After back-to-back perfect records at home the last two years, the Blue Devils lost their second home game in conference play Sunday when the Hurricanes came to Cameron and dominated the paint. Mason Plumlee was limited to just six points after averaging 16 points in his last three games. The other Duke forwards were equally ineffective as Miles Plumlee, Josh Hairston and Ryan Kelly combined for only 12 points. On the other end of the floor, physical frontcourt players Reggie Johnson and Kenny Kadji totaled 42 points and 20 rebounds. The Blue Devil forwards looked intimidated and the loss dropped Duke to third in the conference as it looks ahead to an extremely tough test.

On Wednesday night, head coach Mike Krzyzewski will lead his team to face No. 5 North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels are unbeaten at home this season and they have not missed a beat despite the loss of starter Dexter Strickland. Sophomore Harrison Barnes, North Carolina’s 6-foot-8 leading scorer, presents a matchup problem for the Blue Devils. Talented swingmen Mike Scott and William Buford both were able to exploit Duke’s weak spot on defense earlier this season, and Barnes is more talented than both of them.

If the Tar Heels can beat the Blue Devils Wednesday night, they will have a chance to solidify their spot at the top of the league tied with No. 19 Florida State if they can beat No. 20 Virginia Sunday. The Cavaliers lost their fourth game of the season at the hands of the Seminoles, but their losses have come by a total of ten points. Virginia struggles to score at times, averaging just 55.8 points per game in its losses. The Cavaliers will have a chance to add an impressive week if they can find a way to pull off the upset over North Carolina Saturday.

While Virginia appears to be clearly deserving of an at-large bid in March, N.C. State and Miami are both somewhere on the bubble at the start of February. The Wolfpack continue to take care of business against the bottom half of the league, but lack quality wins. The Hurricanes’ impressive win Sunday moved them to 5-3 in the conference and gave them their biggest victory of the season, but both squads will have to continue to rack up wins if the ACC hopes to earn more than the four bids it had last year.

After another week of action in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the top four teams have continued to win and have separated themselves from the pack. The league has four ranked teams for the first time this season as Florida State made the leap to No. 21 on the heels of its impressive five-game winning streak.

The Seminoles have been one of the best defensive teams in the conference, allowing just 62 points per game. They soon will face the another defensive juggernaut, No. 16 Virginia who allows just under 51 points per game, the fewest in the ACC. Look for this game to be a slow-paced, physical contest where the winner may not crack 50 points. The victor of this match will jump into the top three in the conference and have a legitimate chance of winning the conference title if it can salvage a win or two against Duke and North Carolina.

The Blue Devils and Tar Heels continued to play leapfrog in the polls this week as Duke is ranked higher in the Coaches’ Poll while North Carolina is higher in the AP Poll. The Tar Heels’ loss of Dexter Strickland did not sting them this week as they won both their contests fairly easily, allowing starting point guard Kendall Marshall to play 34 and 31 minutes in the contests. This number is right around his season average, but in close contests he may be forced to play upwards of 35 minutes. In conference tournaments and March Madness, playing over 35 minutes per game for multiple games in a short time period may lead to fatigue reducing Marshall’s effectiveness. North Carolina’s next big test is not until February 8 when archrival Duke travels to the Dean Dome.

The Blue Devils won both games this week thanks to junior Mason Plumlee’s stellar play. Plumlee has developed into the consistent post presence that Mike Krzyzewski and the Cameron Crazies hoped he would last season. After recording 38 points and 29 rebounds in two wins this week, Plumlee looks to continue his momentum to Thursday night’s contest in Blacksbury against Virginia Tech. The Hokies upset Duke last season thanks to outrebounding the favored Blue Devils 42-35 and limiting them to just 4-for-20 from beyond the arc. Although Virginia Tech’s conference record may imply that they don’t stand a chance against one of the ACC’s powerhouses, its win against rival Virginia stands out on its resume. The Hokies limited the Cavaliers to just 45 points in that contest and will need another strong defensive effort to pull off the upset two years in a row.

One of the ACC’s juggernauts lost an important player this week as North Carolina’s starting shooting guard Dexter Strickland tore his ACL Thursday night. His head coach Roy Williams called Strickland the team’s best perimeter defender. Strickland likely would have been tasked with containing Austin Rivers when Duke travels to the Dean Dome on February 8. Instead sophomore Reggie Bullock will likely slide into the starting lineup. Although Bullock can hold his own on the offensive side of the floor, he is a major downgrade defensively at the shooting guard position.

Another area where North Carolina will miss Strickland is at the backup point guard spot. Strickland handled point guard duties when starter Kendall Marshall needed a rest, but now this responsibility will fall on true freshman Stilman White.  White was just a three-star recruit coming out of high school and has averaged less than five minutes per game this season. Marshall has already seen his playing time increase by about seven minutes per game over last season, and that number may rise even more in Strickland’s absence. Marshall’s ability to stay healthy and effective while playing close to 35 minutes per game in tight contests will be crucial to the Tar Heels’ ability to close out games and make a deep run in March.

Leonard Hamilton’s Florida State squad also has aspirations of winning games in March, but after it entered the season just outside the Top 25 polls, the Seminoles got off to a disappointing 9-6 start which included losses to Harvard and Princeton. Thanks to two stunning upsets over the ACC’s heavyweights, Florida State has battled back to relevance. The two upsets leave four teams with one conference loss atop the ACC. Florida State is now one of the hottest teams in the country and has added two significant quality wins to its resume.

While one ACC defensive powerhouse is heating up at this time of year, another has lost two of its last three contests. After a 14-1 start to this season, Virginia put forth a quality performance in Cameron Indoor Stadium during which Mike Scott had the chance to tie the game with under ten seconds left, but its last defeat was an ugly one at the hands of rival Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers shot below 33 percent from the field and managed to score just 45 points. Virginia still is in the Top 25, but one of the most interesting games of this week will take place Saturday when the Cavaliers travel to Raleigh to face NC State. Both teams have appeared to be in the top half of the conference this season, and this contest may help to differentiate the two squads.