ACC teams have lots of work to do heading into league play

The early NET ratings don’t have a high opinion of the ACC, which is hopefully not something that will be the case a month from now, but at this point is a little concerning. There are only four ACC teams in the top 50—NC State among them—which puts the conference behind most of the Power Six.

Top-50 NET teams:

1.) Big Ten (12)
2.) Big East (8)
3.) Big 12 (6)
4.) Pac-12 (5)
5.) ACC (4)
6.) SEC (3)

A vulnerable ACC is not a bad thing from a selfish NC State perspective, but with five teams currently outside the top 100, it’s looking like there are more than a few landmines on the schedule, which is worrying. Because you know how we do.

Also, any team that is higher in the Pomeroy Ratings than the NET is unhelpful—these games will be tougher than the NET appreciates, in other words, making losses look worse than they really are. The good news is that these gaps should close as the NET takes in more data. It takes more time for NET to present an accurate picture.

And NC State is already in the top 40 (38 as of Tuesday), so the Pack isn’t in a spot where it needs to make up ground like some other teams.