Oct. 15, 2012
Greensboro, N.C. – Georgia Tech has been picked to finish ninth this season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, while NC State has been picked as the favorite to win the conference title in the first ACC Men’s Basketball Coaches Preseason Poll announced on Monday.
In their second season under head coach Brian Gregory, the Yellow Jackets return all five starters from a team that went 11-20 a year ago, and 4-12 in the ACC (tied for 10th). Among those are 6-2 senior point guard Mfon Udofia (Stone Mountain, Ga.), 6-5 ½ junior wing Jason Morris (Augusta, Ga.) and post players Daniel Miller (6-11 ½ junior, Loganville, Ga.) and Kammeon Holsey (6-8 ½, junior, Sparta, Ga.).
Tech, the only team in the ACC to return all five starters, opens its 2012-13 campaign Nov. 9 against Tulane. The Jackets also boast a recruiting class ranked as high as 14th in the nation.
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.
Listed below are results of the coaches’ voting in the ACC preseason poll.
Team Predictions
1. NC State (8), 139
2. Duke (3), 130
3. North Carolina (1), 124
4. Miami, 104
5. Florida State, 103
6. Maryland, 78
7. Virginia, 68
8. Clemson, 61
9. Georgia Tech, 40
10. Virginia Tech, 32
Wake Forest, 32
12. Boston College, 25
(first-place votes)
Preseason All-ACC
Lorenzo Brown, Jr., NC State
C.J. Leslie, Jr., NC State
James Michael McAdoo, So., North Carolina
Mason Plumlee, Sr., Duke
Michael Snaer, Sr., Florida State
Preseason ACC Player of the Year
C.J. Leslie, Jr., NC State
Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year
Rodney Purvis, Fr., NC State
