The ACC basketball preseason poll was released yesterday, and as expected, Duke got the lion’s share of the votes. However, one of the biggest questions was why didn’t they get the WHOLE share?? With a returning Final Four MOP, top freshman PG in the country and heralded high-scoring transfer to add to their already talented core, you would think the team that’s pretty much a consensus national #1 would at least be consensus #1 in their conference. But no, someone actually gave UNC a first-place vote. To the poll!
1. Duke (62)
2. Virginia Tech
3. UNC (1)
4. NC State
5. Florida St.
6. Maryland
7. Clemson
8. Miami
9. Georgia Tech
10. Boston College
11. Virginia
12. Wake Forest
So far, operation “let’s not overhype UNC after what happened last year” isn’t going so well, as Gary Parrish already is calling Harrison Barnes his preseason player of the year, and now some doofus ACC writer is actually picking the Heels as the top team in the ACC just to try and be contrary. Harrison Barnes was also voted conference Rookie of the Year, which I’m fine with, while still noting the conference has a lot of other strong newcomers this year with Kyrie Irving and CJ Leslie potentially being in the mix. (Just trying to slow this hype train down a little bit, folks.)
The way the poll actually shakes out seems pretty realistic, with VT getting the nod over Carolina at the 2-spot because of their experience and NC State getting put below UNC because they have yet to prove anything on a consistent basis. Tar Heel Fan has a good analysis of the poll noting the breakdown into three tiers: the top 4, the middle 5, and the bottom 3. Hey, at least we can all agree both UNC and Duke are in that top tier!
