Georgia Tech (8-4) 2-0 last week; Previous ranking (15)

Why: Preflop, we knew this Georgia Tech non-conference schedule would be bad. I just don't think we realized how bad this schedule was until every evening you look up and they're beating a Marist team that hasn't beaten a team inside the top 300, and Lafayette. Neither of which being by a margin that made anyone feel comfortable. They're still going to ruin someone's season in conference play and everyone is going to be really mad about it.

14: Notre Dame (9-4) 0-1 last week; Previous ranking (10)

Why: You work up all that goodwill over two weeks, only to lose at home almost wire-to-wire against Purdue Fort Wayne. Missing Markus Burton is one thing, but not being able to break 70 against a team that's one of the worst defensive teams in the country is a horrid sign.

13: Syracuse (8-4) 2-0 last week; Previous ranking (14)

Why: Someone has to move up and we reward winning here. There's a chasm between where Syracuse realistically is in the hunt for the tournament and where the fanbase is with the program. They're nowhere near out but this feels like a team where if they don't come out firing in the ACC, the fanbase will actually revolt against their head coach. They need Donnie Freeman back in a hurry or the optics around this will get uglier.

12: Virginia Tech (11-2) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (12)

Why: I am just not rewarding a team for escaping Elon regardless of how injured the team was. Mike Young, please get this squad healthy. They really could do damage come conference play.

11: Wake Forest (9-4) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (9)

Why: Finally have to punish this team after another home drubbing, this time at the hand of an elite Vanderbilt team. This team is in a similar position to Cuse. The metrics are fine with clear and obvious places to improve without doing something gargantuan in conference. The tweaks they need to make are honestly minor because they're getting shots at the rim and open looks from three they just aren't falling. Defensively, it's less of tweaks and more of doing their job. But the one thing that they can control more than anything else, is their effort. They've quit twice when they've gotten down, both at home. They can't afford to be soft anymore or this gets even more toxic.

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

Why: Welcome to the top 10, trees! Getting a neutral court win over a high major team is always something to celebrate and they took care of business against Colorado. Sure Ebuka Okorie was being a bit of a free throw merchant (18-21 from the stripe) but when about it's non-conference wins and setting the Stanford freshman scoring record, we do not care about unethical hoops. Just win.

9: NC State (9-4) 2-0 last week; Previous ranking (11)

Why: Sometimes throwing your team under the bus works. After completely burning things down in a postgame press conference when they won by 30, Will Wade played really only seven players. Matt Able played seven minutes, Scottie Ebube played three, but the rotation was Quadir Copeland, Ven-Allen Lubin, Paul McNeil, Darrion Williams, Alyn Breed, Tre Holloman, and Musa Sagnia. They beat a maybe sneaky bad Ole Miss team by 14. Curious if the vibes keep up over the break.

8: SMU (10-2) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (8)

Why: SMU continues what they've been for the last two seasons, a team that just kicks the absolute tar out of really bad teams. Will it translate to ACC play?

7: Miami (9-2) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (8)

Why: Shelton Henderson is really starting to come into his own for this Miami team that really just breaks the will of some of these teams they play. I still question the offense, if it's a product of playing bad teams or are they really a borderline top 50 offensive team?

6: Cal (12-1) 2-0 last week; Previous ranking (6)

Why: If you had Cal finishing their non-conference schedule with only one loss, put your hand up. Officer, the liars are right there, escort them out. Dai Dai Ames exploding to an almost 18 point per game performer, something I don't anyone though was capable at UVA or Kansas State. Will it sustain? probably not. Is it fun? Absolutely.

5: Clemson (8-3) 1-1 last week; Previous ranking (5)

Why: The Tigers do know that college basketball games are 40 minutes, not roughly 30? They put themselves in two hairy situations against South Carolina (Lamont Paris is getting fired right?) and Cincinnati (how does Wes Miller still have a job?) but still came out with the wins. Losing Zac Foster for the year and Butta Johnson for the South Carolina game hurt them and they need this break to get healthy and nail down who they want to be as a team

4: Virginia (12-1) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (4)

Why: Ryan Odom versus Buzz Williams was always going to be cinema and the 'Hoos delivered. However this profile on Jacari White is both 1) awesome and 2) timely as Odom announced that White will be out indefinitely with wrist surgery. Brutal timing.

From sleeping in a car, showering at the YMCA to the ACC: Inside Jacari White’s remarkable rise
Jacari White left the YMCA and slid into his dad’s 2017 Nissan Altima before they drove in the direction of the Coca Cola warehouse, where White’s father was set to work the overnight shift. By the time White’s father entered the building each night, his eighth-grade son
Basket Under ReviewJoey Dwyer

3: North Carolina (12-1) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (3)

Why: If we all agree to acknowledge the ending to the Ohio State game, it never happened, right? But it doesn't take away that with Henri Veesar and Caleb Wilson, this is one of the best front court duos in the nation. They showed how well they can keep the ship afloat while Seth Trimble works back in.

2: Louisville (10-2) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (2)

Why: Not having Mikel Brown, Jr. against Tennessee isn't great, but I really don't know what else they're supposed to do against elite teams when they get no production out of their 4 spot. J'Vonne Hadley has been much worse than expected. They've got to figure that out over the next week and a half.

1: Duke (11-1) 1-0 last week; Previous ranking (1)

Why: What a nasty, nasty loss to Texas Tech at MSG. Missing 12 free throws, and blowing a 17 point lead. They got completely outworked by the Red Raiders. They chose not to make any players available after the game which was certainly a decision. The Blue Devils have played with fire a lot and it finally bit them. They started getting something out of Dame Sarr and Nik Khamenia, but that has to be the norm, not the blip.