The guy that I would have voted, if I’d had a vote, as the 2024 ACC Player of the Year, Reece Beekman, didn’t even make the All-ACC first-team, and didn’t get a single vote for Player of the Year.
Beekman did win his second straight Defensive Player of the Year award, outpolling Virginia teammate Ryan Dunn, who would have been the guy I would have voted for there, but so much for my whining on that point about not having a vote.
The voters – the league’s 15 head coaches and 60 media members; god knows who they are – went with UNC point guard RJ Davis as Player of the Year, because, you know, counting stats.
Davis averaged 21.1 points and 3.5 assists per game on high shot volume – 16.1 per game, which also led the league.
Beekman’s counting stats – 14.3 points and 6.0 assists per game, the latter leading the ACC, with the second-place guy, Georgia Tech freshman Naithan George, averaging 4.6 assists per game – maybe aren’t as impressive.
Beekman led the ACC in box plus/minus (11.1). Davis was second (10.9). Beekman tied with Dunn in defensive box plus/minus (5.7), had that huge edge on the field in assists, and did all that as the guy not only responsible for leading his team in scoring, but did what he did on a team with only one other guy (sophomore guard Isaac McKneely) averaging in double-digits in scoring.
At the absolute least, he was first-team All-ACC, except that he wasn’t.
The lazy asses who voted on this went with four of the league’s top five scorers and the leading scorer from Duke, which is pretty much the default for any kind of even tepid analysis.
I’m glad I don’t get a vote; I wouldn’t want to be associated with this kind of sloppy work.
My rationale for Dunn over Beekman on DPOY: slightly better deep-dive defensive numbers.
According to Synergy Sports data, Beekman allowed opponents to score 5.9 points per game and 0.719 points per possession on 34.4 percent shooting (41.5 percent effective field-goal percentage), while Dunn allowed 4.2 points per game and 0.718 points per possession on 29.7 percent shooting (36.9 percent effective field-goal percentage).
Even the counting numbers favored Dunn, who averaged 2.4 blocked shots per game. Beekman’s defensive counting number is steals; he averaged 2.1 steals per game.
Lazy asses.
2023-24 ACC Basketball Awards
Player of the Year
RJ Davis, North Carolina, 68 votes
Kyle Filipowski, Duke, 3
PJ Hall, Clemson, 2
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 1
Quinten Post, Boston College, 1
All- ACC First Team
Name, School, Points
RJ Davis, North Carolina, 373
PJ Hall, Clemson, 363
Kyle Filipowski, Duke, 346
Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest, 292
Blake Hinson, Pitt, 280
All-ACC Second Team
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 271
Reece Beekman, Virginia, 263
Judah Mintz, Syracuse, 219
Norchad Omier, Miami, 172
Quinten Post, Boston College, 135
All-ACC Third Team
DJ Horne, NC State, 109
Harrison Ingram, North Carolina, 91
Jeremy Roach, Duke, 85
Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 69
Sean Pedulla, Virginia Tech, 62
Honorable Mention
Joseph Girard III, Clemson, 54
Jamir Watkins, Florida State, 47
Jared McCain, Duke, 29
Ian Schieffelin, Clemson, 24
Miles Kelly, Georgia Tech, 16
Carlton Carrington, Pitt, 12
Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Louisville, 10
Ryan Dunn, Virginia, 10
Defensive Player of the Year
Reece Beekman, Virginia, 43 votes
Ryan Dunn, Virginia, 19
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 4
Maliq Brown, Syracuse, 4
Quinten Post, Boston College, 2
Jaeden Zackery, Boston College, 1
Jack Clark, Clemson, 1
Quadir Copeland, Syracuse, 1
All-Defensive Team
Reece Beekman, Virginia, 73 votes
Ryan Dunn, Virginia, 65
Maliq Brown, Syracuse, 48
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 26
Quinten Post, Boston College, 21
Rookie of the Year
Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 46 votes
Jared McCain, Duke, 20
Carlton Carrington, Pitt, 5
Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 2
Caleb Foster, Duke, 1
Kyshawn George, Miami, 1
All-Rookie Team
Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 73 votes
Jared McCain, Duke, 73
Carlton Carrington, Pitt, 65
Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 60
Elliot Cadeau, North Carolina, 39
Most Improved Player
Ian Schieffelin, Clemson, 30 votes
Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest, 18
Lynn Kidd, Virginia Tech, 12
Harrison Ingram, North Carolina, 5
Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Louisville, 3
Maliq Brown, Syracuse, 3
Devin McGlockton, Boston College, 3
Isaac McKneely, Virginia, 1
Sixth Man Of the Year
Ishmael Leggett, Pitt, 33 votes
Quadir Copeland, Syracuse, 20
Seth Trimble, North Carolina, 6
Kyle Sturdivant, Georgia Tech, 5
Mason Madsen, Boston College, 4
Primo Spears, Florida State, 4
Caleb Foster, Duke, 3
Coach of the Year
Hubert Davis, North Carolina, 49 votes
Jeff Capel, Pitt, 12
Adrian Autry, Syracuse, 6
Micah Shrewsberry, Notre Dame, 3
Jon Scheyer, Duke, 2
Brad Brownell, Clemson, 1
Damon Stoudamire, Georgia Tech, 1
Tony Bennett, Virginia, 1
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Chris Graham
