Expectations set with preseason poll
Duke is the preseason select to win the ACC and Paolo Banchero is the preseason favourite to win ACC player of the year and freshman of the year, as voted on by the league’s media users.
It’s the seventh time in the last 9 seasons that Duke has been the preseason select to win the league. Duke was picked to end very first on 47 of the 81 ballots submitted.
Florida Point out, North Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech, in that order, rounded out the prime five for the ACC’s picks.
Banchero was picked as preseason player of the year on 28 ballots – 12 much more than runner-up Keve Aluma of Virginia Tech. The 6-ten, 250-pound Blue Devils freshman was a runaway favourite for preseason freshman of the year, garnering 64 of 81 votes.
Fellow Duke freshman Trevor Keels was picked to be freshman of the year on five ballots, whilst Wendell Moore Jr. (three) and Mark Williams (two) also gained votes for preseason player of the year.
Banchero was joined on the All-ACC preseason crew by Aluma, Buddy Boeheim (Syracuse), Isaiah Wong (Miami) and Armando Bacot (UNC). Moore and Williams ended up on the All-ACC preseason second-crew.
The choice as favourite to win the ACC arrives a day right after the very first Affiliated Push Top rated 25 poll of the year has Duke as the No. nine crew in the country, the highest-rated ACC crew.
Other teams in the AP Top rated 25 ended up North Carolina (19), Florida Point out (20) and Virginia (25). Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Louisville also gained votes.
