Boston College men’s basketball has an uphill climb back to ACC relevance. That was reinforced Tuesday.
The Eagles were picked to finish dead last in the 2021-22 ACC Preseason Poll. It marks the first time since 2016-17 that the program has bottomed out the voting. That season, BC won just two ACC games yet established a promising core, thanks to the backcourt duo of Ky Bowman and Jerome Robinson.
BC received 112 votes in this year’s preseason poll. Meanwhile, every other ACC team earned at least 250. Here’s how the poll turned out:
NOTE: First place votes are in parentheses
1. Duke (47), 1,132
2. Florida State (14), 1,034
3. North Carolina (5), 1,001
4. Virginia (9), 949
5. Virginia Tech (5), 857
6. Louisville (1), 791
7. Syracuse, 781
8. Notre Dame, 599
9. NC State, 555
10. Georgia Tech, 524
11. Clemson, 430
12. Miami, 428
13. Wake Forest, 274
14. Pitt, 253
15. BC, 112
Duke, ranked No. 9 in the first edition of this year’s AP Poll, is the preseason favorite for the seventh time in the last nine years. Right behind the Blue Devils, though, is Florida State, which registered its highest preseason placement since it joined the ACC.
Duke freshman power forward Paolo Banchero earned Preseason ACC Player and Freshman of the Year honors. Banchero is a 6-foot-10, 250-pound five-star recruit from Seattle, Washington. He was the No. 2 overall Class of 2021 recruit, according to Rivals. He averaged 22.6 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.6 blocks per game as a junior at O’Dea High School.
Banchero collected 28 Preseason ACC Player of the Year votes. Next up was Virginia Tech redshirt senior Keve Aluma, who piled up 16 votes. After that, Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim (13) and UNC’s Armando Bacot (12) rounded out the top four.
Here’s a look at this year’s Preseason All-ACC teams, first and second:
First Team
Name, School, Votes
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 68
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 52
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 49
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 46
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 37
Second Team
Name, School, Votes
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 25
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 23
Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame, 17
Mark Williams, Duke, 12
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 9
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 9
Malik Williams, Louisville, 9
