NC State has been picked as the favorite in the first Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Coaches Preseason Poll announced on Monday.
The Wolfpack, which returns four starters from last season’s team that posted a 24-13 record and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, received eight first-place votes in balloting among the league’s 12 head coaches.
Duke received three first-place votes and placed second in the overall voting, which awarded 12 points for each first-place vote, 11 for each first-place vote, etc. North Carolina received the remaining first-place vote and placed third.
Miami was picked for a fourth-place finish, followed by defending ACC champion Florida State at fifth and Maryland at sixth.
Virginia placed seventh in the voting, followed by Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest (tied for 10th) and Boston College.
NC State junior forward C.J. Leslie, who averaged 14.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game last season, was voted the Preseason ACC Player of the Year. Leslie heads up the ACC Coaches’ Preseason All-ACC team and is joined by Wolfpack teammate Lorenzo Brown, Duke’s Mason Plumlee, Florida State’s Michael Snaer and North Carolina’s James Michael McAdoo.
NC State’s Rodney Purvis, one of three members of a highly-regarded Wolfpack freshman class, was voted the Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year.
This marks this first year that the ACC coaches have predicted a preseason order of finish or voted on individual honors. Media members will vote on their predicted order of finish and other preseason honors during the ACC’s annual Operation Basketball, which will be held Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C.
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