Seventh-ranked Duke has been chosen as the favorite to win the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) men’s basketball title this season, with rival North Carolina, ranked ninth, coming in second. UNC’s RJ Davis, an All-American, is named the preseason player of the year.
The ACC announced these picks on Tuesday after media members voted during last week’s “ACC Tipoff” preseason media days.
Duke received 42 out of 54 first-place votes after bringing in 10 new players and a strong recruiting class led by star freshman Cooper Flagg, who narrowly missed being the unanimous choice for rookie of the year.
Last year, Duke was also favored to finish first, but North Carolina defeated them twice and went on to win the regular-season title. Duke advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight, while North Carolina made it to the Sweet 16.
Wake Forest is expected to finish third this year, followed by Clemson, which reached its first Elite Eight last year since the tournament expanded in 1985. Virginia and Miami follow in the rankings.
Pittsburgh is picked seventh, then North Carolina State after its surprising Final Four run, followed by Louisville and Notre Dame in the top 10.
Syracuse is ranked 11th, with Georgia Tech, SMU, Virginia Tech, Florida State, California, Stanford, and Boston College rounding out the newly expanded 18-team league.
RJ Davis, a 6-foot guard, is the only returning first-team Associated Press All-American from last year and is ranked fifth in the program’s history for scoring.
He averaged a league-leading 21.2 points per game. Davis received 40 of 54 votes for player of the year, surpassing Flagg, who received 10 votes, and was also unanimously chosen for the preseason all-ACC first team.
Joining Davis and Flagg on the all-ACC preseason first team are Hunter Sallis from Wake Forest, Markus Burton from Notre Dame, and Nijel Pack from Miami. The second team includes Clemson’s Ian Schieffelin and Chase Hunter, FSU’s Jamir Watkins, Georgia Tech’s Baye Ndongo, and Pitt’s Ishmael Leggett.
