No. 7 Duke tabbed as ACC men’s basketball favorite; UNC’s RJ Davis named preseason player of year

Seventh-ranked Duke is the preseason pick to win the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball race ahead of ninth-ranked rival North Carolina, while returning Tar Heels All-American RJ Davis is the preseason pick for player of the year.

The league released picks Tuesday following voting from media members at last week’s “ACC Tipoff” preseason media days.

The Blue Devils got 42 of 54 first-place votes after overhauling their roster with 10 newcomers and adding a top-tier recruiting class headlined by star freshman Cooper Flagg, who was one vote shy of being the unanimous choice for league rookie of the year.

Duke was picked to finish first last year, but the Tar Heels swept the Blue Devils on the way to winning last year’s regular-season title. The Blue Devils went on to reach the NCAA Elite Eight, one round farther than the Tar Heels’ Sweet 16 run.

Wake Forest was picked to finish third for this year, followed by Clemson — which reached its first Elite Eight last year since the tournament’s expansion to 64 teams in 1985 — Virginia and Miami. Pittsburgh was picked seventh, followed by North Carolina State after its improbable Final Four run, Louisville and Notre Dame to round out the top 10.

Syracuse was picked 11th, followed by Georgia Tech, SMU, Virginia Tech, Florida State, California, Stanford and Boston College in the newly expanded 18-team league.

The 6-foot Davis is the lone returning first-team Associated Press All-American from 2024, and the fifth-year guard enters this season ranked fifth in program history in scoring after averaging a league-best 21.2 points. Davis earned 40 of 54 votes for player of the year to outdistance Flagg (10), and was unanimously voted to the preseason all-ACC first team.

Wake Forest’s Hunter Sallis, Notre Dame’s Markus Burton and Miami’s Nijel Pack joined Davis and Flagg on the all-ACC preseason first team. Clemson’s Ian Schieffelin and Chase Hunter led the second team, joined by FSU’s Jamir Watkins, Georgia Tech’s Baye Ndongo and Pitt’s Ishmael Leggett.

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