The men’s college basketball season is about to get underway with games starting in just under three weeks. We already have the first AP poll of the season, led by last year’s runner-up North Carolina (despite Gonzaga having the best odds, according to a couple of sportsbooks).
As the action gets closer, each conference is releasing its preseason predicted order of finish and players of the year as voted on by the media. The Atlantic Coast Conference, home to the aforementioned UNC squad, is announcing the predicted order of finish, All- ACC Preseason First Team, ACC Preseason Player of the Year and ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year awards today (October 16) at 5:30 p.m.
I attended the ACC Tip-Off in Charlotte, N.C., last week, so for transparency’s sake, here is my ballot as it was submitted (plus my reasoning).
Let’s get to it.
All-ACC First Team
- Armando Bacot, North Carolina
- Isaiah Wong, Miami
- Reece Beekman, Virginia
- Terquavion Smith, NC State
- P.J. Hall, Clemson
Also Considered: R.J. Davis (UNC), Jeremy Roach (Duke), Justyn Mutts (VT), Dane Goodwin (ND), Nijel Pack (Miami), Jayden Gardner (UVA), Dereck Lively II (Duke)
Bacot, Wong, and Beekman were my three non-negotiable picks for this team. Beekman is probably the one that will stand out there, but the should-have-been 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year looks every bit ready to make a huge leap in his third year as his shooting has progressed and he can fill up a stat sheet with ease.
I found making this All-ACC team extremely difficult for a handful of reasons. First off, you could easily justify an entire first team that is just UNC, Virginia, and Duke players. Carolina returns R.J. Davis, Caleb Love, and Leaky Black from last year’s team that fell just short of a National Championship in Hubert Davis’s first year at the helm. Jayden Gardner from UVA would be a legitimate choice. As would Duke’s Jeremy Roach.
There are also a litany of Duke freshmen — namely Dereck Lively II — that could have a season worthy of first team honors.
Instead, I went the route of choosing returning N.C. State guard Terquavion Smith and Clemson center P.J. Hall. Both were Honorable Mention All-ACC last season, and I expect both to be extremely productive for teams that will need them this season.
Preseason Player of the Year
- Armando Bacot, North Carolina
Also Considered: Isaiah Wong (Miami)
This one was pretty easy. Bacot is the only returning player out of last season’s First or Second Team All-ACC, and he was a certified double-double machine with 16.3 points and 13.1 rebounds per game. For the more analytic-based folks, Bacot had an effective FG percentage of 57 percent, a 59 percent true shooting percentage a 14.8 percent offensive rebounding percentage and a blistering 30 percent defensive rebounding percentage.
All of that is to say he did a bit of everything, and did it all well.
Wong helped lead Miami to an honestly surprising Elite Eight appearance. His teammate Kam McGusty is gone, but K-State transfer Nijel Pack could be an excellent complementary piece to keep some of the attention off of Wong.
Preseason Rookie of the Year
- Dereck Lively II, Duke
Also Considered: most of Duke’s freshman class, JJ Starling (ND), Seth Trimble (UNC)
Duke has a REMARKABLE seven freshmen joining the fray in John Scheyer’s first season as head coach. They added four 5-star recruits — Lively, Dariq Whitehead, Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell — plus two 4-stars and a 3-star.
Starling and Trimble will impress this season, and don’t count out the stellar incoming first years for Virginia — namely Isaacs McKneely and Traudt — that will complement the returning experience in Charlottesville.
Projected Order of Finish
- North Carolina
- Virginia
- Duke
- Miami
- Notre Dame
- Florida State
- Virginia Tech
- Clemson
- Wake Forest
- Syracuse
- N.C. State
- Georgia Tech
- Louisville
- Boston College
- Pittsburgh
I feel pretty good about the top half of this projected order of finish. Spots 8-14 are a complete mystery. I feel pretty good about Pittsburgh being 15. There was a moment of hesitation with UNC at No. 1, but only because they have the most difficult ACC schedule with home-and-away series against both Virginia and Duke.
We’ll see where the other voters and I agreed as the official announcement goes live today at 5:30 p.m.
