BOZICH | Louisville gains in revised ACC Basketball forecast | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- In a perfect (media) world, college basketball would pause for a day between the non-conference and conference seasons.

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, everybody would gather in Charlotte or Greensboro for a media event designed to preview the ACC season.

Operation Basketball.

That day typically occurs in October before any games have been played. The lack of data and game activity leads to blunders by those asked to predict how the conference race will shake out.

You might call it … fake news.

Now that all 15 teams have played the majority of their non-league schedules, the ACC outlook looks different than it appeared in mid-October.

That makes today a perfect day for some less-fake news -- a revised predicted order of finish for ACC basketball.

15. Wake Forest 6-3 (14th in preseason vote) -- The Demon Deacons finally beat a Top 100 team Monday when they defeated Davidson, but Danny Manning's squad owns a bad loss to Richmond and a uglier one to Houston Baptist. This is a team you want to play twice this season, but Louisville only has a game in Winston Salem Jan 30.

14. Boston College 8-2 (12th) -- The Eagles have a pair of Top 100 wins over Loyola (Chicago) and Minnesota but haven't played a Top 50 opponent yet. They're terrific at getting to the line, ranking just ahead of Louisville and trailing only Iowa. But a home loss to IUPUI makes you believe Louisville should win in Chestnut Hill in late February.

13. Pittsburgh 8-3 (15th) -- Don't get too hyped by the 8-3 record. Jeff Capel has washed away the negativity of the Kevin Stallings Era. But the Panthers' only Top 150 win was over Saint Louis and it's hard to overlook that loss to Niagara.

12. Georgia Tech 5-4 (13th) -- The Yellow Jackets and Miami are the only ACC teams with four defeats. Tech has not beaten a Top 200 team and and lost the benefit of the doubt with a 10-point home defeat to Gardner-Webb Monday night. They can't rebound on the offensive glass, make too many turnovers and are not good shooters.

11. Miami 5-4 (10th) -- Louisville's opening ACC opponent (Jan. 6) has lost back-to-back games to Ivy League opponents as Jim Larranaga has finally run out of NBA prospects in his backcourt.

10. Clemson 7-3 (sixth) -- Brad Brownell's team is a textbook case of looking past the record. All three of the Tigers' losses have been to likely NCAA Tournament teams but they haven't beaten anybody on the NIT Watch list. Another bad three-point shooting team.

9. Notre Dame 7-3 (ninth) -- The Irish will be dangerous in South Bend but they lost Rex Pflueger to a season-ending knee injury against Purdue Saturday. Depth was already an issue for Mike Brey. The Irish take care of the ball. They're third nationally in turnover percentage.

8. Syracuse 7-3 (fourth) -- The Orange delivered one of the season's best road wins against Ohio State but that shouldn't make you forget they've been beaten by Old Dominion and UConn. What's missing? Outside shooting. The Orange have made less than 30 percent of their threes.

7. North Carolina State 9-1 (eighth) -- The Wolfpack won their first six without playing a team ranked in the Top 175. They lost their only road game (Wisconsin). We'll know more when Auburn visits Wednesday but hold all tickets on the Wolfpack until the schedule adds some grit.

6. Louisville 8-3 (11th) -- The Cardinals are several possessions from being 10-1 and are favored to win seven of their first eight ACC games by Ken Pomeroy. The exception is the Jan. 12 trip to North Carolina. Solid formula: Good shot selection. Limited turnovers. Consistent defense.

5. Florida State 9-1 (seventh) -- Give Leonard Hamilton credit for scheduling four Top 50 non-league opponents and defeating Purdue, Florida and LSU while losing to only Villanova. He's got a long, experience, talented group.

4. Virginia Tech 9-1 (fifth) -- The Hokies play the fifth and sixth teams on their schedule that are not ranked in Pomeroy's Top 200 this week. I wish Buzz Williams would have scheduled more confidently but he likely wishes that I'd write better columns. The wins over Purdue and Washington are solid.

3. North Carolina 8-2 (third) -- I'm looking forward to an in-person examination of the Tar Heels Saturday in Chicago when they play Kentucky. From a distance, they look like the most prolific offensive team in the nation, scoring 100 or more four teams and 90-plus on three other occasions. You want to run. Let's run.

2. Virginia (second) -- The only statistics where Tony Bennett's team ranks even close to below average involve tempo -- and that's precisely the way Bennett wants it. Beating Wisconsin on a neutral site and Maryland on the road were solid signs. So is ranking fourth in the nation in turnover percentage.

1. Duke (first) -- The Blue Devils' meeting with Texas Tech Thursday is this week's Game of the Week. The only flaws I see in Mike Krzyzewski's team is free throw shooting and the boundless rock star hype that surrounds this club. They're only 65 percent at the line, which is 286th in the nation. So go ahead and foul them.