Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - AGAIN: Duke STANDS ALONE atop the ACC | Can North Carolina & Louisville CHALLENGE Duke?

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

ACC basketball surges back into national relevance as Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina Tar Heels, Louisville Cardinals, and Virginia Cavaliers dominate the power rankings. Can Duke’s Cam Boozer and Louisville’s relentless guard play propel their squads into the Final Four spotlight? Jackson Holzer and Kenton Gibbs weigh in on title contenders, quality wins, and the adaptability needed to claim a national championship.The conversation covers Miami Hurricanes and Clemson Tigers vying for top-tier status, challenges facing new conference members Cal, Stanford, and SMU, and the struggles of Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Syracuse Orange to break into the upper echelon. Key insights include North Carolina’s lineup adjustments, Louisville’s vulnerability against physical teams, and Virginia’s turnaround under new coaching. With the ACC poised to send up to eight teams to March Madness, fans are left wondering: Who’s truly built for a deep tournament run? Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

ACC basketball is much better this year than it was last year. Who are the title contenders in the conference? You are Locked-on ACCC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, everyone, and welcome in a locked-on ACC. I'm Jackson Holes or the host of Locked-on, Syracuse. That's Kenton Gibbs, host of Locked-on Wolfpack. And thank you so much for making Locked-on, A-CCC-C-C.

your first listen of every single day here on the locked on podcast network where it's your team every day. Of course, always free and available wherever you get your podcast here on this Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas Eve to you all, ladies and gentlemen. And with that said, we are going to break down ACC basketball. The conference is a lot better this year than it was last year and the year before that and the year before that, which is great for the conference in general. We'll talk about the title contenders within the ACC and also give our power rankings here on today's show. Before we get to everything, this episode is brought to you by Fandul.

If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit Fandle.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Kenton, I don't think we're going to disagree with who is number one atop the ACC basketball power rankings. of course I'm talking about Boston College and maybe Syracuse right behind them. But all jokes aside, can we agree that the Duke Blue Devils are number one in the ACC? Number one in the ACC is an understatement. They might be number one in the country.

They might be a team that you look at and you say, hey, this team has everything it takes to get it done in March Madness. So ultimately, you would be just foolish and remiss if you were trying to look for information as to why they aren't number one in the conference. because, I mean, they've going down to court and they've shown it. Every single game they've had against ranked teams has been a pretty impressive win other than the sheer collapse of all collapses in Madison Square Garden against Texas Tech.

I think that collapse is why I can't anoint Duke as the number one team right now in college basketball. We saw what Michigan did out in Vegas. Arizona has an incredible resume. They're undefeated. But Duke is right there. Duke is going to be in the conversation throughout the entire season of this is a legitimate final four contender.

This is a team that can win a national championship. And we had on JJ Jackson yesterday here on Locked on ACC. And we talked about, hey, you know, this could be the first time since 2015 that Duke wins a national title, which is saying something because last year the team had Cooper flat. And I thought even by Duke's standards, having a guy like Cooper flag and Connipal as as Batman and Robin, I thought that that might be their best chance.

This year might actually be their best chance without loaded they are, particularly in that front court led by Camboozer. So Duke, yeah, we agree number one atop the ACC power rankings, arguably the number one team overall in the nation. second, third, and fourth in the conference, Tenton is kind of tricky. I'm curious what your thoughts are on two, three, and four before I give you mind. Well, I think the obvious tool for me has to be Louisville. I think that they've done it again. They put together a squad that that guard play is going to carry them as far as they want to go. I mean, ultimately, you look at them and you say, how do they keep doing it?

How do they keep doing it, right? And Kelsey's first year, you sat up here and said, well, wait a minute now. He's got some good transfers, but they're not going to pan out in the ACC right away at the highest level. And they said, I beg your damn pardon. So I'd have to give them their respect there. And then as much as I don't like giving this team their respect, I got to admit, UNC at number three feels like a good spot to happen out for me. Because when you talk about the front court, when you talk about the best front courts in the ACC, you can't leave out. this one with a dunk machine in Wilson and then Vassar who's been playing like the best center,

best true center in, you know, the conference, if not America. I mean, he's been absolutely fantastic on the inside and stretching defenses out, which adds a whole other dynamic, right? When you got a guy like Wilson that is that dunk machine, if you go a twin towers look, you kind of can just his game because now the center's always going to be right down there waiting in the paint with him. But when Vassar is knocking down the three ball at the clip that he currently is, all of a sudden it's like, oh, well, damn, we've got to get somebody out there, and you're not going to be able to contest them with a vast majority of threes or fours in this league. So ultimately, they've got a really, really good setup there.

And four, there were a lot of teams. There were a lot of teams that felt like they could fit in here. But I'm going to tell you, what Odom has done at UVA early, I struggle to say anybody else belongs in that spot instead of them. I really and truly do. It's not back to the days of, it's not back to the days of Tony. It's not back to those days where it's gritting ground, pack line defense. They're the Miami football of ACC basketball where every game is uglyness of Rock.

They're not quite that, but they are winning games that they need to win. And winning some where you sit up here and said, well, wait a minute, this is Virginia already coming out to gates like this. So that would probably be my two, three, and four at the moment. I agree on two through four in terms of the teams. I'm not sure about the order, though. I think number two is North Carolina. Really? Getting back Seth Trimble in that lineup,

they have a very good resume as well. The reason why I have to put North Carolina right now a little bit ahead of Louisville is because I can't get that taste out of my mouth with Louisville and what they did against Tennessee. Right. And how Tennessee basically just punched them in the mouth. And it leaves me questioning Louisville to this end of, look, I know how they want to play. They want to shoot a ton of threes, but when it gets down to the nitty gritty,

and a team is going to sit here and say, we're going to be physical with you. We're going to try to punch you in the mouth here. We're going to play a little bit of old school basketball, like a team like Tennessee. It leaves me wondering, can Louisville adapt to that style of play as well? See, I think what separates title contenders and really good teams is the ability to kind of morph yourself depending on the team that you are playing. This is what I was saying about Duke a lot last year where it was I felt they were the best team in the country and I know that they didn't win the title. But I felt they were the best team in the country because it didn't matter what style of game that you wanted to play against Duke. You want to play a 58, 55 game against Duke.

That's no problem. They can beat you 58 55. You want to go up and down the floor and just get into a three-point competition and try to win 90 to 80? Well, I think that Duke last year was best equipped to be able to beat anyone in that regard as well. So I look at Louisville and I say, yeah, I know how they want to play. I know what their identity is. They're obviously incredibly talented. I'm putting them top three in the power rankings for crying out loud.

They're still AP top 25. But that game against Tennessee kind of gives me that, okay, are they true national champion? championship contenders, or is this a team that we say, you know what, maybe the elite eight is their ceiling, which wouldn't be a bad thing. I mean, it's year to a pack Kelsey. I know we had a lot of preseason height for Louisville, but elite eight would still be very good. I'm just not sure if they're quite yet a national title contender. And then at number four, I agree with you with Virginia. I think Virginia is another example of how you can let go of your coach and in one year, completely turn things around.

Same thing with Louisville, though, with Virginia. I don't know if they are a true national championship threat, maybe like a Duke for sure and to a lesser extent, Carolina as well. But Virginia's right there. And right now they're firmly in NCAA tournament conversation. Forget conversation. I mean, they're firmly in the tournament as of right now

with their non-conference play resume. I have nothing but good things and positive things to say. about the University of Virginia basketball right now. It's good that they are back. And it's no secret, Kenton, that the, or it's no coincidence, I should say. It's no coincidence that the ACC, for the most part, their big brands are back this year. And all of a sudden, the conference looks a whole lot better. Duke is good.

Carolina is good. Louisville's good. Virginia is good. Next thing you know, when those four teams are good, everyone just starts to slot into place about five, six, seven, eight. And that is what ultimately lengthens the conference, which was what was missing a year ago. Absolutely. And I will say this for my, I'm sorry, for Louisville in their three-point shooting. The reality is this. A team like that, their ceiling is always going to be, if they just get hot, if they just get a four-game stretch, they're a

March Madness where they get hot, their ceiling is always going to be a national championship. The problem is live by the three and die by the three. Right. You're going to have those games like you did against Tennessee where it didn't just look like they got frazzled defensively. It also looked like their shots just were not falling because, like you said, Tennessee was allowed to be so physical with them. And that's not me saying the rest did a bad job. I like when teams are allowed to be physical, what the reality is when you rely on that three-point shot so heavily, if you have a night where it's off, it's going to be off. It's going to be off. And all of a sudden, you're going to make whoever you're playing look

like world beaters, which is what happened against Tennessee. Exactly right. Now, coming up, we'll continue with a. ACC basketball power rankings. Kent and I didn't really disagree all that much on the top four. We just flip-flop Louisville and North Carolina. But maybe we'll disagree with five through eight, five through nine, five through ten. Find out next tier on locked on ACC. NFL Sundays move fast, one big play.

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visit bandu.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Van Duel, the game moves fast, and so can you. Locked-on ACC. I'm Jackson, Holder, host of Locked-on, Syracuse, Tenting Gibbs, host of Locked-on Wolfpack. Let's continue with ACC basketball power rankings. Our top four, in no particular order, it flip-flop two and three, but it was Duke, it was North Carolina, it was Louisville, and it was Virginia. Kenton, who do you have at five? I know this is going to be a controversy for some, but I think that what Lucas has done down there in Miami, you can't deny them.

You can't deny them. I would solidly put Miami at five because I think they're right on the outside of these top teams. The only thing that I want to see for Miami play more big games. I want to see them win more big games and their non-conference schedule

wasn't the toughest in the world, but they're going to come up on some real ball here, real hoops, as they say, in just a few. So ultimately, I know that we love saying it on this show, but they have just won their games. So, you know, we've got to give them their love for that. I actually don't have a drink next to me.

So I'll, there we go. Got a drink right there. But yeah, Miami, I'm right there with you with Miami. I mean, they have a 10 point loss to BYU, a 14 point loss to Florida. They beat Ole Miss on the road, who's not very good. They beat Georgetown who's not very good. So I'm kind of hesitant to put Miami at five, but at the same time, they're right there also in NCAA tournament.

They have a first year head coach in Jay Lucas. so they look very good. What about Clemson? Clemson is like this. I view Clemson in Miami almost in the same life right now because they have similar records. They're similar in terms of all their advanced metrics. I'm going to look right now exactly where they're at.

You have Miami in the net at 34 and you have Clemson at 37. Yeah. They're basically identical teams to start this season. Clemson actually lost to Georgetown, but they beat Georgia. they barely lost to BYU. That was they blew that one. They had a close loss against Alabama.

They came back in that one, but they fell short. They're very close together, but I kind of view them as both the five and the six in the conference right now. I agree. If the four teams that we had mentioned before them did not exist or in a different conference, these two would be 1A, 1B in the conference, in my opinion. They both have defensive strengths,

and they both have very, very defensive weaknesses. that you can point out and say, hey, this is going to be a struggle for this team. And so ultimately, when I look at Clemson, I'm not going to say like, oh, they're a terrible team. They just can't figure it out. No, no, no. What I will say is they don't have any quality wins to this point. I have not looked at any team that they've beaten and said, I know for a fact, that's not

going to be a tournament team. They're going to at least their floor is the round of 32 or sweet 16. Not yet. Well, I would push back on you about Clemson and having a quality win. They have a win over Georgia. And Georgia is a quad one win. Georgia's 21 in the net right now. Whether or not you think that Georgia is going to fall off.

But as of right now, that is a quality win. I think that's better than any win that Miami currently has. I agree. It is better than any win Miami has. But they also, I mean, ultimately, if you have a better, if I was just about to say, if you have a better win and a worse loss, it's even. That's what I'm saying. They're even, Stephen.

I can't separate these teams. I wish I could just go five and five right here. Yeah, I'm not mad at five A and five B. I'm not mad if we put these teams of five A and five B, that's all right with me. All right. So we'll just, we're not even going to agree to disagree. We're just going to put them together and say they're the same team right now. And we'll see if they can improve themselves, but they're the same.

Now, hear me out. The next, I would say that NC State is the next team in, but the three pack of all of the new teams to the ACC, Cal, Stanford, and SMU. How would you rank those three? How would you rank those? Because you've got a lot to, there's some meat on the bone for all three's resume to say, I don't think that you can make the argument that they're better than NC State because when NC State's rolling at their best clip, I think that they're up there with those top

four. But the problem is rolling at their best clip is not a guarantee. They will have some games where you just scratch your head and say, no, Who the hell is this team? I'm waiting for, we talked about this, I think the other day. I'm just waiting for NC State for that big win. I don't think that NC State has done anything bad this season. Like they don't have any bad losses.

And for the most part, when they've played inferior competition, they have handled their business. You know, they beat Texas Southern by 36 points. And Will Wade can complain all he wants about how his team played, which I think is admirable. But at the end of the day, they won by a ton of points. And that's what they've been doing for the most part. It's, okay, now your point.

playing against their teams. And they're mostly competitive. They're right there. They've had chances to win, but they haven't actually gotten over the hump. So I can't sit here and say, or anoint NC State like I do with the top four teams and even to a lesser extent, Miami and Clemson,

who both, I think, have better wins than NC State right now. But they don't have any bad losses. Yeah, and that's what I would think would put them in front of that three pack of the new teams who, all of them, they've been basically on the same path as NC State. It's just that we haven't seen a ton of good wins out of those three teams. I don't think that from Cal, Stanford, and SMU, we can say like, oh, yeah, that's a gangbusters win. This is a gangbusters win for them.

This is a game. I just don't think that that's there for them at this point in time, but all of them are going to have the opportunity. And all of them are exceeding expectations right now because some of the games that we thought that they were going to, you know, that we're going to be tougher contests for them. about on top. Right. And I actually looked at NC State and where they're at in the net. They're fifth in the net amongst ACC teams right now. Yeah. They're 31, which is right below the top four that we mentioned, which is Duke, Carolina, Louisville, Virginia. And then right there is NC State. So you can easily make an argument that NC State could be as high as five right now in the power rankings. We didn't necessarily have them there, but maybe you've convinced me

to put them there at seven. I think that might be a good spot for the. them. Yeah, I think that seven is a good spot for them, even though the net says their fifth. I'm sorry, I just need to see more. I need to see more consistency. I need to see that consistency show up against good teams because the reality is this ACC is much improved from last year. You cannot coach bow on just beating teams you're supposed to beat and that's fine. You're going to have a lot, a lot, a lot of tough games coming up here if you're NC State. And, you know, if you continue to just beat the teams you're supposed to beat, you got some tough waters ahead. I think after seven with NC State,

I like Cal, and I'll tell you why I like Cal. They are, I think, a lesser version of Louisville. They love to shoot the ball. Of course. And they're good at shooting the ball from deep. And so whenever you're a team that can shoot the ball high volume and at a high rate, that gives you upside. I mean, they beat UCLA, which I didn't think we were expecting them to do earlier this season.

they did that. What gives me pause about Cal is just, I don't know. How good is UCLA this season? Yeah. Are we sure that that is really that much of a quality win? I have to look at where UCLA right now is in the net. I thought it was bigger at the time. UCLA's 35, 35, but, you know, they were supposed to be a little bit better this year.

They haven't necessarily gotten off to the most amazing start. But Cal, look, they're doing great right now. We'll see how they fare in ACC play. but I'll put them at eight for right now. They can be dangerous on any given night. SMU, what gives me pause about SMU is, you know that thing called defense? I do.

I'm not sure the Mustang know about it. No, I don't think they got the memo this year in college basketball that you are allowed to play defense. Yeah. And so, look, they can store. They obviously got talent. They are a good team. They can easily make a tournament this season.

But if you can't stop anybody and you're going against the behemoths in this conference, good luck. Good luck getting into a track meet with Louisville. Like you're going to lose. Good luck going up against North Carolina and all they can throw at you. It's already going to be hard enough for a lot of teams to beat those teams. But if you can't defend, if you can't stop anybody, how am I going to sit here and say, oh, yeah, SMU. Let's anoint SMU and say that they're some juggernaut team or whatever. Like, no, I'd put them at nine, but that's about as high as I can go with SMU.

And I'm not mad at it because at the end of the day, you do have to play that other side of the ball. You do have to finish off possessions. You do have to find ways to get stops because, like you said, the competition will ramp up. You're not going to be playing the Island of Misfit Toys Community College for all 30 of these games. Exactly.

Well, we'll round out the power rankings here on Locked on ACC next. Locked on ACC. All right. Let's round out the power rankings here on Locked on ACC. We already did the top half. Now is where we get into the bottom half of the ACC. Kenton, I think what's funny is I got a little bit of pushback because I did an ACC power rankings about a week ago here.

And I said that with Notre Dame, not having Marcus Burton, I can't really put them higher than where I originally had them, which I think was 13. Yeah. Since that point, who did they lose to the other day? Who was their loss to? It was not good. It was that.

At the end of the day, Marcus Burton list. Purdue, Fort Wayne. At the end of the day, a Marcus Burdenless Notre Dame, come on, come on now. You know,

we know what you are, right? We know we, while people are talking about you, taking your ball and going home in football, the reality is, if Marcus Burton is out,

you might as well do the same thing in basketball. You might as well say, hey, guys, let's throw our hands in. You know, I don't know if you're a big fan of spades, Jackson, but when you play spades, if you get a hand dealt to you and you don't have no spades, you can throw it in, scrap the whole game. And I'm telling you, that's what I would do if I was Notre Dame without Marcus Burton. I'm just, hey, take it, take it, we're good here.

You know, this ain't, this ain't going to be a great season for us. Yeah, so I think we're both in agreement on Notre Dame. Yeah, they're towards the bottom here of the ACC. You asked me about Stanford in the last segment. Stanford hasn't beaten anybody. I agree. So they have a good record. Like if you're a record watcher and you say,

oh, Stanford, they're 10 and 2. That's good for them. Like, it is good for them. But Portland State, Montana, Montana State, Louisiana, Seattle, they lost to Seattle. A win over Minnesota, St. Louis, Portland, lost to UNLV. San Jose State, they barely won. U.T. Arlington, Colorado.

We impressed with that resume of Stanford. I think they might be in for a rude awakening come ACC ACC play. There's a lot better competition in the conference than what they've played so far. I'm not saying Stanford's great, but we got to get the benefit of you won your games. You did the thing. And so, you know, we've got to give you your respect for that.

But like you said, you do have some really bad losses. And that's why they'll be at the bottom of that three pack of the new teams for me. Because I'm still trying to figure out who is Stanford? I don't know. They're kind of just program right now. And I get that. I get that. But are you a team that's depending on Okerey to go off every night?

Are you a team that's going to say, hey, we're going to hang our head on the defensive event? Are you a team that's going to run everybody else out to gym? Who are you? And once we figure that out, then we can figure out like, oh, okay, this is this team's identity. This is what they've settled into. And ultimately, like you said, right now, no good wins, some bad losses. It's tough to put you higher than this. Stanford currently in the net is 76.

So it's actually not terrible. Like they're not in bad shape. I think it's boosted by the fact that they've played a lot of inferior competition. And they went 10 and 2. And so they're rewarded by this system that we have in place that says that, hey, they're actually not that bad because, you know, they've beaten the bad teams. But we'll see come conference play whether or not that that can hold up.

Wake Forest is a sneaky team. I look at Wake and I say they're sneaky. Nine and four right now. They just lost to Vanderbilt. They got absolutely crushed. 31 point loss. I'm looking at it right now. Lost to Oklahoma.

But they also have a one point overtime loss to Michigan. Yeah. And they have a one point loss to Texas Tech who just beat Duke. So I look at Wake and I say, this is a team, at least for right now, what they have shown is that they can, they can play with better competition, clearly. But do they ultimately have that ceiling and that ability to get over the hump kind of conference play?

They're kind of a sneaky team that I look at and say, if there's any sort of team in the bottom half of the conference right now that could pull themselves out and make a run, maybe it's Wake 4s given what they have done in conference, in non-conference play. They're the inverse of NC State to me. They're a team that they play teams tough. They play above what their talent level is and all that good stuff. But you do start to wonder, is that talent discrepancy with a lot of these top teams in the conference isn't going to show up? And oddly enough, their first conference game is against NC State.

So we'll figure out very quickly who is who, the team that's overachieving or the team that's underachieving a little bit right now. Who is the better team? We'll find out right away. That's going to be a good game. Yeah. That's going to be a good test for both teams. For NC State, I think it's very, very important that they win it just because you need to at some point beat some quality competition. And I think that Wake Forest could be a good step.

And for Wake Forest, they need to prove that they can beat a team that's better than them. Because I think that NC State, at least on paper, is better than them. Paper only means so much, but on paper, they are better. They've come close. But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. And speaking of close, I mean, my very own Syracuse Orange. they came close they nearly beat houston it doesn't really matter all they do they beat tennessee too i understand that but close is great that you need to at some point get over the hump

they're the most frustrating and enigmatic team in the conference because you know you know what they're capable of jackson you was a syracuse guy you know what they're capable of and i think we can all agree it feels like altru is holding them back a little bit but it's crazy because we No, we've seen it. We've seen it on tape. The team that destroyed our number two team, you go out there and beat them, and then you have one of the worst losses in the conference.

Who was there terrible? Come on, dog. I don't know what to tell you. I'm as frustrated as anyone else about Syracuse basketball. I said before the year that what doesn't matter what anyone really thinks about the team in general, because the expectations ultimately have to match the stakes of the season. And for those here who are not Syracuse fans who are paying attention to locked on ACCC right now, I'm going to let you in a little secret about Syracuse, okay?

Adrian Autry is in year three. They have not made the tournament in the Adrian Autry era. If they don't make it this year, you can fill in the blank of what it's going to happen with Adrian Autry, the coaching staff and the roster in general. It's going to be a complete overhaul in the off season that they can't get the rack together. And I remember yesterday, I checked the net rankings. They were at 88. We'll see if it moved because you never know what the net and how it moves.

They're 88 still in the net. quite frankly that's not good enough it's it's not you're not close to tournament conversation right now so i want to put syracuse higher but i can't i mean i put wake over them right now i i don't know would would you put stanford over them right now i would okay so you put stanford over them right now and and at that point you're you're what 12 yeah yeah it's it's just such a again just such a frustrating team because you know what's in there. You know what's, this is like watching that five-star just not do what he's supposed to do. And, you know, your school gets this five-star and you think like, oh, he's going to have a breakout season. This is the breakout season. This is the

breakout season. And it feels like Groundhogs Day with Bill Murray because every season you say it, and then every season it's 25 catches, 300 yards and two touchdowns. You're just sitting there at the end. Like, man, but he shows some flashes. That's where Syracuse is for me. I would even maybe even consider putting Virginia Tech above them right now. You know where Virginia Tech is? I said Syracuse was at 88. Take a guess where Virginia Tech is. I'm going to guess 83?

62. 62. Who, the Hokies are cooking. Yeah. The Hokies are cooking. Are you sure that you would put? 20 spots is pretty significant. Here's the thing.

I'm not mad at all about putting. Virginia Tech in front of this team. Again, there's, when I talk about teams that are an enigma, when you slide them up and down on the scale to me, I'm okay with putting them where they are on their best night. I'm also okay putting them where they are on their worst night. And for me, Virginia Tech has that ability to slot in front of Syracuse. And I wouldn't say, oh, that's egregious. That's just unbelievable.

The only team that I would say there's no way under God's Green Earth that you should put that team in front of them in front of them in this conference is Boston College. That's the only team where I'm like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you just, you're acting unusually today. I mean, I typically act unusual, but no, I'm not going to put Boston College ahead of Syracuse. Maybe Boston College will beat Syracuse, though, and then we'll have a different conversation. Listen, I, I'm telling you, man. You're not wrong. If Hofster can do it, if Hofster can do it, you know.

It's, it's, I said it yesterday on the show on Locked on Syracuse. It's, there's a storm coming. And I think everyone in Syracuse land is just hoping that the storm veers left or veers right. But right now it's coming right at us. And it's just here we go. Here we go with Syracuse. And then after that, you got the bad tier. I mean, you got Florida State, Pitt, Georgia Tech, Boston College.

Is there anything interesting about those teams? Not really. Are they really worth discussing? I think it's, it's, it's, in. same to see the difference between what Chappell has done up at, or Capo has done up at Pitt and then to see Lucas at Miami. To see that contrast of Duke assistance, yikes, yikes on the bike, man. Pitt is another team that lost to Hofstra.

At home. So did Syracuse and Pitt have that in common. Oof, stinky, stinky, I don't think there's anything of note about these teams besides the fact that one of these teams lost to Central Connecticut State. Yeah. You know what the sad part about that is? What? I know the answer is Boston College, but if you told me it's Georgia Tech or Florida State or

Pitt, I would not be surprised either. Not at all. Not at all. I'd be like these teams are bad. Yeah, Florida State is going through a lot right now with all the lawsuits and all that on their basketball side and, you know, all the things that they're left to figure out after Hamilton left. This is yikes.

These are just not teams that are in a good spot right now. that's putting it very nicely. I agree. That is putting it very, very nicely. But Kent, any last thoughts on ACC basketball power rankings? I'm just so excited that we're so much better than we were last year, man. I could see a field of eight, seven to eight ACC teams. And I don't think anybody would be shocked by that at the moment.

I will check ESPN Bracketology right now before we end off the show here. ESPN Bracketology. When was it updated? Okay. Actually, relatively recent. December 23rd at 8 a.m. Eastern, the ACC had eight teams in the field. You had the Big 10, SEC with 10, SEC with 10, Big 12 with 8, ACC with 8. Yeah. I can live with that.

It's not a, I said this at the very top of it. I said this is the first segment of the show. It is not a coincidence that the big brands, for the most part, in the ACC, they get their act together. They're all good this season, and suddenly the conference is better. This is what I've talked about with football too. You need the cream of the crop. If you don't have the cream of the crop, you don't have a good conference, period.

It doesn't matter that, oh, you might have depth. Depth only matters if you have the top end of the conference. The ACC basketball this year, you have Duke, who's obviously the shining star. They've been the shining star for a while. But Carolina has gotten their act together. Virginia has gotten their act together. Louisville now is a very, very formidable team as well with

second year, Pat Kelsey. They were formidable last year, but now it's year two of the Pat Kelsey era, and you know that they are legit, despite my criticism of them earlier. So you have those four big brands good. Next thing you know, you're not relying on Clemson and Miami and SMU to be one of the best teams in the ACC. No, we just need those teams to be what those teams typically are, which is very good, respectable teams that can play with anyone.

Just be a tournament caliber. team. You don't need to be that final four caliber team. Just be a tournament team, which they're very capable of doing. So good on the big brands of the ACC in basketball for getting their act together this season and making it so that this season is going to be a lot more compelling than last year in college basketball for this conference. Now, football on the other hand, Miami's doing their part. Clemson, we need you. Florida State, we need you. You get those big brands all of a sudden cooking and football. And next thing you know, it's going to be the same thing in basketball. Everyone starts to slot into place as far as four, five, six, seven, eight, you get the point.

But folks, thank you all so much for watching. Thank you all so much for listening. If you like this podcast, be sure to hit that like button. If you really enjoy the podcast, be sure to it, subscribe to all your friends about locked on ACC and have a Merry Christmas, everyone.