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ACC MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Duke
- North Carolina
- Wake Forest
- Clemson
- Virginia
- Miami FL
- Pittsburgh
- NC State
- Louisville
- Notre Dame
- Syracuse
- Georgia Tech
- SMU
- Virginia Tech
- Florida State
- California
- Stanford
- Boston College
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-ACC 1ST TEAM:
-RJ Davis – North Carolina (Player of the Year)
-Hunter Stallis – Wake Forest
-Cooper Flagg – Duke (Rookie of the Year)
-Markus Burton – Notre Dame
-Nijel Pack – Miami FL
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-ACC 2ND TEAM:
-Ian Schieffelin – Clemson
-Chase Hunter – Clemson
-Jamir Watkins – Florida State
-Baye Ndongo – Georgia Tech
-Ishmael Leggitt – Pittsburgh
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COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-Duke is reloading (again) with a highly talented roster. They’re the preseason favorites to win the ACC and many think they can make it all the way to the Final Four. Cooper Flag is one of the higher rated freshmen in the conference, Tyrese Proctor is a returning starter, Sion James is a solid grad transfer from Tulane, and Maliq Brown joins the roster from Syracuse. Duke certainly has the pieces. If they can gel together, this will be a very strong team. Then again, You can say that in pretty much any preseason preview you ever write about Duke.
-North Carolina was the 1st place team a year ago, and they won 29 total games before losing in the Sweet Sixteen. I had my doubts about Hubert Davis as a head coach when he first arrived, but he’s shut me up pretty good (and that takes some doing). He’s done an outstanding job and I think they’ll once again be a top ten caliber team this year. RJ Davis was voted the best player in the conference after averaging over 21ppg a season ago. He’s joined by Cade Tyson, who is a great #3/SF and can shoot the ball extremely well. If UNC can have other players step up and develop some depth (which is a pretty safe bet) we will see UNC high in the rankings where we’re used to seeing them this year.
-Expectations are very high for a Wake Forest team that missed the NCAA Tournament a year ago, but was still a respectable 11-9 in conference play and has a good portion of that team returning. Hunter Stallis is one of the better players in the conference. Cameron Hildreth, who averaged over 13ppm last season, also returns to the starting lineup. I really like this Wake team. They were going to be my dark-horse pick until I saw the media had picked them as high as 3rd, so you really can’t call them a dark-horse now. They have talent, experience, and depth, and it’s looking like the best team Steve Forbes has had since taking over as head coach.
-Last year Clemson won 24 total games, was a very respectable 11-9 in ACC play, and then advanced to the Elite Eight, which was their best performance in the NCAA Tournament in quite some time. I don’t want to get too carried away, but Brad Brownell has done an amazing job as head coach at Clemson, and is perhaps undervalued when compared with the other ACC coaches. This year three starters are back, including Chase Hunter and Ian Schieffelin who were both double-digit scorers a year ago. Their scoring is balanced, they appear to be strong in both the backcourt and the frontcourt, they’ll likely (again) be a strong defensive team, and they’ll absolutely be in the mix for making the NCAA Tournament.
-Virginia barely made it into the NCAA Tournament last year before losing in the First Four, and many (including Indiana State) were not happy with the selection. By Virginia stnadards it was a sub-par season, but it was still by no means awful. Isaac McKneely is one of their biggest offensive weapons and he is a fantastic outside shooter, but when you think of the Hoos, you think defense. That packline can be very difficult to play against, and you never want to dismiss or overlook them.
-Last year, Miami FL was one of my preseason picks to make the Final Four. That is one of many reasons why you’re foolish to ever listen to anything I say. They won just 15 games and were arguably one of the bigger busts of the season. Still, I think Jim Larranaga is one of the best coaches in the Country and belongs in the Hall of Fame (if you take programs like George Mason and Miami to the Final Four, those aren’t basketball blue bloods. He SHOULD be in the HOF!!, but I digress) and I never want to overlook any of his teams ever. Nijel Pack is back, and I feel his injuries last year were a big reason the Canes struggled as much as they did. They also add what looks to be a very strong recruiting class and some standout players from the portal that have solid D1 experience. I like this Canes team!! I did not learn my lesson last year, and I am (again) picking them to be a surprise team and I think they’ll be at or near the top of the standings come March!
-Pittsburgh showed quite a bit of life last season winning 22 total games and finishing 4th in the ACC. It wasn’t enough to make the NCAA Tournament, though, and Head Coach Jeff Capel is tasked with replacing three key starters. They do appear to have a solid backcourt with Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett returning to the roster. The questions are do they have enough other pieces to get the wins they need to make the NCAA Tournament this year?
-NC State had a so-so season with an unbelievable finish last year. After finishing just 10th overall in the standings, they went on to win 5 ACC Tournament games to earn the automatic bid to the NCAAs (which they probably don’t get in without) and then advanced all the way to the Final Four in one of the more improbable NCAA Tournament runs of my lifetime. This year they are sort of starting over. Just one starter is back for Head Coach Kevin Keatts. They do add Marcus Hill, who was an outstanding player at Bowling Green last year and will likely be a big impact player this year for the Wolfpack, but there seem to be more questions than certainties right now.
-For the last two years Louisville has been terrible. They haven’t just been one of the worst teams in the ACC. They’ve arguably been among the worrst in the nation period. They have a new head coach in Pat Kelsey, and he will have a mostly new roster as the Cardinals look to reset and rebuild their program. Terrance Edwards, who was a star player at James Madison, has transferred in and will likely be a key role for them this year. Kasean Pryor also joins the roster from South Florida. Just those two alone are a huge upgrade in personnel, and with some of the other pieces Louisville should be much improved this year.
-The good news for Notre Dame is that they have four starters back, and perhaps return the most experience out of any team in the conference. The bad news is that Notre Dame wasn’t particularly good last year and wasn’t showing too many signs of improvement late in the year. Marcus Burton is a solid player, but he’ll need some help from his supporting cast if we are going to see the Irish finish in the top half of the conference this year.
-Syracuse has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2021, and last year was their first 20+ win season since 2019. The Orange just aren’t what they used to be, and the expectations for them aren’t particularly high this year. Two starters return to the lineup, and Jaquan Carlos, who was a key player for Hofstra a year ago also joins the squad. They’ll need those guys to step up in order for them to have any level of success this year.
-Georgia Tech has been an also-ran in the ACC for most of the past half decade or so (perhaps longer), and that’s kind of what it’s looking to be again this year. Three starters are back in the lineup, and they were playing decently well in the latter part of the season, so perhaps some of that momentum will carry over into this year, but I still don’t see them finishing in the top half of the league.
-It is SMU’s inaugural season in the ACC, and it is Andy Enfield’s inaugural year as head coach at SMU. I like him as a coach, and I do think he’ll be able to make things happen in Dallas over time, but I’m not expecting them to be a conference frontrunner right out of the gate. Chuck Harris is a solid player who can hit from the outside, and Boopie Miller is transferring in from Wake Forest, so the Mustangs do have a couple of pieces, but I think they’ll need a few more pieces before they can compete with the teams at the top of the league.
-Virginia Tech lost their entire starting lineup from a year ago, and Head Coach Mike Young is tasked with having to rebuild the roster. Again. Ben Burnham is a decent transfer who is coming in from Charleston, and they are adding some other players with decent D1 experience, but there isn’t much that’s really jumping off the page.
-It doesn’t seem like that long ago when Florida State was always being overlooked and then always outperforming their preseason expectations and being a force in the ACC. But that hasn’t happened for the last couple of years, and with just one starter back from a team that struggled a year ago it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen this year. Jamir Watkins is a solid player, but he’ll need some help if FSU is going to finish higher up in the standings then where they are being projected.
-California is in a new conference and will have five new starters this year. It has been a while since Cal has been good. They’ve struggled in the Pac-12 for the better part of the last half decade. They will likely struggle even more in the ACC this year.
-Kyle Smith takes over as head coach at Stanford, and he’s got his work cut out for him. The Cardinal have just one starter back, and while Maxime Raynaud is certainly a solid player, they will need some other guys to step up.
-ACC expansion may not have been a good thing for Boston College. They can now finish as low as 18th in the conference. I love Earl Grant as a coach. They Golden Eagles actually won 20 games a year ago and the program seemed to be improving, but with literally no starters back it is once again a complete rebuild and could be a very long year for BC.