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ACC Basketball Season Preview: UNC Is the Team to Beat

Duke Begins the Post Coach K Era

UNC & Duke headliners in ACC but What Else Is New?

With four starters back from a team that reached the national title game, North Carolina was the easy pick to be the No. 1 ranked team in the national polls. Duke will try to prove that there is life after the retirement of legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski.

North Carolina’s Armando Bacotand Caleb Love are among the top candidates for the national player of the year award according to the sportsbook.

ACC Basketball Season Preview
Grant Halverson/Getty Images/AFP

Can Virginia, Miami, or one of the other teams rise up and challenge the Tar Heels and Blue Devils?

Here is a team-by-team look at the ACC heading into the 2022-23 season.

Let’s check the latest NCAAB picks, stats, injury reports, and NCAAB predictions. We’ve plenty of NCAAB expert picks for you to consider. As well explore a variety of other Basketball odds here to win!

North Carolina Tar Heels

  • Conference Odds: +130
  • National Title Odds: +850

North Carolina brings back three of its top four scorers from a team that played for the national title.

Forward Armando Bacot led the country in double-doubles while guards Caleb Love, R.J. Davis, and Leaky Black are also back.

North Carolina added a top-20 recruiting class and also brought in former Northwestern forward Pete Nance.

— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) October 31, 2022

Brady Manek graduated, forward Dawson Garcia transferred to Minnesota while guards Anthony Harris and Kerwin Walton landed at Rhode Island and Texas Tech.

According to the college basketball betting lines, North Carolina (+325) trails only Gonzaga and  Kentucky in the odds to reach the Final Four.

Duke Blue Devils

  • Conference Odds: +225
  • National Title Odds: +1400

Former associate head coach Jon Scheyer takes over for the legendary Mike Krzyzewski at Duke.

Duke will need to replace the top five scorers off last season’s team. Jeremy Roach is the only one of the eight players who averaged more than 10 minutes per game for Duke last season who is returning.

It could take some time for those who bet online to figure out how this Duke team will look on the court.

Dereck Lively and Dariq Whitehead were rated as the Nos. 1 and 2 incoming freshmen in the country. Both have been dealing with injuries heading into the season. Whitehead might miss the first few games of the season while Lively has a chance to be back for the season opener.

Illinois transfer Jacob Grandison came off the bench to lead Duke with 17 points in the tune-up game.

Roach, who averaged 8.6 and 3.2 assists as a sophomore, led the Duke starters in minutes played against Fayetteville State. Freshmen Mark Mitchell, Tyrese Proctor and Ryan Filipowski and Northwestern transfer Ryan Young joined Roach in the starting lineup.

Paolo Banchero, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, joins Mark Williams, AJ Griffin, Wendell Moore and Trevor Keels in the NBA.

Reserve forward Joey Baker transferred to Michigan, Theo John graduated, as did Bates Jones.

Virginia Cavaliers

  • Conference Odds: +650
  • National Title Odds: +4000

Virginia returns the top six scorers from that squad, led by double-digit scorers Jayden Gardner, Armaan Franklin and Kihei Clark.

Ben Vander Plas joins Virginia after averaging 14.4 points and 6.3 rebounds over the last three years at Ohio.

Gardner, a former East Carolina transfer, should be better after finishing his first season with the Cavaliers by scoring in double digits in 16 of his last 17 games. Franklin was the No. 2 scorer in his first season after transferring from Indiana. Veteran guard Kihei Clark was a member of Virginia’s national championship team in 2019 and he teams with Reece Beekman in the backcourt.

Miami Hurricanes

  • Conference Odds: +1200
  • National Title Odds: +10000

Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller have combined to start 172 games in their college careers and will play key roles for Miami. Former Kansas State guard Nijek Pack was rated as one of the top transfers in the country.

Kameron McGusty, Charlie Moore and Sam Waardenburg all graduated after combining for nearly 43 points per game.

Pack averaged 17.4 points per game as a sophomore at Kansas State. He had 35 points against eventual national champion Kansas and 31 in a game against then-defending champion Baylor. Norchad Omier averaged 17.9 points and 12.2 rebounds as a sophomore at Arkansas State.

Virginia Tech Hokies

  • Conference Odds: +1200
  • National Title Odds: +15000

Justyn Mutts and Hunter Cantoor lead the list of returnees for the Hokies as both were double-digit scorers a season ago. Dairus Maddox and Sean Pedula are also returning for Virginia Tech.

Leading scorer Keve Alumna headed off to play professionally while Naheim Alleyne transferred to UConn. Storm Murphy is another key departure.

Grant Basile, who averaged 18.4 points and 8.5 rebounds at Wright State, is one of three incoming transfers while guard Rodney Rice is the highest-rated of the four freshmen.

Florida State Seminoles

  • Conference Odds: +1800
  • National Title Odds: +8000

Double-digit scorers Caleb Mills and Matthew Cleveland lead the list of returning players. However, leading rebounder Malik Osborne left the team.

Cam’Ron Fletcher and Naheem McLeod are other key returnees. With six incoming freshmen and a pair of talented transfers, it might take a while for the chemistry to be formed at FSU.

Anthony Polite, RayQuan Evans, John Butler and Tanor Ngom are also gone so the rotation will have a much different look to it.

Jalen Warley had a season-high 15 points in one of the games against Duke as a freshman so he could have a larger role this season.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

  • Conference Odds: +2200
  • National Title Odds: +10000

Dane Goodwin is back for Notre Dame after averaging 13.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. However, the other two double-digit scorers (guard Blake Wesley and forward Paul Atkinson) have moved on.

Nate Laszewski, Cormac Ryan and Trey Wertz are all graduate students so Notre Dame won’t lack experience with six grad students on the roster.

Notre Dame added Marcus Hammond via transfer. He averaged 18.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.9 assists at Niagara during the 2021-22 season.

Highly regarded freshman JJ Starling was one of three Notre Dame players to be on the court for more than 30 minutes in the exhibition game against Xavier (LA).

Louisville Cardinals

  • Conference Odds: +2800
  • National Title Odds: +10000

First-year coach Chris Payne will need to replace five of the top seven scorers from last season’s team. Malik Williams and Jarrod West both graduated while Noah Locke (Providence), Dre Davis (Seton Hall) and Matt Cross (UMass) transferred.

El Ellis is the top returning scorer while Sydney Curry is another key returnee.

Louisville added Tennessee’s Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Maryland’s Aidan McCool, Xavier’s Hercy Miller and Kentucky’s Zan Payne.

Freshmen Mike James and Kamari Lands combined for 15 points in 38 minutes in the tune-up contest against Chaminade.

Syracuse Orange

  • Conference Odds: +3300
  • National Title Odds: +12500

The Boeheim brothers are gone after combining for 32.3 points in their lone college season playing together. Second-leading scorer Cole Swider is now with the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers while Frank Anselem transferred to Georgia so there are a lot of points for legendary coach Jim Boeheim to have to replace.

Joseph Girard and Jesse Edwards were both double-digit scorers during the 2021-22 season and could be asked to contribute even more this season.

Freshmen Chris Bell and Judah Mintz started in the second of Syracuse’s exhibition game while classmates Maliq Brown, Justin Taylor, Quadir Copeland and Peter Carey could have key roles.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

  • Conference Odds: +5000
  • National Title Odds: +15000

Alondes Williams, Jake LaRavia, Isaiah Mucius and Dallas Walton have departed after combining for 70% of Wake Forest’s offense last season.

Daivien Williamson and Damari Monsanto are the top returning scorers while the offense could receive a boost with the additions of Tyree Appleby (10.1 points at Florida), Andrew Carr (10 points and 5.1 rebounds at Delaware), Kansas State forward Davion Bradford and Jao Ituka (15.3 points per game as a freshman at Marist.

Clemson Tigers

  • Conference Odds: +6600
  • National Title Odds: N/A

Clemson will begin the season without leading scorer P.J. Hall.

With the graduation of David Collins and Max Bohannon and second-leading scorer Al-Amir Dawes now at Seton Hall and starting guard Nick Honor landing at Missouri, it will be interesting to see where the offense comes from.

Forward Hunter Tyson was a double-digit scorer last season while Chase Hunter and Alex Hemenway are other returning players to keep an eye on.

Freshmen Josh Beadle, Chauncey Wiggins and Dillon Hunter combined for 27 points in the exhibition win against Benedict.

North Carolina State Wolfpack

  • Conference Odds: +10000
  • National Title Odds: N/A

Terquavion Smith is back for NC State after averaging 16.3 points per game and connecting on 96 3-pointers. Casey Morsell also returns as does Ebenezer Dowuona.

The Wolfpack will need to replace the 17.3 points and 8.2 rebounds from Dereon Seabron while Cam Hayes (LSU), Thomas Allen (Ball State), Jaylon Gibson (Winston-Salem) and Manny Bates (Butler) all transferred.

The key to the season could be the impact of the incoming transfers. D.J. Burns averaged 15 points per game at Winthrop, Jack Clark (12 points, 5.8 rebounds for La Salle), Dusan Mahorcic (5.5 points, 4.1 rebounds at Utah) and Jarkel Joiner, who scored 13.2 points per game at Ole Miss, could make immediate impacts.

Boston College Eagles

  • Conference Odds: +12500
  • National Title Odds: N/A

The Eagles return all three double-digit scorers under second-year head coach Earl Grant with Makai Ashton-Langford, DeMar Langford Jr. and Jaeden Zackery combining for 33.4 points per game.

Quinten Post and T.J. Bickerstaff are other key returnees.

James Karnik graduated while Brevin Galloway transferred to Clemson.

The Eagles added Cincinnati guard Mason Madsen and Trevecca Nazarene forward C.J. Penha.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

  • Conference Odds: +15000
  • National Title Odds: N/A

Georgia Tech bid adieu to Michael Devoe and Jordan Usher, the only two double-figure scorers on the 2021-22 team. Starting forward Khalid Moore is now at Fordham.

Kyle Sturdivant, Rodney Howard, Tristan Maxwell, Dallas Coleman, Deivon Smith, Miles Kelly, Jordan Meka and Jalojn Moore were part of the rotation so there is some talent to work with.

Javon Franklin, who averaged 12.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game at South Alabama, and Lance Terry, who contributed 14.3 PPG at Gardner-Webb, could add some scoring punch.

Pittsburgh Panthers

  • Conference Odds: +25000
  • National Title Odds: N/A

Pittsburgh returns its top two scorers as forward John Hughley and guard Jamarius Burton to average more than 27 points and 11 rebounds per game. However, Femi Odukale and Ithiel Horton landed at Seton Hall and UCF and Mouhamadou Gueye graduated.

Nelly Cummings, who averaged 14.7 points and 3.4 assists per game at Colgate, Blake Hinson, a double-digit scorer at Iowa State and former Marquette guard Greg Elliott are incoming transfers.

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