2021-22 ACC conference preview

An in-depth look at the ACC as a whole in 2021-22.

We are just three days away from Florida State Basketball returning again, albeit in exhibition action, and this week we’re going to look around the ACC, see what teams lost, what teams gained, and my overall thoughts on where teams fit in. 

As a reminder, here is how the ACC finished last season (regular season results, only the conference record will be shown), as well as where I predicted each team would finish in parentheses.

1. Virginia 13-4 (1)
2. Florida State 11-4 (2)
3. Virginia Tech 9-4 (13)
4. Georgia Tech 11-6 (9)
5. Clemson 10-6 (6)
6. North Carolina 10-6 (4)
7. Louisville 8-5 (5)
8. Syracuse 9-7 (8)
9. NC State 9-8 (10)
10. Duke 9-9 (3)
11. Notre Dame 7-11 (11)
12. Pittsburgh 6-10 (12)
13. Miami 4-15 (7)
14. Wake Forest 3-15 (15)
15. Boston College 2-11 (14)

Overall, I only missed the boat on a couple of teams. Virginia Tech ended up being much, much better than I anticipated (we’ll get to this later), Duke’s talent never really came together, Miami suffered the same injuries they’d been dealing with for the two seasons before, and while I predicted Georgia Tech to finish 9th, I also said this in last year’s preview: “This team could surprise a lot of people if they stay healthy.” I did not expect “surprise” to turn into “Win the ACC Tournament,” though. Safe to say, it was a really weak year for the ACC, and it’s only looking marginally better this season.

I’ll try and keep this brief for every team, but like last season, I’ll highlight departures, arrivals, and returners while also pointing out the teams that each program will play twice, as that matters as much to a record as who is on the team (a team that has to play Duke, FSU, AND Virginia twice is likely not going to have the same record as a team that only has to play Louisville, Clemson, and NC State as their three toughest repeat games).

So sit back, grab a snack… Onto the preview!

Boston College Eagles

Last Season: 4-16 (2-11), 15th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: CJ Felder (Florida), Jay Heath (Arizona State), Rich Kelly (UMASS), Steffon Mitchell, Wynston Tabbs (East Carolina)

Key Returners: Makai Ashton-Langford, James Karnik, Demarr Langford, Frederick Scott

Key Arrivals: TJ Bickerstaff (Drexel), Brevin Galloway (Charleston), Devin McGlockton, Quinten Post (Mississippi State), Gianni Thompson

Double Opponents: Clemson, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse

This team was already bad and somehow got worse this offseason. Out goes Jim Christian after 6 ½ seasons, in comes Earl Grant from Charleston. If history is any indicator, this is a team that is going to play extremely slow. Only twice in Grant’s 7-year tenure at Charleston did they break the top 300 nationally in terms of pace of play, and on those two occasions they were 289th and 295th.

What Grant’s teams typically do well is protect the ball, ranking in the top 50 in turnover rate five straight seasons. I’m not quite sure BC currently has the talent to take care of the ball that well right now, but getting Brevin Galloway to follow Grant from Charleston is a major addition. When you factor in their slow pace of play, 15 PPG is an impressive feat, no matter the competition level.

I do like the Langford’s as chess pieces that can play all over the perimeter, but this team simply doesn’t have enough talent to compete with the rest of the ACC, especially in the frontcourt. Losing Felder, Mitchell, and Heath is tough to replace on an already bad team, and they didn’t really bring anyone in to fill those roles.

Season Prediction: Bottom 2 ACC Finish

Clemson Tigers

Last Season: 16-8 (10-6), 5th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Jonathan Baehre, John Newman III (Cincinnati), Aamir Simms, Clyde Trapp

Key Returners: Al-Amir Dawes, PJ Hall, Alex Hemenway, Nick Honor, Hunter Tyson

Key Arrivals: Joshua Beadle, Naz Bohannon (Youngstown State), David Collins (USF), Ben Middlebrooks, Ian Schieffelen

Double Opponents: Boston College, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Virginia

The judgment on this team is all OVER the place. In some ACC preseason power rankings, I’ve seen them as high as 4th. Three Man Weave, a site I really like and trust, has Clemson 12th in their ACC Preseason rankings. I definitely don’t see them being a top-4 team in the conference this year, but I also definitely don’t see them being a bottom-4 team.

On the other hand, their schedule is brutal. Duke, Florida State, and Virginia twice is no easy task, even if Virginia isn’t expected to be as good as they have been. Notre Dame should be improved too.

David Collins is a real dude, a guy that is a career 13 PPG at USF, and Naz Bohannon was one of the best players in the Horizon League last year, getting a ton of production by just out-working everyone. This team shouldn’t have as much of an issue scoring as it did last year, especially when Nick Honor would go cold (there was a stretch in late January/early February where Honor went 12% from the floor), but I also don’t think they’ll be as good defensively.

Coach Brownell will be banking on massive improvements from PJ Hall this season, a former high 4-star recruit, but often looked like a fish out of water defensively last season. Anyone expecting him to be anything close to what Aamir Simms was will likely be underwhelmed.

Season Prediction: 7th-9th Place ACC Finish

Duke Blue Devils

Last Season: 13-11 (9-9), 10th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Jordan Goldwire (Oklahoma) Matthew Hurt, Jalen Johnson (sort of), DJ Steward

Key Returners: Joey Baker, Wendell Moore, Jeremy Roach, Mark Williams

Key Arrivals: Paolo Banchero, Jaylen Blakes, AJ Griffin, Trevor Keels, Theo John (Marquette), Bates Jones (Davidson)

Double Opponents: Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia, Wake Forest

The talk will be about Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last season and rightfully so. He is Duke basketball and Duke basketball will always be Coach K. All 5 of the program’s titles have come with him at the helm. So how will they do in his last season in Durham?

Talent wise, this team is loaded. Three five star freshmen in Banchero, Keels, and Griffin, Mark Williams came on really strong at the end of last season, Joey Baker has been a solid contributor for a few seasons now, and Jeremy Roach and Wendell Moore will get a chance to progress themselves with another season. Oh, and they have a really talented transfer in Theo John.

Paolo Banchero could very well end the season as player of the year, he’s just that talented. He’ll make many preseason ACC teams and could very well be the first player taken in the NBA Draft next year.

Last season was about as odd as it gets in Durham. They should be back to normal this season for one last time under Coach K, even if the schedule is a little rough.

Season Prediction: Top-3 ACC Finish

Florida State Seminoles

Last Season: 18-7 (13-4), 2nd Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Scottie Barnes, Sardaar Calhoun (Texas Tech), RaiQuan Gray, Balsa Koprivica, Nathanael Jack (Cleveland State)

Key Returners: RayQuan Evans, Anthony Polite, Tanor Ngom, Malik Osborne, Wyatt Wilkes

Key Arrivals: John Butler, Matthew Cleveland, Cam’Ron Fletcher (Kentucky), Caleb Mills (Houston), Naheem McLeod, Jalen Warley

Double Opponents: Clemson, Duke, Miami, NC State, Syracuse, Wake Forest

Florida State should have won the conference last season, both regular season and in the tournament. And from that team, they lost 65% of their scoring. That’s tough to replace.

They lacked true ball-handling, didn’t have a ton of shot creators, and at times just didn’t live up to the moment, like losing on the road to a bad Notre Dame team when you have a chance to lock up the regular-season championship. Despite all of that, they were above 40% from 3 in conference play, and their overall team length was good to be top-15 in block rate. This season’s team should be better in some ways.

Their bigs won’t be nearly as good. Balsa Koprivica had really come into his own down the stretch, and there’s no one on the roster that has his skillset. This will be a team reliant on guard play, which is an okay thing given the direction college basketball is headed. Caleb Mills is the best true bucket getter they’ve had arguably since Dwayne Bacon, have two impact freshmen with loads of potential in Jalen Warley and Matthew Cleveland, and a mainstay who really shined last season in Anthony Polite. I don’t think this is as deep of a team as we’ve come to expect from Leonard Hamilton, but the players at the top are all extremely gifted.

Don’t expect the Seminoles to go anywhere.

Season Prediction: Top-3 ACC Finish

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Last Season: 17-9 (11-6), 4th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Jose Alvarado, Moses Wright

Key Returners: Michael Devoe, Rodney Howard, Khalid Moore, Bubba Parham, Jordan Usher

Key Arrivals: Dallan Coleman, Miles Kelly, Devion Smith (Mississippi State)

Double Opponents: Boston College, Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech

Somehow, Georgia Tech was a top 4 seed last season and won the conference tournament. All of this while despite having a stretch in ACC play where they lost 5 of 7 games, and lost their first two games of the season to *checks notes* Georgia State and Mercer… last season was not the best for the ACC.

Jose Alvarado and ACC Player of the Year Moses Wright finally are gone, and those are two incredibly tough players to replace. Alvarado especially was the heartbeat of that team, he had such polarizing toughness for someone his size and was rarely scared of the moment. The issue is they don’t really have anyone that can step into that lead ball handler role.

Michael Devoe will get first crack at it, but he’s someone that hasn’t performed well against teams with constant ball pressure and needs to show he can be a more consistent player for them, and Bubba Parham will need to step his production up. Dallan Coleman was a real recruiting win for them, someone FSU was after for a long time, he should provide them with an instant scoring punch whether it’s off the bench or if he starts for them.

Going from Moses Wright to Rodney Howard at their center spot though, that may be the biggest drop-off in the ACC this year. Wright was fantastic for them last season; Howard is, to put it lightly, not very good. Wright made GT’s tricky defense work so well because he was athletic enough to play out on the perimeter but still make it back to the rim and contest shots.

Their defense is tricky enough to give some teams issues, but they’re due for a fairly serious drop off this season.

Season Prediction: 10th-12th Place ACC Finish

Louisville Cardinals

Last Season: 13-7 (8-5), 7th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: David Johnson, Carlik Jones

Key Returners: Dre Davis, Malik Williams, Samuell Williamson, Jae’Lyn Withers

Key Arrivals: Matt Cross (Miami), Sydney Curry, El Ellis, Mason Faulker (Western Carolina), Michael James, Noah Locke (Florida), Jarrod West (Marshall), Roosevelt Wheeler

Double Opponents: North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Virginia, Wake Forest

This team is… interesting, to say the least.

First thing that jumps off the page is sheer talent coming into the program. Ellis was the top JUCO prospect in the country, Faulkner was a 16+ PPG guy the last two seasons (scored 21 against FSU in 2019, he really knows how to get to the FT line), while Locke and West were 10+ PPG players in their previous stops. Cross is a great shooter on the wing, Wheeler is a highly touted big, and Sydney Curry was a top-10 JUCO signee. And if anyone knows how to get shooters open, it’s Chris Mack.

That’s a massive amount of incoming talent that is all very highly regarded. Losing David Johnson and Carlik Jones is tough, and looking at the roster, they really don’t have a true ball handler and distributor like those two could be. Against a stingy defense like Virginia that forces you to dribble through traffic, or against a team like Florida State that will be in your face for 94 feet and all 40 minutes, they may run into some issues. But against lesser teams, there is so much firepower on this team that it wouldn’t surprise me if you see the Cardinals score in the 90s on multiple occasions.

I would almost make them my favorite to win the conference if there wasn’t so much tension there this offseason. Reportedly, head coach Chris Mack threatened to pull scholarships after they missed the NCAA tournament last season, and Mack has been suspended without pay for 6 games by the university. If they start to lose a couple games they’re not supposed to, the KFC YUM! Center could turn into the KFC YIKES! Center fairly fast.

Season Prediction: Top-4 ACC Finish

Miami Hurricanes

Last Season: 10-17 (4-15), 13th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Nysier Brooks, Matt Cross (Louisville), Chris Lykes (Arkansas), Elijah Olaniyi (Stony Brook), Earl Timberlake (Memphis)

Key Returners: Harlond Beverly, Kameron McGusty, Sam Waardenburg, Anthony Walker, Isaiah Wong

Key Arrivals: Bensley Joseph, Jordan Miller (George Mason), Charlie Moore (DePaul), Jakai Robinson

Double Opponents: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

Oh Miami… where did you go wrong?

Injuries have decimated the Hurricanes for the last three seasons, and this offseason they were ravaged by the transfer portal.

Their starters should be solid. Isaiah Wong will be in the discussion for ACC Player of the Year if they can win games, while Beverly, McGusty, and Walker can all provide steady play and score in bunches if necessary.

They were also able to land a couple of talented scorers from other schools in Jordan Miller and Charlie Moore, who combined for 30.2 PPG at their previous stops. Even if that number drops to 18 PPG from the two, that’s a big plus.

Miami should have very few issues scoring, but they’ll have all the issues in the world stopping anybody else from scoring and are one or two injuries away from having 5 healthy and reliable players again. They’ll be in a few track meets throughout the season, but I’m wary on how their defense will hold up.

Their frontcourt is also just terrible, might be the worst in the ACC. Waardenburg has had flashes in the past, but good luck getting anything good out of Deng Gak and Rodney Miller.

Season Prediction: 10th-12th Place ACC Finish

North Carolina Tar Heels

Last Season: 18-11 (10-6), 6th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Garrison Brooks, Walker Kessler, Day’Ron Sharpe

Key Returners: Armando Bacot, Leaky Black, RJ Davis, Anthony Harris, Caleb Love, Kerwin Walton

Key Arrivals: D’Marco Dunn, Dawson Garcia (Marquette), Brady Manik (Oklahoma), Justin McKoy (Virginia), Dontrez Styles

Double Opponents: Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State, Virginia Tech

This will be just the 6th season since 1961 in which someone not named Dean Smith or Roy Williams is the Head Coach for UNC. Not going to lie, it’s a little weird. Not quite sure what to expect from Hubert Davis in his first season, but he’s a true blooded Tar Heel, given that he played there and has been an assistant there since 2012.

The talent won’t be an excuse if UNC doesn’t do as well. Caleb Love’s efficiency should hopefully go up, Kerwin Walton is an elite shooter, a fully healthy Anthony Harris is huge, and Armando Bacot is back for another go around.

Then you add in Dawson Garcia from Marquette, Brady Manik from Oklahoma, and two top-75 guys in Dontrez Styles and D’Marco Dunn… this team has an exceptional amount of talent.

I just want to kindle the expectations just a little bit. The talent is enough for them to be a top-2 team in the conference, but we’ll see how they do with a first year coach, especially having to play Duke and Louisville twice.

Season Prediction: Top-4 ACC Finish

North Carolina State Wolfpack

Last Season: 14-11 (9-8), 9th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Braxton Beverly (Eastern Kentucky), Devon Daniels DJ Funderburk

Key Returners: Thomas Allen, Manny Bates, Cam Hayes, Jericole Hellems, Dereon Seabron

Key Arrivals: Greg Gantt, Casey Morsell (Virginia), Ernest Ross, Terquavion Smith

Double Opponents: Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

NC State is tired of being “bronze medalists” of the Triangle region. I just don’t know how they can improve that situation. Cam Hayes was really up and down last season as a freshman, and they lost their two best players from last season in Devon Daniels and DJ Funderburk.

None of their additions excite me in any way and none of their returners outside of Hayes. And then look at those double opponents. FSU, Louisville, UNC, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech… brutal. In those 10, you’re almost happy with 3-7.

This should be another middling season for Coach Kevin Keatts, who needs a good season in his pocket.

NC State bores me, I have nothing else to add.

Season Prediction: 9th-11th Place ACC Finish

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Last Season: 11-15 (7-11), 11th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Nikola Djogo, Juwan Durham

Key Returners: Dane Goodwin, Prentiss Hubb, Nate Laszewski, Cormac Ryan, Tony Sanders, Trey Wertz

Key Arrivals: Paul Atkinson (Yale), Blake Wesley

Double Opponents: Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State, Pitt

The addition of Paul Atkinson gives them a major offensive interior presence, something they’ve desperately been missing since Bonzie Colson left South Bend. Not that Juwan Durham was a bad player, but he wasn’t capable of doing these things.

⚜️ Available Transfer ⚜️

Paul Atkinson
💪Center💪
Yale
** 1 Year of Eligibility Remaining**

17.6 PPG | 7.3 RPG | 1.5 APG | 63 FG%@paulwall561 pic.twitter.com/kgffXPCv55

— Transfer Tapes (@TransferTapes) December 30, 2020

Atkinson is clearly not afraid of big games either, finishing with 20/4/4 against Clemson and 14/10 against Oklahoma State in 2019. He’ll be going up against better bigs in the ACC than he was in the Ivy League, but he’s an extremely talented player.

This roster looks pretty much the same otherwise, they’ll be needing more consistency out of Goodwin and Hubb, but it’s a solid bunch with not a lot of depth. Blake Wesley is a guy that wanted to be recruited by FSU, but never received much interest.

Schedule wise, it’s pretty manageable. Louisville twice may be tough, but otherwise it’s a solid double-opponent grouping.

Season Prediction: 7-9th Place ACC Finish

Pittsburgh Panthers

Last Season: 10-12 (6-10), 12th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Justin Champagnie, Karim Coulibaly (St Bonaventure), Xavier Johnson (Indiana), Au’Diese Toney (Arkansas)

Key Returners: Ithiel Horton, Femi Odukale, Nike Sibande

Key Arrivals: Jamarius Burton (Texas Tech), Mouhamadou Gueye (Stony Brook), Daniel Oladapo (Oakland)

Double Opponents: Boston College, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech

Whew, this team got hit hard this offseason. Out goes 51.8 PPG, in comes 26.9 PPG either in minor roles or smaller schools. Only one true freshman on the roster is projected to even sniff playing time in Nate Santos.

Then on top of that, you have to play Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia, and Virginia Tech twice. If PItt goes 1-7 in those 8 games, you could almost consider it a success. This team will have to force other teams to play slow and sloppy, something they will have no issue doing, but where is the scoring coming from?

If this team wants any chance, they’re going to need a lot more consistency from Horton and Odukale. They have the talent, but Horton only shot 38% from the floor last season; that can’t happen again.

Jamarius Burton is someone I really liked his sophomore year at Wichita State, but struggled fairly heavily as the season went along at Texas Tech. He’s now on his third team in three years, and that’s usually not a good thing.

Good luck, Jeff Capel. You’re in your 4th season and well on your way to yet another subpar finish.

Season Prediction: Bottom 3 ACC Finish

Syracuse Orange

Last Season: 18-10 (9-7), 8th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Marek Dolezaj, Quincy Guerrier (Oregon), Alan Griffin, Kadary Richmond (Seton Hall)

Key Returners: Buddy Boeheim, Jesse Edwards, Joseph Girard, Bousama Sidibe

Key Arrivals: Jimmy Boeheim (Cornell), Cole Swider (Villanova), Symir Torrence (Marquette), Benny Williams

Double Opponents: Boston College, Duke, Florida State, Miami, Pitt, Wake Forest

I have never seen a Syracuse team like this. Basically, they’ve gotten rid of all defense and gone all offense. At least on paper. And now there are THREE Boeheim’s.

Everyone knows Buddy after his reign of terror in the NCAA Tournament. I voted him for ACC Preseason player of the year because of just how easily he can fill up the bucket. Jimmy Boeheim comes over from Cornell where he averaged 16.7 PPG his last season there. Joe Girard is inconsistent, but when he gets going, he can fill it up too.

Syracuse running a 2-3 will help hide a lot of the lack of athleticism on this roster. Benny Williams is a fascinating prospect, but he has a ton of room to grow. Luckily, he can just focus on playing defense and let the Boeheim’s score.

I don’t know why, but I kind of like this team. They’ll be able to score in bunches, and the 2-3 can help them more than usual on defense with not getting toasted in man-to-man. They won’t get a double bye, but they’ll contend for it

Season Prediction: 5th-7th Place ACC Finish

Virginia Cavaliers

Last Season: 18-7 (13-4), 1st Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Sam Hauser, Jay Huff, Justin McKoy (UNC), Casey Morsell (NC State), Trey Murphy, Tomas Woldetensae

Key Returners: Reece Beekman, Kihei Clark, Kadin Shedrick, Kody Stattmann

Key Arrivals: Armaan Franklin (Indiana), Jay Gardner (East Carolina), Igor Milicic, Taine Murray

Double Opponents: Clemson, Duke, Louisville, Miami, Pitt, Virginia Tech

Talk about loss of production. Virginia is losing 74.5% of their scoring, and 4 of 6 players who scored 100 or more total points last season. That’s tough to replace. No one is doubting Tony Bennett’s ability to do that, but on paper… it’s bleak.

Getting Jay Gardner from East Carolina was a real win, and Armaan Franklin was arguably Indiana’s best guard. I don’t trust their bigs, nor any of their returning players to be an offensive threat outside of Kihei Clark.

Their pack-line defense will be enough to win some games though, and that’s really all you need. They’ll focus on making games as slow and low-scoring as possible, while really valuing every possession.

Season Prediction: 5-7th Place ACC Finish

Virginia Tech Hokies

Last Season: 15-7 (9-4), 3rd Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Joseph Bamisile (George Washington), Wabissa Bede (Texas A&M), Jalen Cone (Northern Arizona), Cartier Diarra, Cordell Pemsl, Tyrece Radford (Texas A&M)

Key Returners: Anaheim Alleyne, Keve Aluma, Hunter Cattoor, Justyn Mutts

Key Arrivals: Storm Murphy (Wofford), Sean Pedulla

Double Opponents: Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Pitt, Virginia

There’s a little bit of Fool’s Gold in Virginia Tech, in my opinion. Here are the games they had canceled due to COVID last season: at Virginia, FSU, at UNC, at FSU, Louisville, at NC State. Really their only two good wins were home against UVA and Clemson. Duke didn’t live up to expectations last year, so that win wasn’t much, then they lost to Georgia Tech, at Syracuse, at Pitt, at Louisville, and against UNC in the ACC Tournament. Their next best conference win outside of UVA and Clemson was… arguably the Duke game or at Notre Dame.

I’m not saying they’re a bad team or anything, just that they’re not a top 4-team in the ACC good like they ended up last season. They also lost a ton of talent, but were lucky enough to keep Keve Aluma for another season. He’s an extremely talented player.

Storm Murphy is a good pickup, and Mutts, Cattoor, and Alleyne or good enough hold-overs to keep it going for another season. Don’t think they’re as deep as last season, but now they’re in their third season under Mike Young, so we should see some big steps in some ways. I think there’s some regression to the mean this year, but the Hokies should still be solid.

Season Prediction: 6th-8th Place ACC Finish

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Last Season: 6-16 (3-15), 14th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: Jonah Antonio, Ian Dubose, Jalen Johnson, Ismael Massoud (Kansas State), Ody Oguama (Cincinnati)

Key Returners: Tariq Ingraham, Isaiah Mucius, Carter Whitt, Daivien Williamson

Key Arrivals: Cameron Hildreth, Jake LaRavia (Indiana State), Matthew Marsh, Khadim Sy (Ole Miss), Dallas Walton (Colorado), Alondes Williams (Oklahoma)

Double Opponents: Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, NC State, Syracuse

Steve Forbes is a really good coach. In a few seasons, I can absolutely see Wake Forest being a solid team. This year will not be that season.

They get some okay transfers in, but I don’t think any of them will have THAT kind of impact for Wake to get out of the ACC cellar this year. Getting Carter Whitt an offseason in the program will do them wonders, him coming in after graduating high school in December and immediately playing ACC basketball is unusual and you could tell it rattled him a little bit.

Daivien Williamson will be able to put up numbers, but outside of him, I have little faith in this team.

Season Prediction: Bottom-3 ACC Finish

Overall Prediction

Given all of that, here is how I think the ACC will finish this season.

1. Duke
2. Florida State
3. Louisville
4. North Carolina
5. Virginia
6. Syracuse
7. Virginia Tech
8. Clemson
9. Notre Dame
10. NC State
11. Miami
12. Georgia Tech
13. Wake Forest
14. Pittsburgh
15. Boston College

This would’ve been how my official ACC ballot looked, if I didn’t try to scroll on my phone and accidentally put Virginia Tech up to 4th. Whoops. Luckily it’s not impossible that Virginia Tech could be a team that high in the standings.

Next in the season preview will be a schedule preview where I go through game by game and predict the outcome. We’ll be breaking it up month-by-month to make it a little easier to read and I can go a little more in-depth on certain games.