A sign that the college basketball season isn’t too far off is that the ACC conducted its ACC Tip-Off last week in Charlotte, yesterday the AP released their preseason top 25, and today the ACC released their preseason poll and awards for the upcoming 2021-22 season.
As Carolina prepares to enter their first season under new head coach Hubert Davis, the Tar Heels were picked to finish third in the ACC, behind Florida State, and rival Duke who was picked to win the conference for the seventh time in the last nine seasons, despite not having won the ACC since the 2009-10 season. UNC received the fourth-most first-place votes but had third-most points overall.
As for the preseason awards, Duke’s Paulo Banchero was named the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, as well as the Preseason Freshman of the Year. Meanwhile, Armando Bacot was named the preseason ACC First Team, while teammate Caleb Love was named to the Second Team.
These awards came out the day after the AP Top 25, where Carolina was ranked 19th to start the season. When Carolina opens up their season on November 9th, it will be the 929th time they’ve played a game as a ranked opponent.
Listed below are the results from the preseason voting (GoHeels.com)
ACC Men's Basketball Tipoff - 2021 Preseason Poll
School, Points
1. Duke (47), 1,132
2. Florida State (14), 1,034
3. North Carolina (5), 1,001
4. Virginia (9), 949
5. Virginia Tech (5), 857
6. Louisville (1), 791
7. Syracuse, 781
8. Notre Dame, 599
9. NC State, 555
10. Georgia Tech, 524
11. Clemson, 430
12. Miami, 428
13. Wake Forest, 274
14. Pitt, 253
15. Boston College, 112
First-place votes in parentheses; 81 total voters
Preseason All-ACC
First Team
Name, School, Votes
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 68
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 52
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 49
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 46
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 37
Second Team
Name, School, Votes
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 25
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 23
Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame, 17
Mark Williams, Duke, 12
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 9
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 9
Malik Williams, Louisville, 9
Preseason Player of the Year
Name, School, Votes
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 28
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 16
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 13
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 12
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 5
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 3
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 2
Mark Williams, Duke, 2
Preseason Freshman of the Year
Name, School, Votes
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 64
Trevor Keels, Duke, 5
Terquavion Smith, NC State, 3
Dontrez Styles, North Carolina, 3
Igor Milicic Jr., Virginia, 3
Wooga Poplar, Miami, 1
Benny Williams, Syracuse, 1
Cameron Hildreth, Wake Forest, 1