For the second straight year, Duke is the odds-on favorite in the ACC.
The Blue Devils were picked to finish first in the conference by a vote at the ACC's media day Wednesday, earning 57 of 69 first-place votes. Last year, Duke got 85 of 91 first-place votes before slipping to fifth place during the season. North Carolina, Notre Dame, Miami and Louisville are expected to be the Blue Devils' toughest challengers, rounding out the top five.
Senior Grayson Allen and freshman Marvin Bagley III were preseason first-team All-ACC selections, with Allen picking up 60 votes and Bagley earning 26. Notre Dame's Bonzie Colson, North Carolina's Joel Berry II and Georgia Tech's Ben Lammers joined the Duke duo on the first team.
Bagley was the overwhelming pick for ACC Rookie of the Year, getting 58 of 70 votes. None of the Blue Devils' other highly-touted freshmen were on the ballot. And after Allen was the favorite for ACC Player of the Year last October but saw his production drop as a junior, he enters this season with slightly lower expectations, finishing tied for second with nine votes to Colson's 49 in Player of the Year voting this time around. Berry also had nine votes.
The preseason All-ACC second team featured Miami's Bruce Brown Jr., Quentin Snyder and Deng Adel of Louisville, Georgia Tech's Josh Okogie and Boston College's Jerome Robinson.
Duke will finally put the hype to the test against another team in its first exhibition game Friday, when it is set to host defending Division II national champion Northwest Missouri State at 7 p.m.
The full results of the media's predicted order of finish can be seen below.
- Duke (57)
- North Carolina (7)
- Notre Dame (4)
- Miami (1)
- Louisville
- Virginia
- Virginia Tech
- Florida State
- Georgia Tech
- Syracuse
- Wake Forest
- N.C. State
- Clemson
- Boston College
- Pittsburgh
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