DBR Newsletter #85
ACC Universe prior to league play
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With conference play starting this week, I wanted to take a look at some ACC analytics ahead of the league schedule.
KenPom
The ACC has eight teams inside Ken Pomeroy’s top-40 in Net Rating.
KenPom has the ACC rated #4 overall (+14.85), though significantly behind the top-three. For context, the ACC finished last season with a +9.16 rating, nearly 13.00 points behind the SEC (+22.09), so the league has narrowed the gap considerably so far this season.
CBB Analytics
Four Factors (effective field goal percentage, offensive rebound rate, turnover rate, and free throw rate) for each team in the conference.
Offensive Rating vs. Defensive Rating
2-point shooting vs. 3-point shooting
EvanMiya
Evan Miya’s site shows similar team and conference rating for the ACC.
Notes
UVA pounds the offensive glass with a 42.4% offensive rebound rate, the only ACC team above 40% and third in the country. Miami is twelfth nationally with a 39.8% offensive rebound rate.
Louisville (55.4% 3PA rate) and Florida State (53.5% 3PA rate) are the only two teams who shoot more than half of their shots from beyond the arc. In fact, Louisville and FSU are first and second in the nation in three-point attempt rate.
North Carolina (1st - 41.0%), Duke (5th - 42.1%), Louisville (11th - 44.4%), Syracuse (13th - 44.6%), Boston College (14th - 44.7%), and Virginia (15th - 44.7%) all rank in the top-15 in effective field goal percentage defense.
After playing a 20-game league schedule since the 2020 season, the ACC is back to an 18-game slate this year. Duke will play Louisville (variable) and North Carolina (primary) twice.
Here are the full primary and variable partners for 2026.
Primary Partners: Boston College-Notre Dame; Clemson-Georgia Tech; California-Stanford; Duke-North Carolina; Florida State-Miami; Louisville-SMU; NC State-Wake Forest; Pitt-Syracuse; Virginia Tech-Virginia
Variable Partners: Boston College-Miami; California-Georgia Tech; Clemson-Pitt; Duke-Louisville; Florida State-SMU; North Carolina-Syracuse; NC State-Virginia; Notre Dame-Stanford; Virginia Tech-Wake Forest
Thanks for reading, Go Duke!
Sources