ACC Basketball News & Notes Good Night at the NBA Draft

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The Atlantic Coast Conference had a good night at the NBA Draft for the tenth straight year. Five players heard their names called at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Two of them were in the first round, and three more in round two. With the two first-round selections, the ACC leads all conferences with 57 first-round picks. The league now has 33 top-14 selections over the last 14 years. Since 1996, the conference has had 58 lottery selections which also leads all leagues in college basketball.

The first person to hear his name called was Dereck Lively of the Duke Blue Devils. He was taken with the 12th pick by the Oklahoma City Thunder. It is rumored that Lively will be heading to the Dallas Mavericks in a trade. The big man was a rim protector for the Blue Devils last season. His 82 blocked shots were second-most by a Duke freshman in a single season. It tied for 10th best by a Blue Devils player in a single year. He had at least one block shot in 32 of the 34 games played by Duke. There were 22 games with at least two block shots,10 games with at least three, and five with five or more rejections.

The Brooklyn Nets were the next team to call out an ACC player. With the 22nd pick in the first round, the Nets selected Dariq Whitehead also from the Blue Devils. The freshman guard appeared in 28 games with seven of them being starts. He averaged 8.3 points per game while shooting 42.1% from the field. From three-point range, he led the team by shooting 42.4 %. That percentage is the fifth best by a Duke freshman from long range in the program’s history. In the postseason, Whitehead turned some heads with his performances. In the semi-finals of the conference tournament, Whitehead scored 16 against Miami. In the championship game vs Virginia, his defense was key stealing the basketball four times in that game. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament vs Oral Roberts, Whitehead came off the bench and scored 13 in helping Duke get the win. In the next round vs Tennessee, he played a career high 33 minutes.

The second round saw three more players get their names called. First up was Hunter Tyson of Clemson. He was taken with the 37th overall pick by the Thunder. He averaged 15.3 points and 9.7 rebounds while shooting 47.9% from the field, 40.5% from three-point range, and 83.8% from the free throw line. He finished the season with 16 double-doubles, the most by a Tiger player since the 1993-94 season. He is the 17th player in Clemson history to have scored 1,000 points and grab 600 rebounds.

With the 48th pick, the Los Angeles Clippers made Jordan Miller of Miami their selection. He averaged 15.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. He shot at a 54.5% clip, 35.2% from beyond the arc, and 78.4% from the free throw line. He made the second team All ACC-Tournament team as well as the NCAA Midwest Region All-Tournament team as the Hurricanes made their run to the Final Four.

The final player from the ACC to hear his name called is also from the Miami Hurricanes. Isaiah Wong was the #55 overall pick by the Detroit Pistons. Wong averaged 16.2 points, 4.3 boards, and 3.2 assists per game. From the field, he shot 44.5%, and from downtown Wong was a 38.4% shooter. From the free throw line, he made 84.5% of his attempts. He too was named to the NCAA Midwest Region All-Tournament team as Miami put together a run that got them to a Final Four.

There will be other players in the coming days that will sign free-agent deals with teams in the association. The month of July is very important to all players that went through this process, That is when the NBA summer league takes place in Las Vegas.