The new year is upon us and with it, plenty of attention on college basketball.

Conference play is underway in the ACC, but it truly heats up this month, in the dead of the January winter.

Plenty of surprises colored the 1st 2 months of the season, from North Carolina’s rapid fall from the preseason No. 1 ranking to a resurgent Virginia to Wake Forest’s surprising start for the 2nd straight season. Entering January, only 2 ACC programs (Florida State, Louisville) sport losing records. This is a stronger league than it was a season ago, even if for now, it lacks a national championship contender at the top.

Here’s the 1st batch of Saturday Road power rankings for the new year! Last week’s list is here, and last week’s rankings are below this week’s rank of each team.

15. Louisville (2-12, 0-3)

Last Week (LW): 15

The Cardinals were routed by Kentucky on New Year’s Eve. On the bright side, the 23-point loss was not Louisville’s worst of the season. So there’s that.

14. Georgia Tech (7-6, 0-3)

LW: 13

The Yellow Jackets fell to 0-3 in the league after a 74-56 loss Saturday to Virginia. The Virginia defeat was the 2nd consecutive double-digit loss for the Ramblin’ Wreck at home. Things aren’t good in Atlanta, and it’s hard to see how Josh Pastner survives this season. Pastner signed an extension during September 2021, but his buyout is about $5 million, which is not prohibitive. Is it time for a change?

13. Boston College (7-7, 1-2)

LW: 11

The Eagles dropped a conference game at Syracuse on New Year’s Eve, snapping a short 2-game win streak. The Eagles’ inability to score continues to haunt them, especially on the road. Boston College ranks 207th in Adjusted KenPom Offensive Efficiency, though it should be noted it has played the toughest schedule in the league to date.

12. Notre Dame (8-6, 0-3)

LW: 14

The Fighting Irish did beat a solid Jacksonville team at home to end their 3-game slide but were promptly crushed Friday by Miami, falling to 0-3 in the league. Mike Brey has dug lesser teams out of holes before, but at present, this team isn’t even close to the bubble and with 2 road games on tap this week, it might get worse before it gets better.

11. Florida State (4-11, 2-2)

LW: 10

The Seminoles add Baba Miller back from suspension this week, which is wonderful news for a team snake-bitten by injuries over the 1st 2 months of the season. The bad news? They didn’t have him or the other 2 projected preseason starters who they have lost for the season at Cameron Indoor Stadium on New Year’s Eve. It’s never fun to go to Duke and play as the visiting team. It is even less fun short-handed, as the Seminoles were reminded in the 19-point loss to the Blue Devils.

10. NC State (11-4, 1-3)

LW: 9

The Wolfpack was no match for Clemson on the road Friday, as Kevin Keatts’ team continues to struggle away from the friendly confines of PNC Arena. NC State has lost just once in Raleigh this season, but it is a middling 2-3 away from home and struggles to defend on the road especially, allowing almost 0.3 points per possession more in neutral or road contests.

9. Syracuse (9-5, 2-1)

LW: 12

The Orange dominated Boston College at home, erasing the stench of a tough loss to Pitt last week. The biggest thing for Jim Boeheim’s team right now?

The improved play of Benny Williams, who posted a double-double in the win against the Eagles and appears to be giving an Orange team with 2 excellent guards in Judah Mintz and Joe Girard III the lift it needs inside to contend for an NCAA Tournament bid.

8. Virginia Tech (11-3, 1-2)

LW: 6

Will this be the nadir for the Hokies this season? There’s no shame in losing ACC road games, which account for both the defeats in Virginia Tech’s currently modest 2-game losing streak. What will remain concerning, at least when discussing this team’s ceiling, is what it is capable of defensively. Wake Forest scored 1.1 points per possession against Virginia Tech in defeating the Hokies on New Year’s Eve. That’s a large number, and without Hunter Cattoor, the Hokies shot just 6-for-21 from deep, and couldn’t overcome poor defense. Can Mike Young get that fixed?

7. Clemson (11-3, 3-0)

LW: 8

Clemson did something important last week. It won a game against a good team when PJ Hall didn’t play well. That hasn’t happened much during Hall’s 2 seasons on campus. It did Friday, when Hunter Tyson dropped 31 to pace the Tigers in a big win against NC State.

Clemson’s résumé is a mixed bag. There is the eyesore loss to South Carolina and the stunning loss to Loyola-Chicago, but the Tigers do have a Quad 1 victory over Penn State and a solid win against a good Richmond team. Until Friday, though, they had 0 wins when Hall didn’t play well, and given he was 2-for-9 with just 5 points Friday and Clemson won by 14, things are looking up at Littlejohn Coliseum.

6. North Carolina (9-5, 1-2)

LW: 4

Just when you want to believe again, the Tar Heels go and lose to Pitt. Look, the Panthers are good, and you will lose road games in league play from time to time. But when you begin the season as a prohibitive Final Four contender, you are supposed to take care of business on the road against teams picked to finish in the bottom portion of your league. The Tar Heels continue to struggle defensively, ranking 60th in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency, per KenPom.

5. Wake Forest (10-4, 2-1)

LW: 5

The Demon Deacons notched another nice résumé win by beating Virginia Tech. Tyree Appleby, who blitzed the Hokies while with Florida in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, lit up a Mike Young team again, scoring 24 points and adding 7 assists. He’s a special player and a huge reason this team appears bound for the NCAA Tournament for the 1st time since 2017.

4. Pittsburgh (10-4, 3-0)

LW: 7

Have we reached “Pitt is good” territory? I think we have. We wrote about the way Blake Hinson has keyed Pitt’s surprising start last week, and the Panthers backed up the “pub” with a huge win Friday against North Carolina. Jeff Capel’s team is doing this without All-ACC big John Hugley IV, who remains on the team but not playing, despite the fact Pitt is openly stating Hugley is not injured. This isn’t an “addition by subtraction” situation, either. The Panthers are better with their star big man. But they are winning without him because they are electric offensively, with Hinson and Jamarius Burton capable of lighting up anyone they play.

Burton, a Charlotte native, had 31 in the win against the home state Tar Heels.

3. Virginia (10-2, 2-1)

LW: 2

The Cavaliers rolled past the Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech in Atlanta over the weekend and bested Albany last Wednesday as well, making them the lone team in the ACC to win 2 games last week. Virginia went on a 25-2 run to separate itself in the Georgia Tech game, a sign of just how “spurtable” this Hoos team is thanks to its trademark packline defense and an improved offense. How improved? The Cavaliers are among 7 teams in the nation that are top 20 in both KenPom offense and defensive efficiency a year after finishing outside the top 50 in both categories for the 1st time in the Tony Bennett era.

2. Duke (11-3, 2-1)

LW: 3

The Blue Devils dominated FSU and appear to be finding their offensive footing after struggling to score at times through November and early December. Freshman Dariq Whitehead, the top recruit in the 2022 class, is breaking out. He has scored in double figures for 2 consecutive games, and he’s clearly earning the trust of coach Jon Scheyer, who played a career-high 28 minutes in the win against Florida State. The emergence of sophomore Jaylen Blakes, a bit of an afterthought in most preseason analysis of Duke, also is intriguing. Blakes has shot 7-for-10 from deep in the past 2 games, and he might be the answer to Duke’s perimeter shooting woes.

1. Miami (13-1, 4-0)

LW: 1

The Hurricanes remain in the pole position after handling Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., on Friday. Isaiah Wong is averaging almost 24 points per game over Miami’s past 5, and he got help from Kansas State transfer Nijel Pack, who had been quiet for much of the season, during the win at Notre Dame.

Pack had 21 points to complement Wong’s 15, and the Canes cruised despite a rare off night from deep (5-for-17). This is a veteran team that is going to be a bear in the ACC and NCAA Tournament.