Hokies Picked 10th in ACC Men’s Basketball

By: Will Stewart | Founder

The ACC released their preseason men’s basketball media poll Wednesday evening, and the Hokies are projected by the league media to finish 10th out of 12 teams.

NC State was picked first, the first time since 2004-05 (when Wake Forest was picked first) that a team other than Duke or UNC has been projected to win the conference.

Here is the full poll:

Team Predictions (53 ballots)

  1. NC State (26) 601
  2. Duke (21) 589
  3. North Carolina 520
  4. Florida State (6) 484
  5. Miami 436
  6. Maryland 341
  7. Virginia 287
  8. Clemson 277
  9. Georgia Tech 189
  10. Virginia Tech 169
  11. Wake Forest 151
  12. Boston College 90

The preseason ranking of 10th matches the lowest prediction for the Hokies since they entered the conference in 2004-05. Tech was picked to finished 10th that season, but they surprised everyone by finishing 4th and earning ACC Coach of the Year honors for Seth Greenberg.

Here is Tech’s history of preseason predictions, and their eventual finish.

  • 2004-05: 10th (finished 4th)
  • 2005-06: 8th (finished 10th)
  • 2006-07: 6th (finished 3rd)
  • 2007-08: 10th (finished 4th)
  • 2008-09: 6th (finished 8th)
  • 2009-10: 8th (finished t-3rd)
  • 2010-11: 2nd (finished t-4th)
  • 2011-12: 6th (finished t-9th)
  • 2012-13: 10th

NC State placed two players on the preseason All-ACC team, while UNC, Duke, and Florida State each had one. NC State also locked up Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year predictions.

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

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11 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Yep – I agree. When I was watching cockfighting, the cock with least experience…ahh, you know!

    1. I am honestly surprised we are projected to be 10th. I expected that we would be at the very bottom for the next 2 years – and I still sort of expect that. I think anything above 10 would be a huge success given the scenario JJ walked into.

  4. well this is a NC State year obviously. one preseason national poll predicted them #6 !!

    i remember just 3 years ago – maybe it was 2 seasons ago – they were struggling to be equal with us. Wow, what a change! and in such a short time.

    I wonder if we can do similar in 3 years !?! Why not?

    Pulling for you JJ! th erest of the coaches and the Hokies!!

    1. NC State, for whatever reason, had three outstanding recruiting years in a row. These were mostly Sidney Lowes’ guys. It shows it can be done.

  5. I’m excited to see the Hokies on the floor this season. Not because I think they will be very good (although they could be), but because I want to see how JJ runs the team, his coaching style and how they players respond to it.

    1. This could be my basketball ignorance showing, but it seems like he’s been doing a hell of a job recruiting since taking over. No matter how things go this season, it seems like he’s doing a great job of setting himself up for future success.

      1. I think that JJ has done about as well as can be expected at this point. However, only time will tell for certain about this class overall and the individuals that make it up. In all honesty it seems to me at this time that this group, when compared to the rest of the ACC and our ability to compete with them, has extremely low potential. Again, given what they will be up against and the circumstances faced by JJ, I’m not blaming him in any way. Combine this with the talent we already have, and the picture is bleak for the next 2 or 3 years. Right now we have only 1 player who has demonstrated “ACC” level ability, Eric Green. We have 1 guy, Raines, who in late season showed he had at least a pulse. The rest of them have been bad so far.

      2. How do you figure? One 4* player, and a few stiffs off the lumber pile that NOBODY offered? We’re an ACC program….can’t compete with old days / metro conference talent.

        You can hardly expect more from a complete unknown of a coach in his first recruiting class at a football school…I understand that….but you get what you pay for….we’re getting what we paid for….mediocrity.

        I’m not getting my hopes up on Johnson’s chances, the odds against him making any kind of noise are astronomically low. I’ve got my hopes set on the future when I hope we get an AD similar to Oliver Luck at WVU that understands what it takes to win. Weaver loves to spend money on facilities, but when it comes to coaches he likes to dumpster dive.

    2. Low expectations should make it fun to watch this year; every win will be enjoyable and a winning overall record alone will be a major success.

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