We're operating a little differently this week with the holidays and only four games, with all of them being buy games. So instead of rankings this week, lets look a little more big picture with some predictions as conference play starts tonight!

Eight-plus ACC teams go dancing

A year after the ACC only got four teams into the tournament, why not go for the gusto here? They haven't been some elite conference, but they've largely avoided the embarrassing moments (I am choosing to ignore the teams that would be benefitted by mid-season relegation), and beefed up opportunities. We get too worked up about Quad-1 games. They're shiny objects, and necessary! But there's a pretty large benefit of having a healthy amount of Q2 opportunities. Fortunately, they have both going for them right now. 11 teams are currently Q1 opponents if you play them on the road, only seven teams were in the top 75 last year on Selection Sunday. Losing to a Florida State or Pitt right now feels awful, and I wouldn't encourage doing so, but at least it doesn't (right now) tank your metrics like losing to the 15th or 16th team in the conference would have last year. Again! I do not encourage testing this theory! But the math has the ACC in a good place heading into a defining stretch.

The Texas Tech loss turns Duke into the Monstars

The first half against Lipscomb should've been enough of a reminder for Duke to realize that they cannot play with their food in order to achieve their goal of winning a national title. Then they went out there and lost a game against Texas Tech that they physically had to give it away. It stings a bit more because, taking a page from a college football coach currently on a sabbatical, a bye week is a dark place after a loss. Duke is having to go 11 days before playing another game, which isn't easy. But sometimes you need a loss like that, and some days in between, to grow. We do have to remind ourselves that they're 11-1 with a handful of very good wins in a loaded non-conference schedule. The depth of the team can snowball you so fast. For my money, it'll turn them into the team they want to be.

The ACC Freshman of the Year race will be won by Cam Boozer, but feels wide open the entire year

My feelings are known about this Duke team, but I still don't think we're talking enough about the collection of freshmen this conference has. Caleb Wilson has been playing out of his mind, Neoklis Avdalas is the engine that is giving VT even a chance, Mikel Brown is averaging 16/3/5 but he still has another gear to shift into, Mo Sylla for Georgia Tech is going to single-handedly ruin a tournament teams hopes, Thijs De Ridder for Virginia is as advertised, and Ebuka Okorie for Stanford is a First-Team All-American bucket getter. That doesn't even account for if Kiyan Anthony gets a bit more comfortable with Donnie Freeman back. We wrung our hands a few years back about certain personalities saying the talent in the league had deteriorated, but this is what ACC-level talent should look like, and that's on top of your sophomores having breakouts. If the ACC can keep this up next year, and there's some talented guys coming in, the perception of the league will continue to improve.

A bonus prediction: the coaching carousel comes for fewer than five teams in the league this offseason.