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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 Sallis – 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 Leggett – Pittsburgh
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COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-Duke is reloading (again) with a highly-talented roster. They are the preseason favorite to win the ACC and many think they can make it all the way to the Final Four. Cooper Flagg is one of the highest-rated freshmen in the nation, 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 has shut me up pretty well (and that takes some doing). He has done an outstanding job and I think they will 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 is joined by Cade Tyson, who is a great 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), then we will see UNC high in the rankings where we are used to seeing them.
-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 Sallis is one of the better players in the conference. Cameron Hildreth, who averaged over 13ppg last season, also returns to the starting lineup. I really like this Wake team. They were going to be my darkhorse pick until I saw the media had picked them as high as 3rd, so you really cannot call them a darkhorse now. They have talent, experience, and depth, and it is looking like the best team that 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 do not 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/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 will likely (again) be a strong defensive team, and they will absolutely be in the mix to make 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 their selection. By Virginia standards it was a sub-par season, but it was still by no means awful. Isaac McKneely is one of their biggest offensive weapons and a fantastic outside shooter, but when you think of the Hoos you think defense. That pack line defense 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 are 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, which are not basketball blue bloods, then you SHOULD be in the HOF!!…but I digress) so I never want to overlook any of his teams. 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 added what looks to be a very strong recruiting class and some standout players from the portal that have solid D-1 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 will 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 was not enough to make the NCAA Tournament, though, and Coach Jeff Capel is tasked with replacing three key starters. They do appear to have a solid backcourt with Jaland Lowe/Ishmael Leggett returning to the roster. The question is: do they have enough other pieces to get the wins they need to make the NCAA Tournament?
-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 in 5 days to earn the automatic bid to the NCAAs (since they were not getting an at-large bid) and then advanced all the way to the Final Four in one of the most improbable NCAA Tournament runs of my lifetime. This year they are sort of starting over. Just one starter is back for 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 seems to be more questions than certainties right now.
-For the last two years Louisville has been terrible. They have not just been one of the worst teams in the ACC: they have 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 Jr., who was a star player at James Madison, has transferred in and will likely play a key role for them this year. Kasean Pryor also joins the roster from South Florida. 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 was not particularly good last year and was not showing too many signs of improvement late in the year. Markus Burton is a solid player, but he will 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 are not what they used to be, and the expectations for them are not 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 will 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 is kind of what it is looking like 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 do not see them finishing in the top-half of the league.
-This is SMU’s inaugural season in the ACC and Andy Enfield’s inaugural year as head coach at SMU. I like him as a coach, and I think he will be able to make things happen in Dallas over time…but I am 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 Kevin “Boopie” Miller is transferring in from Wake Forest, so the Mustangs do have a couple of pieces, but I think they will 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 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 D-1 experience, but there is not much really jumping off the page.
-It does not 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 has not happened for the last couple of years, and with just one starter back from a team that struggled a year ago it does not look like it is going to happen this year. Jamir Watkins is a solid player, but he will 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 was good. They have 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 has 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…because they can now finish as low as 18th in the conference. I love Earl Grant as a coach. The 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.
