Pat Kelsey

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball tipoff event unfolds Thursday in Charlotte, giving commissioner Jim Phillips an opportunity to hype his new and improved 18-team league.

Here is the safest prediction of the day: Pat Kelsey's first University of Louisville team will not be picked to finish in the spot the Cardinals landed the last two seasons — last.

My sense is the Cards will land as high as eighth, but no lower than 11th, if the voters have paid attention to the solid work Kelsey did in the transfer portal while overhauling the entire Louisville roster.

I'm taking my shot at forecasting the predicted order of finish by averaging the forecasts from three solid sources: Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, Bart Torvik's analytics site and Evan Miya's analytics site.

I've ranked the teams in order of their averages of those three sources.

  1. Duke: Cooper Flagg is the most talented freshman to pass through Durham since Christian Laettner, Shane Battier, Jayson Tatum, Zion Williamson or Cherokee Parks.
  2. North Carolina: Armando Bacot will not return for his ninth season but guard R. J. Davis will return for Year 7.
  3. Clemson: Three starters return from the Tigers' squad that reached the Elite Eight after the wise guys said Brad Brownell's team did not belong in the 68-team field. Yeah, they remember that.
  4. Wake Forest: In Hunter Sallis, coach Steve Forbes has an all-conference guard. Now he has to figure out how to employ former U of L point guard Ty-Laur Johnson. I'd suggest he begin by making certain there is always an ample supply of compression shorts.
  5. Pittsburgh: The Panthers won 9 of their last 11 regular-season games last season but took a major hit when freshman Carlton Carrington jumped to the NBA.
  6. Miami: The Hurricanes won't be as good as the 2022 team that crashed the Final Four or as sloppy as last year's team that lost its last 10 games and missed the NCAA Tournament. Jim Larranaga has guard Nigel Pack and 10 new players.
  7. North Carolina State: Kevin Keatts is convinced former Cardinals Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Mike James will help the Wolfpack build on the momentum created by NC State's unexpected Final Four run.
  8. Louisville: Blue Ribbon put U of L 8th. Evan Miya says sixth. Bart Torvik says ninth. We'll find out if ACC voters agree.
  9. Virginia: Colorado State 67, Virginia 42. Tony Bennett says he will make adjustments to the way the Cavaliers play offense. We'll see.
  10. SMU: The Mustangs are coached by Andy Enfield, the man responsible for getting Mark Pope to Kentucky. Because if Enfield does not leave USC for SMU, Eric Musselman does not leave Arkansas for USC and John Calipari does not leave UK for Arkansas.
  11. Notre Dame: This will be your last opportunity to get the Irish because coach Micah Shrewsbury currently has a 4-player class ranked No. 1 in the nation by 247Sports.
  12. Georgia Tech: Damon Stoudamire returns three starters from a team that beat Duke, North Carolina and Clemson last season.
  13. Syracuse: Adrian Autry won 20 games in his first season as Jim Boeheim's successor, but the Orange have not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2021.
  14. Virginia Tech: It's Year Six for coach Mike Young — and he failed to take the Hokies to the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons. In fact, Tech has not won an NCAA Tournament game since … Buzz Williams left in 2019.
  15. Florida State: Leonard Hamilton believes he can regain his mojo after missing the last three NCAA Tournaments.
  16. Stanford: New coach Kyle Smith won at Washington State. Kelvin Sampson and Tony Bennett used that job to springboard to national success. Smith believes he can, too.
  17. California: Google Mark Madsen Lakers championship dance moves. That's the guy who coaches the Bears.
  18. Boston College: Poor Earl Grant. He starts his fourth season in Chestnut Hill, Mass., replacing all five starters from a program that has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2009.

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