ACC Basketball Weekend Preview: News and notes, schedule with TV info

News and Notes

• ACC men’s basketball opened its 69th season of play Tuesday. Notre Dame begins its season Saturday afternoon at home against Cal State Northridge.
• Four members of the 2021 All-ACC Team are back for the 2021-22 season: VT’s Keve Aluma (second team), Miami’s Isaiah Wong (third), ND’s Prentiss Hubb (third) and UNC’s Armando Bacot (third).
• Four honorable mention All-ACC selections are back from last year: GT’s Michael Devoe, UVA’s Kihei Clark, ND’s Nate Laszewski and NC State’s Jericole Hellems.
• Duke freshman forward Paolo Banchero was named the ACC’s Preseason Player and Freshman of the Year. He is the first freshman to earn Preseason ACC Player of the Year honors.
• Following a vote of the league’s media, Duke was selected as the preseason favorite to capture the 2022 ACC Championship. The Blue Devils earned the distinction for the seventh time in the last nine seasons and were followed in the poll by Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
• ACC teams combined to welcome in 36 Division I transfers this season, including 16 graduate transfers. Each school has at least one transfer this season. Louisville and Wake Forest each brought in four Division I transfers to lead all ACC programs.
• Four ACC players are on the watch list for the 2022 Naismith Trophy: Armando Bacot (UNC), Buddy Boeheim (Syracuse), Keve Aluma (VT) and Paolo Banchero (Duke).
• The ACC features a pair of new head coaches this year, with Earl Grant taking over at Boston College and Hubert Davis taking the reins from Hall of Famer Roy Williams at North Carolina.
• The 2021-22 season marks the 42nd at Duke for Hall of Fame head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who announced he will retire at the conclusion of this season. He has won 1,098 games and five national championships at Duke. Entering his 47th season overall, Krzyzewski is the winningest coach in D-I history (1,171 wins).
• The ACC has two sets of brothers playing together on the same team this year: BC’s Makai Ashton-Langford and DeMarr Langford Jr. and Syracuse’s Jimmy and Buddy Boeheim.
• Sixteen incoming ACC freshmen were listed on the 2021 ESPN100 list of top recruits: Paolo Banchero, Duke (4), Trevor Keels, Duke (23), A.J. Griffin (29), Benny Williams, Syracuse (32), Dallan Coleman, GT (43), D’Marco Dunn, UNC (49), John Butler, FSU (60), Jalen Warley, FSU (61), Dontrez Styles, UNC (65), Ernest Ross, NCSU (68), Mike James, UofL (79), Bensley Joseph, Miami (80), Roosevelt Wheeler, UofL (84), Jakai Robinson, Miami (85), Jaylen Blakes, Duke (91), Terquavion Smith, NCSU (96).

Schedule

Friday, November 12 

• Army at #9 Duke | ACCN | 7 p.m.
• Holy Cross at Boston College | ACCNX | 7 p.m.
• Wofford at Clemson | ACCNX | 7 p.m.
• Furman at Louisville | ACCNX | 7 p.m.
• Radford at #25 Virginia | ACCNX | 7 p.m.
• Stetson at Georgia Tech | ACCNX | 7:30 p.m.
• Western Carolina at Wake Forest | ACCNX | 7:30 p.m.
• Pitt at West Virginia | ESPNU | 8:30 p.m.
• Virginia Tech at Navy | CBSSN | 8:30 p.m.
• Brown at #19/20 North Carolina | ACCN | 9 p.m.

Saturday, November 13

• Cal St Northridge at Notre Dame | ACCNX | Noon
• UCF at Miami | ACCNX | 1 p.m.
• Colgate at NC State | ACCNX | 2 p.m.
• Campbell at #9 Duke | ACCNX | 8 p.m.

Sunday, November 14

• #20/19 Florida State at Florida | ESPN | 1 p.m.
• Fairfield at Boston College | ACCNX | 4 p.m.
• Drexel at Syracuse | ESPN2 | 5 p.m.

All times Eastern

Rankings are AP/USA Today Coaches