Clearly the class of the ACC and of the nation is North Carolina. They are far and away the most talented team in the nation. They bring back Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Marcus Ginyard, Danny Green, Deon Thompson, and a guy named Tyler Hansbrough. Don't forget Bobb Frasor and highly touted freshman bigs Luke Zeller and Ed Davis. Their only problem is on defense, if they can hustle back and play tough man-to-man defense and possibly win a slowdown game, then they can win the title. Fix the halfcourt offense and defense, the title will be all but guaranteed.
Many of the teams in the ACC have questions that, with favorable answers, will translate into success. Maryland has an amazing player in Greivis Vazquez but they also have questions about who will shoulder the load in the post. Miami also has talent with Jack McClinton, who established himself as one of the premier ACC guard last season. He is aided by blue-chip freshman DeQuan Jones. Once again, inside scoring will be a problem. Anthony King is gone so all eyes on Dwayne Collins to see if he can really be as talented as everyone thinks he is.
Once again Duke is a threat to UNC because of their unbelievable array of slashing and shooting talent. Greg Paulus, Nolan Smith, Gerald Henderson, Jon Scheyer the list goes on. Keep an eye on Clemson, Miami, and especially Wake Forest. The Deamon Deacons return all their key players and add a stacked frontcourt class of Al-Farouq Aminu, Tony Woods, and Ty Walker.
Even NC State, the last place team in the conference last season, has a chance to make some noise. The team admittedly had some chemistry problems last year but this year the chi looks better. Brandon Costner needs to forget his sophomore slump and become ready to carry the Wolfpack like the star player he can be.
1. North Carolina, 2. Duke, 3. Miami, 4. Wake Forest, 5. NC State, 6. Clemson, 7. Virginia Tech, 8. Georgia Tech, 9. Maryland, 10. Florida State, 11. Boston College, 12. Virginia
Awards Section:
Player of the Year: Tyler Hansbrough, F/C, North Carolina
Freshman of the Year: Al-Farouq Aminu, F, Wake Forest
Most Improved Player: Gani Lawal, PF, Georgia Tech
Coach of the Year: Sidney Lowe, NC State
All-ACC 1st Team:
C Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
PF James Johnson, Wake Forest
G/F Greivis Vazquez, Maryland
SG Jack McClinton, Miami
PG Tyrese Rice, Boston College
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