Heel Tough Blog: UNC Picked to Finish 5th in the ACC in 2026-27
Last week, the ACC held its annual preseason basketball event in Uptown Charlotte, as all the schools made their way to the Queen City for a media event designed to promote the upcoming season. During that time, a select number of media members were chosen to vote on the awards for the upcoming season and pick their preseason champion for the 2026-27 season, which starts in less than three weeks. Today those voting results were made public, with the Tar Heels receiving little to no fanfare for the first season under Michael Malone.
As expected, Duke was selected as the favorite to win the ACC, with 45 first-place votes. Virginia (1), Louisville (1), and Miami (1) followed the Blue Devils to round out the top-4 of preseason voting, before ultimately landing on North Carolina, who was picked to finish 5th in the conference and didn’t receive a single first-place vote. Listed below are the full preseason voting results, as made public on the ACC’s website:
2026 ACC Preseason Poll
School, Points
1. Duke (45), 861
2. Virginia (1), 778
3. Louisville (1), 758
4. Miami (1), 753
5. North Carolina, 658
6. Clemson, 623
7. Florida State, 519
8. NC State, 502
9. Virginia Tech, 489
10. SMU, 443
11. Syracuse, 353
12. Pitt, 323
13. Stanford, 267
14. Wake Forest, 234
15. California, 225
16. Notre Dame, 153
17. Boston College, 150
18. Georgia Tech, 119
First-place votes in parentheses; 48 total voters.
Furthermore, Carolina didn’t have a single player on either the preseason All-ACC first or second team, a moderate surprise when you consider how accomplished Terrence Brown was at Utah, and the belief that Neo Avdalas can make a bigger impact in Chapel Hill than he did in Blacksburg, with Virginia Tech.
That leads us to ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year, where Duke’s Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje earned top honors with 34 total votes, but Maximo Adams, who shined in the preseason exhibition win over USC last Friday, finished 4th in the voting, with 3 total votes. Once again, here are the entire voting results, per the ACC.
Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year
Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, Duke, 34 votes
Caleb Gaskins, Miami, 5
Cameron Williams, Duke, 4
Maximo Adams, North Carolina, 3
Harris Reynolds, Clemson, 1
Deron Rippey, Duke, 1
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