ACC Basketball News & Notes: Duke is the Preseason Favorite

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We are now one week away from the start of the college basketball season. Recently, the Atlantic Coast Conference selected their preseason teams. The Duke Blue Devils were named the preseason favorite to win the regular season championship. Duke received 42 of 54 first-place votes and are the #9 ranked team in the country in the preseason. They will be led by freshmen 6-9 guard/forward Copper Flagg who hails from Newport, Maine. He is considered the top-rated prospect by both 247 Sports and ESPN. In his final year of prep ball at Montverde Academy in Florida, he averaged 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.7 blocks a game. He helped Montverde to a 33-0 record and a national championship. Duke is the preseason favorite for the ninth time in the last 12 seasons.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are second with 11 first-place votes. RJ Davis is back and was named the Preseason Player of the Year. Davis won the Jerry West Award in 2024 for the best shooting guard in the country. He hit 113 3-pointers and had 23 games with at least 20 points. He is the all-time leader in free throw percentage at 85.8%, ranks second in 3-pointers with 274, and is fifth in scoring at 2,088 points. Davis led the league in scoring last season averaging 21.2 points a game. Only Phil Ford has scored more points than Davis in Tar Heel history.

Wake Forest was picked to finish third this season and they did get one first-place vote. This is the Demon Deacons’ highest preseason ranking since 2009 when they were tied for second in the preseason poll. Wake will be led by first-team All-Conference selection Hunter Sallis who earned First-Team All-ACC in 2023-24 and was the ACC Rookie of the Year.

The Clemson Tigers, fresh off an Elite Eight appearance last spring, were picked to finish fourth in the preseason. Second-team All-ACC Preseason pick Chase Hunter leads the Tigers.

Virginia is fifth and they are now looking for a new coach with the sudden retirement of head coach Tony Bennett. Miami and Pittsburgh are sixth and seventh respectively. Last year’s title winners NC State, who made the final four for the first time since 1983, was picked to finish eighth. Louisville is ninth, followed by 10-thru-18 in Notre Dame, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, SMU, Virginia Tech, Florida State, California, Stanford, and Boston College.

All 18 teams will be in action next Monday night in non-league games. Conference play gets underway on Saturday, December 7.