Three ACC teams didn't play last week -- typically the 'final exam' period at most universities -- and only three played more than once.
However, the conference still learned some lessons about handling skillful, upset-minded teams from smaller leagues -- namely North Carolina State (which lost to Wofford) and Louisville (which survived a close call against UNC-Wilmington).
There was also major news off the court, with Florida State's Aaron Thomas -- one of the ACC's top players -- being lost for the season (academically ineligible).
Here are some more notables from an otherwise slow week around the ACC:
ALL-ACC TEAM (DEC. 8-14)
Zach Auguste/Jerian Grant, Notre Dame: There may not be a more improved player in the ACC than Auguste, a junior center who has transformed from a role player last season to a go-to asset in the paint.
Auguste averaged 22.5 points on 67-percent shooting in two games last week, adding 7.5 rebounds (24 minutes per outing).
Meanwhile, the continually exceptional Grant averages 18.5 points on 58.3 percent shooting -- to go with 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals. The Irish may be the hottest team in the ACC right now.
Montrezl Harrell/Terry Rozier, Louisville: Harrell, a legit national Player of the Year candidate, was exceptional against Indiana and UNC-Wilmington, averaging 20.0 points, 14.0 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks (67-percent shooting).
And Rozier, a sophomore guard, scored more in the last two games (45 points) than in the previous four combined (43).
Rozier and Harrell were brilliant against Indiana, with the former setting a new career high with 26 points.
Trevor Cooney, Syracuse: Louisiana Tech was never going to be an easy game for the young Orange.
Junior guard Trevor Cooney came through in Syracuse's 71-69 win with a season-high 25 points (including four triples). He played all 40 minutes and also got two assists and three steals against Louisiana Tech.
Rod Hall/Demarcus Harrison, Clemson: Hall, Clemson's senior point guard, had 20 points (on 8-of-13 shooting) in the Sunday win over Auburn -- the eight turnovers aside.
Harrison, the BYU transfer senior that could never quite get it going last year as a shooter, added 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting against the Tigers.
Aaron Brown, Boston College: Boston College's senior transfer continues to impress, averaging 18.5 points on 52-percent shooting in two games last week (both victories) -- while logging just 28 minutes per outing.
After starting out the season 5 of 30 from beyond the arc in the first five games, Brown has made 11 of 23 in the last four games alone (all BC wins).
Honorable Mentions
**NC State's Trevor Lacey just barely missed the cut here. He was coming back from a sprained ankle and nearly carried his team to victory over Wofford on Sunday, scoring 18 of the team's 54 points and shooting 8 of 12 from the field (two triples). His teammates, in turn, were a combined for 33-percent shooting (25 percent from beyond the arc).
Wake Forest's Devin Thomas bounced back from some bad outings with 19 points and eight rebounds in a win over Samford.
**Louisville's Chris Jones had a pretty good week in his own right, averaging 17 points in two games to go with 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.0 steals.
**Notre Dame's Demetrius Jackson averaged 16.5 points in two games to go with 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals.
Special Shout-Outs
**Boston College's Dimitri Batten averaged 15 points (on 10 of 17 shooting) in two games last week for the Eagles.
**North Carolina's Brice Johnson had a nice game against Kentucky's length on Saturday, tallying 15 points in 24 minutes (7 of 12 shooting).
**Pitt's Jamel Artis and Michael Young each had good games against St. Bonaventure; Artis finished with 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting (and four blocks), while Young had 14 points and 17 rebounds.
FRESHMAN WATCH
**Without Duke's fab frosh, it was a bit of a slow week for the ACC's rookies.NC State's Caleb Martin had 17 points against Charleston Southern and 19 for the week to lead the rookies, while the only other freshman to score in double digits was Virginia Tech's Justin Bibbs (11 points against Alabama A&M).
**Syracuse freshman Kaleb Joseph had nine points in the win over Louisiana Tech, but had four turnovers to eight assists.
*A Wake Forest trio of freshmen had a nice game against Samford. Konstantinos Mitoglou had nine points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes. Mitchell Wilbekin added eight points and three steals in 30 minutes and Cornelius Hudson had nine points, three assists and two steals in 25 minutes.
THE "I SEE YOU WORKING" TEAM OF THE WEEK
No. 21 Notre Dame
Slowly but steadily, the Irish have risen up into the others receiving votes to cracking the top 25 last week to 21. After a win over Michigan State in overtime and a somewhat-uglier victory over Fairleigh Dickinson two weeks ago, Notre Dame obliterated Mt. St. Mary's on Tuesday and then crushed Florida State 83-63 for its first ACC win of the year.
The Irish are 10-1, with their only loss coming on a neutral court. They also lead the nation in effective field goal percentage (63.4 percent) and two-point percentage (64.7 percent) while shooting 40.9 percent from three (18th) and turning it over on just 13.8 percent of their possessions (3rd nationally).
Notre Dame's defense still isn't great, but the Irish keep opponents off the foul line.
Maybe Jerian Grant really would have made a much bigger difference for a disappointing Notre Dame team a year ago. Either way, this season's group is close to penetrating that top tier of conference powers.
ACC WIN OF THE WEEK
No. 4 Louisville over Indiana, 94-74
Louisville and Indiana went blow-for-blow in a fast-paced, up-and-down and just all-around fun game at Madison Square Garden.
Indiana seemingly couldn't miss for awhile, particularly from three, but Louisville put the clamps down and forced 19 turnovers.
Montrezl Harrell was spectacular, dunking everything in sight, while Terry Rozier stepped up for a career-high 26.
Ultimately, Louisville looked every bit the No. 4 team in the country against a Power 5 opponent.
#goacc TEAM OF THE WEEK
Clemson
Oh sure, Clemson did well this week. Beat Auburn at home to get to 3-0 in the SEC. Wait, they're not in the SEC.
That's too bad. But the real head-scratcher in all of this is that Clemson is 1-2 against the Big South, with losses to Winthrop (ranked 196th in Ken Pom), Gardner-Webb (188th) and a win over High Point, by three points (174th).
All of those games were at home.
One might say, well, maybe the SEC teams in question are not as good as those Big South teams? Well, LSU is 72nd in Ken Pom while Arkansas is 32nd and Auburn is 163rd. So it's definitely not that. Winthrop has beaten just one other Division-I team this season.
The point is twofold, actually: it's bad for the perception of the ACC when Clemson can't win those games, and it's even worse when and if they beat good teams in ACC play. And based on what they're doing now -- taking care of business against the SEC -- that might not be too far-fetched.
Honorable Mention
None, really. North Carolina losing at Kentucky wasn't really unexpected, and NC State losing at home to Wofford isn't great. But Wofford could/should end up playing in the NCAA tournament.
#goacc PLAYER OF THE WEEK
B.J. Johnson, Syracuse
The 6-7 sophomore had arguably his worst game of the season in relatively extended action against Louisiana Tech, scoring three points in 22 minutes but shooting just 0-of-7 from the field (3-of-4 from the foul line), adding four rebounds, an assist and a steal but three fouls and four turnovers.
The four turnovers were just one less than he'd had all season to that point.
Honorable Mentions
Boston College's Will Magarity saw 11 minutes over two games last week and had six points on 2 of 6 shooting, adding seven rebounds but also seven fouls and four turnovers in 28 minutes.
**Carolina's J.P. Tokoto has been great for the Tar Heels but not so much against Kentucky, shooting 3 of 8 from the field; while he had six rebounds and four steals, Tokoto also had one assist, six turnovers and three fouls in 26 minutes.
**NC State sophomore Kyle Washington had six points in two games this week on 3 of 11 shooting, adding seven rebounds, two assists and four blocks but five fouls and four turnovers in 37 minutes.
**Loiusville's Chinanu Onuaku had two points on 1 of 6 shooting and added five rebounds, an assist, a steal, two blocks and two turnovers in 21 minutes.
Fellow Louisville freshman Anas Mahmoud, he of the Egyptian part of the "four white guys and an Egyptian" Pitino quote from earlier this year, had two points, two fouls and two turnovers in 13 minutes over a two-game stretch, as werll.
GAMES TO WATCH
Tennessee (4-3) at N.C. State (8-2), Wednesday, 7 p.m.
This is a big week for the Wolfpack ... if it wants to enhance its at-large profile. With the loss to a good Wofford on Sunday, the urgency cranks up with this home tilt against Tennessee, which knocked off top-25 Butler on Sunday.
No. 2 Duke (8-0) vs. UConn (4-3), Thursday, 8 p.m. (East Rutherford, N.J.)
The Blue Devils should be well-rested for this one. Defending champion UConn has lost nearly every close game this season and could give Duke some problems with it height and rebounding. And by some problems ... I mean "Duke might not win by 20."
So, it's all relative.
Clemson (6-3) at South Carolina (5-3), Friday, 7 p.m.
If Clemson gets to 4-0 against the SEC, should the Tigers get a share of the SEC title or something?
No. 24 North Carolina (6-3) vs. No. 12 Ohio State (8-1), Saturday, 1 p.m. (Chicago)
This will be the Tar Heels' final non-conference test of any real significance. Ohio State's only seasonal loss came at No. 4 Louisville, but the Buckeyes' highest-ranked Ken Pom victory was over No. 111 Marquette.
North Carolina, meanwhile, is 2-3 against Pomeroy's top 50 and 3-3 against the top 80. This should be a more accurate gauge of the Tar Heels' progress and their standing in the ACC pecking order.
Syracuse (6-3) at No. 7 Villanova (10-0), Saturday, 1 p.m.
Syracuse fans would normally be looking forward to facing a former Big East rival. Well, Villanova has been demolishing opponents of late, beating all but two teams by double digits -- including routs of VCU and Illinois.
For Syracuse, five of its 10 games have either been losses or decided by three points or fewer. Maybe the Orange can capture something magical, but it doesn't seem likely on Saturday.
No. 21 Notre Dame (10-1) vs. Purdue (8-3), Saturday, 5:15 p.m. (Indianapolis)
Notre Dame (minus one confounding loss to Providence) has piled up some really good wins (edging Michigan State at home and beating Florida State by 20 in the ACC opener).
This will be Notre Dame's first trip outside South Bend since Nov. 23, and it will be a tough one against an up-and-down Purdue team that likely won't give the hot-shooting Irish anything easy.
NC State (8-2) vs. No. 22 West Virginia (9-1), Saturday, 9:30 p.m. (New York City
A neutral-site game against a ranked team? This is something the Wolfpack could desperately use, regardless of how Wednesday's game against Tennessee goes.
And it will cap off a huge week in the non-conference that only gets worse:
After Saturday, N.C. State hosts Louisiana Tech and Cincinnati in the final two games before ACC play. Each opportunity looms larger and larger now, particularly since the Wolfpack's best win, per Ken Pom, lies with No. 66 Boise State.
USC (6-4) at Boston College (6-3), Sunday, 4:00 p.m.
Boston College started out the season 2-3, but the Eagles didn't lose to any team outside of Ken Pom's top 100. Should that hold up, it will be the first time BC avoided a non-conference loss to a Ken Pom team that finished 100th or worse since 2006. So, that's something.
And Boston College has won four in a row and is playing very well right now, with transfers Dimitri Batten and Aaron Brown fitting right in.
USC has been awful. This is a game that Boston College absolutely has to have if it wants to potentially break into that bottom-middle tier of the ACC, which is certainly open for business.
