Virginia Tech Basketball Picked To Finish Seventh In ACC

By: David Cunningham | Managing Editor
Virginia Tech men’s basketball. (Ivan Morozov)

The ACC released its 2022-23 preseason media poll on Tuesday and Virginia Tech was picked to finish seventh in the 15-team league.

Here’s the full poll, with point totals for each team:

(The ACC)

The Hokies return two starters from last year’s ACC championship group: Justyn Mutts and Hunter Cattoor. Darius Maddox and Sean Pedulla, two players who had key roles late in 2021-22 season, are back as well. Wright State transfer Grant Basile is expected to slide in at the five and complete the starting lineup.

Tech was picked to finish fifth last season, much higher than the previous two seasons (11th and 14th). Ultimately, the Hokies were the No. 7 seed in the ACC Tournament, which they won in Brooklyn, N.Y. 

Here’s a list of Virginia Tech men’s basketball’s preseason predicted finish since joining the ACC in 2004, along with the program’s final standing:

YearPreseason PickFinal Standing
2004-0510th4th
2005-068th10th
2006-076th3rd
2007-0810th4th
2008-096th8th
2009-108th4th
2010-112nd6th
2011-126th9th
2012-1310th12th
2013-1415th15th
2014-1515th14th
2015-1614th7th
2016-1710th7th
2017-187th7th
2018-195th5th
2019-2014th12th
2020-2111th3rd
2021-225th7th* (ACC Title)
2022-237th11th
2023-248thTBD

The Hokies open their 2022-23 season at home vs. Delaware State on Monday, Nov. 7 (9 p.m.). It’s a doubleheader with the Tech women’s program, who faces Mount St. Mary’s (5 p.m.).

The ACC opener for Mike Young & Co. is on Sunday, Dec. 4 vs. Hubert Davis and North Carolina, the No. 1 team in the country, per the AP Top 25.

For articles on previous ACC basketball preseason polls, click here.

David Cunningham’s Ballot

Below is how I voted for my predicted order of finish:

1: North Carolina
2: Virginia
3: Duke
4: Miami
5: Notre Dame
6: Virginia Tech
7: Florida State
8: Clemson
9: Syracuse
10: Boston College
11: Wake Forest
12: NC State
13: Louisville
14: Pitt
15: Georgia Tech

Justyn Mutts Named Preseason Second Team All-ACC

It was also announced on Tuesday that Virginia Tech forward Justyn Mutts was named to the preseason All-ACC Second Team. 

(The ACC)

The graduate student from Millville, N.J., who was on TSL Podcast Episode 265 on Tuesday afternoon, received 18 votes. Mutts averaged 10.1 points last season and led the Hokies with 7.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in 2021-22.

North Carolina center Armando Bacot was named the ACC Preseason Player of the Year and received the most votes to the All-ACC First Team. Bacot, Miami guard Isaiah Wong and Clemson forward PJ Hall are the only three returnees from last year’s All-ACC teams.

Virginia Tech guard Hunter Cattoor received one vote for the league’s preseason player of the year. Duke freshman Dereck Lively II, the No. 1 recruit in the 2022 class, was named Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year.

David Cunningham’s Ballot

Here’s how I voted on my All-ACC ballot, along with player of the year and rookie of the year:

All-ACC:

Armando Bacot, F/C, North Carolina
Caleb Love, G, North Carolina
Jayden Gardner, F, Virginia
Dane Goodwin, G, Notre Dame
Justyn Mutts, F, Virginia Tech

Preseason Player of the Year: Armando Bacot, F/C, North Carolina

Preseason Rookie of the Year: Dereck Lively II, C, Duke

Hokies Receive One Point in Preseason AP Top 25

After finishing the 2021-22 season with a loss to Texas in the NCAA Tournament, Virginia Tech received 63 points in the final AP Poll, good for the first team outside the top 25. To start 2022-23, the Hokies received one point, tied with Memphis, Notre Dame, Toledo and UAB.

Three teams represent the ACC in the preseason AP Top 25: No. 1 North Carolina, No. 7 Duke and No. 18 Virginia. Miami (66 points), Florida State (32) and Notre Dame (1) received votes. Dayton, who the Hokies square off with on Dec. 7 in Cassell Coliseum, is No. 24. 

Of the fellow ACC schools ranked, the Hokies see UNC once (Dec. 4), Duke twice (Jan. 23, Feb. 25) and Virginia twice (Jan. 18, Feb. 4). They also play Miami twice (Feb. 1, Feb. 21), Florida State once (March 4) and Notre Dame once (Feb. 11). 

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20 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Got a feeling we will end up better than 7th but being overlooked is fine with me. GO HOKIES!!

    1. It was supposed to be cute play on 2022/2023 season. But sucks visitors are winning!

  3. So, on average, over 17 years VT ends up two positions higher than the preseason prediction. So, 6 instead of 7 is reasonable.

    1. that’s 27 places higher over 17 years, so yeah, on average at least one position higher per year.

  4. suggest – label players in team photo so readers know who’s who, and maybe add a column to table listing VT Head Coach (just to help provide some context) since going back to 2004

  5. Defending ACC champs coached by possibly the best coach in the conference? Whaa? UVA won the ACC tournament in 1976 as the #6 (of 7) seed; they only played 3 games. Not only did we win, but we did so by winning 4 games in 4 days. UVA almost repeated in 1977, advancing tio the Final w/o Wally Walker. We will miss Keve Aluma for sure but it says here we won’t finsih #7. For one thing, we won’t start 0-7. UVA was almost overnight a national power. Terry Holland recruited Jeff Lamp and Lee Raker in 1978, Ralph Sampson in 1979. Given the coaching changes in the ACC since last season and the fact that Boeheim should already be retired, Mike Young is a huge advantage.

  8. Isaiah Wong made first team pre-season? Hasn’t he been playing at Miama for about 10 seasons already?

      1. Bacot has something like 500k in NIL payments coming his way

        Its wild to me that these All-ACC teams don’t have position requirements. ACC first team is 3 PG’s a SG and a C. second team is 2 C’s, 2 F’s and a PG. At least between the two there’s a balanced roster of 5x PG/SG and 5x F/C

        IMO the teams should be top 2 G + top 2 F + top remaining player

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