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The 2024-25 college basketball season starts Monday.
Last season was interesting for the ACC, to say the least. Much-maligned through much of the regular season, the ACC got 5 teams into the Big Dance. Crucially, the ACC once again sent 3 teams to the Elite Eight and NC State went on a wild run to the Final Four.
Looking ahead to 2024-25, it’s clear that there’s elite talent at the top of this league, particularly with the blue bloods. However, the ACC’s depth remains a shadow of what it once was — particularly with Stanford, Cal and SMU making their ACC debuts this season.
Here’s a look at Saturday Down South’s preseason ACC basketball power rankings ahead of the 2024-25 campaign:
18. Boston College
Boston College finished last season in the top 100 of KenPom’s ratings for the first time in the Earl Grant era. That would be good news, but the Eagles lost 5 key players to the transfer portal this offseason. Quinten Post is gone, too. Maybe Grant gets it going this year again, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
17. Cal
Cal enters this season ranked a depressing 135th in KenPom’s preseason ratings. That’s 1 spot ahead of Kent State, for those of you keeping track at home. A poor roster and heavy travel demands isn’t likely to translate to a good season for Mark Madsen’s bunch.
16. Florida State
Florida State has one of the better guards in the ACC in Jamir Watkins and a top JUCO player in Malique Ewin. Beyond that, I’m not sure what the Noles have going for them. This is a program that has more or less been in free fall for a few seasons now. The Noles haven’t finished above .500 in conference play since 2021, when Scottie Barnes was on the roster. That’s also the last time the Noles were in the NCAA Tournament. I would be surprised if FSU ended that drought this year.
15. Virginia Tech
In the 2 seasons since Mike Young guided the Hokies to their first ACC Tournament title, Virginia Tech is 4 games under .500 in conference play. They’ve missed the Big Dance both years. Per EvanMiya, their best player in 2024-25 projects to be College of Charleston transfer Ben Burnham, who averaged 12 points and 5 rebounds a game last season in the Coastal Athletic Association.
14. Stanford
Stanford hired a new coach this season, luring Kyle Smith from Washington State. Smith has a long track record of winning at hard jobs (he got Wazzu to the NCAA Tournament last season), but it’s not usually a quick process. I’m bullish on the Cardinal long-term given Smith’s well-documented belief in analytics, but it might be a tough first season in the ACC.
13. Notre Dame
Having Notre Dame ranked this high is a product of 2 primary factors: I believe in Markus Burton as a primary scorer and I think Micah Shrewsberry is a great coach. It wouldn’t shock me to see the Fighting Irish surprise some folks this season and compete for an at-large berth NCAA Tournament.
12. Syracuse
Once upon a time, JJ Starling was a 5-star prospect and seemed destined to be the next Notre Dame guard to turn pro. Now he’s entering Year 3 of college hoops and has never really put it together offensively. Will this be the year that the switch flips? Syracuse needs it to be. Eddie Lampkin is an interesting big in the ACC, but I think the Orange will need to get more out of their backcourt in order to be relevant.
11. NC State
NC State lost 4 massive pieces off of a team that made a Cinderella run to the Final Four this past March. It’s worth remembering that NC State wasn’t a good regular-season team last year to begin with, so it’s tough to know where to set expectations for the Wolfpack going into 2024-25. Kevin Keatts was on track to be fired before NC State’s miracle run in the ACC Tournament bled into March Madness. I’m not super optimistic about what this team will do now that DJ Burns, DJ Horne and other have moved on. Keatts won’t be going anywhere; winning the ACC Tournament triggered an automatic 2-year extension through the 2029-2030 season.
10. Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech quietly added Oklahoma transfer Javian McCollum this offseason. He should go a long way toward replacing Miles Kelly’s production now that he’s at Auburn. Baye Ndongo and Naithan George are rising sophomores worth getting excited about. It might be a year early, but I like what Damon Stoudamire is building here.
9. Virginia
Tony Bennett’s sudden retirement was the surprise of the offseason. There are so many questions about this team that it’s difficult to make a reliable projection for the Cavaliers. But Virginia is always good in the ACC — at least it was under Bennett. This program hasn’t finished with a winning percentage below .600 in ACC play since 2011-12. But things have been trending down for a few years now, so I’m having a hard time being optimistic about Virginia given the coaching change.
8. SMU
Welcome to the ACC, Andy Enfield. The Mustangs brought in a solid guard transfer in Boopie Miller (Wake Forest) this offseason as well as a do-it-all forward in Matt Cross (UMass). If both hit, SMU could be interesting in Year 1. The problem, of course, is that Enfield largely underachieved in his 11-year run at USC. The only time he made it out of the first weekend of the Big Dance was when he had Evan Mobley (No. 3 overall pick in 2021) patrolling the paint.
7. Louisville
Did any program in the country get a bigger coaching upgrade than Louisville this past offseason? Going from Kenny Payne to Pat Kelsey alone should be a big boon for Louisville’s upside this season, but this team is full of unknowns at the moment. Chucky Hepburn, who started 100+ games for Wisconsin, will lead this team in the backcourt.
6. Clemson
It’s somewhat rare to see a team in today’s era return 3 starters, particularly after a deep tournament run like Clemson had last season. And yet, it feels like the Tigers have a big task ahead as they try to replace PJ Hall’s impact on both ends of the floor. Clemson enters the year 24th in KenPom’s preseason rankings, and I expect the Tigers will at least contend for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid this season.
5. Pitt
Pitt lost key players Bub Carrington and Blake Hinson, but Jeff Capel has done a great job of establishing a relatively high floor over the past couple of seasons. Jaland Lowe showed flashes of being a really effective player last season as a freshman with the Panthers, so he figures to be the next man up with Carrington now in the NBA.
4. Miami
Last season was a disaster for Miami coming off its Final Four run in 2023. The Hurricanes shed most of their roster from last season, but they do bring back Nijel Pack and Matthew Cleveland as key pieces. There’s also 5-star freshman guard Jalil Bethea, who could be a lottery pick if he has a good season at Miami. There’s significant upside for this team to a team that competes at the top of the ACC. BartTorvik has the Canes ranked 26th nationally entering the year.
3. Wake Forest
Senior wing Hunter Sallis (18 points per game last season) enters the year as a projected first-round pick by some outlets and should be one of the best players in the ACC this season. Parker Friedrichsen provides some outside shooting and Efton Reid was great for the Demon Deacons a year ago as well. Steve Forbes consistently proves himself as one of the ACC’s best coaches, and I think he’ll get the most out of this group in 2024-25.
2. North Carolina
While I have Duke in a tier of its own at the top of the ACC entering the year, North Carolina isn’t a bad team by any means. RJ Davis is one of the best guards in the country and Elliot Cadeau should be ready to take a big step forward as well. Cade Tyson, a Belmont transfer, is a hyper-elite shooter. I have some questions about this team defensively (they finished 8th last season per KenPom) and, of course, about how the Tar Heels will adjust to life without Armando Bacot. Strange as it sounds for a UNC outfit, but rebounding will be a huge concern until these Heels prove it isn’t. But this is a very high-level roster and should be competitive at the top of this league.
1. Duke
Duke looks to be far and away the ACC’s best team and is clearly the league’s best shot at a legit national championship run in 2024-25. Cooper Flagg headlines a freshman class that also includes a couple other future first-rounders in Khaman Maluach and Kon Knueppel. Tyrese Proctor is back to help stabilize the guard rotation and Mason Gillis is a nice transfer addition from Purdue as well. This team has size, shooting, defense, veteran guard play and elite talent. The pressure is on for Jon Scheyer to deliver a Final Four run.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
