ACC Basketball Preseason Rankings

1. North Carolina (40)
2. Duke
3. Wake Forest
4. Miami
5. Clemson
6. Virginia Tech
7. Maryland
8. Georgia Tech
9. NC State
10. Florida State
11. Boston College
12. Virginia
First Place Votes in Parentheses

2008-09 ACC Preseason All-Conference Team
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina*
Tyrese Rice, Boston College*
Jack McClinton, Miami
Ty Lawson, North Carolina
Gerald Henderson, Duke
* - unanimous selection

2008-09 Preseason ACC Player of the Year
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina*

2008-09 Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year
Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest
* - unanimous selection


to me, VT at 6 is a little low, and Wake at 3 is a little high, especially considering their freshmen haven't played a single game yet

here's how I have it

1. UNC
2. Duke
3. VT
4. Miami
5. Wake
6. Clemson
7. Florida State
8. Maryland
9. NC State
10. Georgia Tech
11. Boston College
12. Virginia

miami is probably the 3rd best team behind unc and dook

yea i dont think VT can finish above 4th this your... just my opinion though.

unc dook on top then 3-12 is pretty much a toss up i believe

Well I hope my blue devils have a huge year! I believe they should be on top not UNC

Who's your dealer?

one thing we actually agree on

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Xknight52</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I believe they should be on top not UNC </div></div>

I'm as big/bigger a DUKE fan as anyone and I don't see how you can say that with a straight face. I guess UT should be ranked 5th not 12th in the SEC as well.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dick_Vitale</div><div class="ubbcode-body">yea i dont think VT can finish above 4th this your... just my opinion though. </div></div>

just wondering what that opinion is based on...because it can't be the fact that we won 21 games last year and finished 4th with 6 freshmen playing 70% of the minutes, or that we lost one player from that team

any team 3-6 can finish in any order 3-6...there are basically 3 tiers of teams this year...UNC and Duke, 3-6, then 7-12

It's Tarheel BB time again !!!

Wake me when it is March.

I love college basketball but I hate UNC and Tennessee with a great passion!!!


GO DUKE!!!!

Your such a HUGE UT fan in football, don't see how you can hate the bball team with a passion. And you are definately smokin somethin if you think Duke should be on top of UNC. I guess the Titans being 7-0 has you a lil high thinkin all your teams are the greatest at their respective sport.

I was thinking the same thing, how can you love UT football but then hate their basketball program with a passion....... That just doesn't make sense.

I never like Tennessee in basketball.

I watched college basketball way before I became a college football fan!

As for Duke I think they should be number one in the ACC. We're returning almost everyone!!!

i'm a duke fan to but i really think that UNC will win the ACC atleast regular season and Duke doesn't have anyone to stop hansbrough, no big man is what is gonna kill Duke in the long run!

Brian Zoubek should fill the void at times for duke agaisnt the likes on TH and the other big men the the country!

We only lost one starter last year!

yea one starter that kept us in a lot of games due to how good of an athlete he was!
Brian Zoubek should but when he played against TH before TH dominated him and henderson did a heck of a lot better then Zoubek did!
i am excited to see how good the freshman do and maybe if we luck up one of them could handle TH pretty good cause two of them are pretty good size (height wise i know)

I think Smith will be better then Nelson!

Here is Dukes starting five in my opinion

Kyle Singler
Gerald Henderson
Jon Scheyer
Greg Paulus
Nolan Smith

And here are a few we'll see in the game a lot...

Brian Zoubek
Lance Thomas
Elliot Williams

Never fear, Underdog's still at the helm for UNC. They'll find a way to mess up winning a national title under him that should be a gimmie with that type of talent on that roster. He did the same thing at Kansas several times.

Remember, the team that won a national title under him was one he inherited from Doherty.

miles plumlee and olek czyz will see quite a bit of palying time simply because they can shoot and they have a big enough frame to take some time off of zoubek and thomas

Elliot Williams is a kid I see doing big things. He was the best player coming out of Tennessee and one of the top players in the country at the G spot

i don't really know a whole lot about any of the freshman jsut from what i heard on the ACC Preview on ESPNU but from what i do know is that mile plumlee is suppose to be a pretty good shooter and a decent low guy but like i said i don't know a whole lot that's just what i got out of the ACC Preview

God this is exactly why I DESPISE the Pukies. I wouldn't piss on not a one of them if they were on fire....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Xknight52</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I think Smith will be better then Nelson!

Here is Dukes starting five in my opinion

Kyle Singler
Gerald Henderson
Jon Scheyer
Greg Paulus
Nolan Smith

And here are a few we'll see in the game a lot...

Brian Zoubek
Lance Thomas
Elliot Williams
</div></div>

with that starting 5, how will Duke defend bigger teams when you've got:

UNC - Tyler Hansbrough, Tyler Zeller, Ed Davis, Deon Thompson
Wake - Ty Walker, Chas McFarland, James Johnson, Tony Woods
NC State - Brandon Costner, Ben McCauley
VT - Jeff Allen, Lewis Witcher, Cheick Diakite
GT - Gani Lawal, Zack Peacock
FSU - Xavier Gibson, Chris Singletary, Uche Echefu, Solomon Alabi

lots of very good post players in the conference, and Duke is playing an undersized 4 (Thomas) and Zoubek's awful butt...guys like Elliot Williams, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler will carry the team due to the lack of athleticism across the board

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina offered the first glimpse of the talent and experience that has made it seemingly everyone's preseason pick for No. 1.

Tyler Hansbrough, the reigning national player of the year, and Danny Green turned in big scoring efforts in the Tar Heels' intrasquad scrimmage Friday night, part of the annual "Late Night with Roy" show that serves as the ceremonial kickoff to the season.

But North Carolina also got a strong performance from lanky 7-foot freshman Tyler Zeller, who paired with Hansbrough up front and seemed to find himself around the ball just about all night.

Zeller unofficially finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds in the scrimmage, showing a good shooting touch from about 15 feet while pulling down five defensive boards in the first 3½ minutes.

"Tyler really runs the floor well," senior guard Bobby Frasor said of Zeller. "In practice, he just gets out and he can beat some of the guards down the floor, and that's an amazing quality for a 7-footer to have."

This was one of the last pressure-free moments for a team widely picked to win the national championship. The 20-minute public scrimmage followed a 40-minute show complete with jokes, dancing and skits by the players, and pyrotechnics -- all while Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams and his assistants watched and laughed from the bench.

The show included the team's five seniors -- wearing Carolina blue graduation caps and gowns -- sitting at midcourt and reminiscing about their playing careers while showing video clips of highlights and bloopers. The entire team donned blue suits and danced to Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Hello Detroit," site of this season's Final Four.

The highlight: Frasor's taped spoof of Williams continually falling on NCAA logos in the driveway of his home, at the Smith Center and on the golf course -- a reference to Williams' irritation with the midcourt logos that he said were dangerously slick during last season's tournament.

That's not to say it was all fun and games once the ball was tipped. Frasor ended up with a bloody nose when he took a flailing elbow from Hansbrough, his roommate.

Hansbrough played with his typical determined style, finishing with 22 of the Blue team's 48 points. On the White team, Green finished with 23 points, including three 3-pointers from behind the longer-range arc.

The Tar Heels return the top six scorers from a team that won a school-record 36 games and reached the Final Four, with Green, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington deciding to withdraw from the NBA draft after declaring as underclassmen during the offseason. They are joined by one of the nation's top recruiting classes in Zeller, 6-10 forward Ed Davis, point guard Larry Drew II and guard Justin Watts.

Davis finished with six points and found himself bodying up to Hansbrough several times.

The Tar Heels' experience "helps [the freshmen] come along a lot faster and learn little tricks of the game," said Green, a senior. "When we came in, we were just thrown into the fire and had to be welcomed by playing in games. But for a lot of those younger guys, it helps them a lot for when they get in the games. We have some of the best guys in the country on our team. They won't face guys much better than they face every day in practice."

Im heading down to Durham next Wednesday to watch the Devils play an exhibition game, nothing like Cameron Indoor.

Plumlee looked the best of the 3 Duke Freshman in the blue white game. I was impressed watching him play. Scheyer was actually the leading scorer in the two halves they played. If Scheyer is the leading scorer, then I don't think Duke will go far. Henderson and Singler need to be the scorers. Paulus looked terrible in the Blue White game. OF course he got frustrated in the first of two halves. He was on the worst of the two teams and got beat by nearly 20.

You could tell Williams and Czyz were freshman by their tentiveness in the game.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Chubzfan</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Im heading down to Durham next Wednesday to watch the Devils play an exhibition game, nothing like Cameron Indoor. </div></div>

I watched the Blue/White game. My first "game" there. I have been to two coaching clinics. My goal is to watch an ACC game there soon.

Eventual champion Kansas knocked off North Carolina in the semifinals of last year's NCAA tournament. But the Tar Heels are a much bigger favorite heading into this season.



North Carolina is ranked No. 1 in the preseason ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll which was released on Thursday. After losing a big chunk of its roster, Kansas debuts at No. 23.


The other two Final Four teams from a year ago earned solid rankings -- UCLA coming in at No. 4 and second-place finisher Memphis landing at No. 12.


Connecticut and Louisville are No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. The top 10 is rounded out with Duke at No. 5, Pittsburgh No. 6, Michigan St. No. 7, Texas No. 8, Notre Dame No. 9 and Purdue No. 10.

UNC's hopes skyrocketed when player of the year Tyler Hansbrough decided to return for his senior season. He'll get help from guard Ty Lawson and shooter Wayne Ellington.

The Jayhawks saw three players leave early for the NBA draft. Darrell Arthur and Brandon Rush went in the first round, while Mario Chalmers was selected in the second round. Memphis' hopes of returning to the title game were hurt when Derrick Rose declared for the draft and went No. 1 to the Chicago Bulls.