Duke sits atop the ACC preseason poll Duke supporters expected, picking up 45 of a possible 49 first-place votes in balloting released Tuesday. Louisville, Virginia, Miami and North Carolina rounded out the top five, with the conference also tabbing Duke to win its third straight ACC championship and 25th overall, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The preseason honors did not stop with the team poll. Virginia forward Thijs De Ridder was named preseason player of the year with 30 first-place votes, edging Duke transfer John Blackwell, who received 12. De Ridder, 23, averaged 15.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game as a freshman last season, when Virginia reached the ACC title game before falling to Duke 74-70.
1. Duke Blue Devils (45 Of 49 First-Place Votes)
Duke enters the season as the clear favorite after back-to-back No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament and 70 wins over the past two years under coach Jon Scheyer, a program record and the most in the country, according to ESPN. The roster returns Cayden Boozer, Caleb Foster, Dame Sarr and Patrick Ngongba II, adds Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell and Belmont transfer Drew Scharnowski, and brings in the nation’s No. 2 recruiting class headlined by Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, who received 34 votes for ACC preseason rookie of the year. Duke also sits at No. 1 in the preseason KenPom ratings, ahead of Florida, Houston, Illinois and Arizona, per Sporting News. Both of Duke’s past two seasons ended in late-game losses, to Houston and then UConn, giving the Blue Devils motivation to finish the job this time.
2. Virginia Cavaliers (Second Place, One First-Place Vote Short Of Louisville And Miami’s Combined Total)
Voters placed Virginia second, but not everyone agrees that ranking holds up. A CBS Sports analyst argued the Cavaliers are the fourth-best team in the ACC behind Duke, Miami and Louisville, and predicted Virginia will finish 3-5 in the league rather than second, calling the team overrated relative to its vote total. Virginia also faces one of the tougher schedules in the conference, with road trips to North Carolina, Duke and Miami and home dates against Louisville and Duke. De Ridder’s individual honor gives Virginia a marquee name to build around, but the gap between the poll’s confidence and at least one outside projection sets up an early storyline to track.
3. Miami Hurricanes (Fourth Place)
Miami comes off a 19-win improvement in Jai Lucas’s first season as coach, reaching 24 regular-season wins to match a program record, according to ESPN. The Hurricanes added Villanova transfer Acaden Lewis and Georgia big man Somto Cyril through the portal, and All-ACC second-team forward Malik Reneau returns alongside Shelton Henderson, who is projected for a significant year-two jump and first-round NBA Draft consideration. One CBS Sports analyst is bullish on Miami’s ceiling given the roster additions and coaching, suggesting the fourth-place poll slot undersells the team and that Reneau’s presence could push Miami toward top-10 national status. Miami opens the season against Florida on the road in Tampa, an immediate measuring-stick game before conference play begins.
4. Clemson Tigers (Sixth Place)
Clemson’s preseason outlook took a hit before the season even started. The program announced that Zac Foster tore his ACL, the same knee that suffered a tear in December, and he is out indefinitely after being expected to play a key rotation role. A CBS Sports analyst called Clemson overrated at its current poll position and projected the Tigers to finish eighth in the ACC instead of sixth, a drop tied directly to questions about depth without Foster available.
What’s Next
The ACC also released its preseason All-conference teams alongside the poll. Louisville center Flory Bidunga, last year’s Big 12 defensive player of the year who transferred from Kansas, joined De Ridder, Blackwell, Ngongba and Henderson on the first team, while Reneau, Jackson Shelstad, Chance Mallory, Amani Hansberry and Boumtje Boumtje made the second team. The All-Rookie team includes Caleb Gaskins, Cameron Williams, Deron Rippey, Maximo Adams and Harris Reynolds. Nonconference and early-season matchups, including Miami’s opener against Florida, will offer the first real test of how these preseason projections hold up.
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