College basketball Power Rankings – Gonzaga, Arizona, ACC and Wisconsin are this week’s winners

The ACC’s struggles during the first half of the 2021-22 men’s college basketball season have been no secret. I’ve discussed it multiple times here in the Power Rankings, and the lack of a non-Duke team even competing for a spot in the top 16 has been evident. The hashtag #OneBidACC appeared briefly on Twitter timelines — OK, maybe just mine, because I tweeted it in jest — following North Carolina’s loss to Notre Dame on Wednesday.

After the weekend, though, the conference has renewed momentum entering the final two months of the regular season. Miami’s win over Duke earned the most headlines, answering a lot of questions about the Hurricanes’ validity and clearly placing Jim Larranaga’s team at the head of the queue when it comes to discussing the second-best team in the ACC. But more on the Hurricanes later.

North Carolina bounced back from its loss to Notre Dame with a dominant decision over Virginia, while the Fighting Irish won their fifth in a row, going on the road and taking down Georgia Tech. Throw in Wake Forest’s overtime victory versus Syracuse and the NCAA tournament picture for the league looks a lot better now than it did entering the weekend.

Duke is still the only lock, but first-place Miami looks like more than just a team on a hot streak against inferior opponents. North Carolina should still get a bid. Wake Forest is unbeaten at home and continues to take care of business. Notre Dame, with a nonconference win over Kentucky in its back pocket, is a threat. Louisville remains a possibility. And we still expect at least one of the first-half underachievers — Florida State, Virginia Tech, Virginia — to make a run at some point.

The ACC is still some distance behind the Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and Big East when it comes to strength in depth at the top of the league, but the overall bid situation might not be as dire as it looked a week ago.

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Miami’s Kameron McGusty goes up for the tough layup to put the Hurricanes ahead of Duke.

Through…