The 2022-23 men's assemblage hoops play is six days away, and ESPN.com's sheet of experts continues to supply everything you request to cognize astir the nation's apical conferences earlier tip. They've squared distant the mid-majors, the American, the Pac-12, the Big East, the Big Ten and the SEC. The absorption present turns to the ACC.
For the 2nd play successful a row, the ACC enters different play without 1 of its longtime legendary coaches. In 2021, it was Hubert Davis replacing Roy Williams. This time, it's Jon Scheyer replacing Mike Krzyzewski. Scheyer landed the No. 1 recruiting people successful the state and enters his debut play with precocious expectations, portion besides looking to pb Duke into a caller era.
While the alteration connected the sideline successful Durham volition garner astir of the headlines implicit the adjacent 5 months, the league arsenic a full is hoping for betterment connected the tribunal successful 2022-23. For the archetypal fractional of the past campaign, determination was interest implicit the ACC earning arsenic fewer arsenic 3 bids to the NCAA tournament. When the particulate settled, though, 5 teams heard their names connected Selection Sunday -- with lone Duke higher than an 8-seed. A March show that saw 2 teams scope the Final Four and different the Elite Eight gives the quality the league should person possibly earned much bids. But a deeper apical fractional of the league should beryllium successful the ACC's show this season.
North Carolina, with 4 starters returning from a squad that reached the nationalist rubric game, enters the play atop the preseason rankings, portion Duke is simply a mainstay successful the apical 10. A leap from Virginia is expected, portion Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame should consciousness assured astir their NCAA hopes.
And aft back-to-back offseasons with caller coaches astatine North Carolina and Duke, it's worthy wondering: Is Syracuse's Jim Boeheim getting adjacent to pursuing Williams and Krzyzewski into retirement?
Find much preseason investigation here.
ACC 2022-23 superlatives
Player of the Year
Myron Medcalf: Armando Bacot, North Carolina
Jeff Borzello: Armando Bacot, North Carolina
John Gasaway: Armando Bacot, North Carolina
Joe Lunardi: Armando Bacot, North Carolina
Newcomer of the Year
Medcalf: Tyrese Proctor, Duke
Borzello: Tyrese Proctor, Duke
Gasaway: Dereck Lively II, Duke
Lunardi: Dereck Lively II, Duke
ACC 2022-23 roundtable
What is Jon Scheyer's biggest situation successful Duke's archetypal play without Mike Krzyzewski successful 42 years?
Borzello: Figuring retired relation allocation and chemistry for a squad with 1 cardinal returnee and 11 newcomers -- including the No. 1 recruiting people successful the state and aggregate imaginable lottery picks. Proctor has been earning rave reviews successful the fall, truthful erstwhile Dariq Whitehead returns from injury, does Scheyer rotation with a three-guard lineup? Where does seasoned shooter Jacob Grandison acceptable in? Kyle Filipowski has struggled a spot successful the preseason, truthful does Scheyer spell with Mark Mitchell astatine the 4 until he's much comfy successful the assemblage game? Lively was the No. 1 enlistee successful the country, but Northwestern transportation Ryan Young mightiness beryllium the team's champion low-post scorer. How volition the minutes beryllium doled retired there? There's surely capable endowment present to marque it work, though.
Gasaway: It's uncommon for a first-year caput manager to person this galore players who are this talented and who knowingly signed up to play for the caller guy. In beforehand of immoderate crippled results, we tin accidental the succession program by itself was a nifty portion of work. But if the Blue Devils neglect to unrecorded up to expectations aboriginal determination volition beryllium a spot much astonishment and concern. Scheyer's biggest situation is the presumption that helium should and volition beryllium Coach K Jr. from Day 1.
Lunardi: There was a manager erstwhile who went 51-10 successful his archetypal 2 seasons astatine a big-time school, won his league title some years, made the NCAA tourney each clip and threw successful a Final Four quality for bully measure. And it wasn't enough. The manager was Gene Bartow, the schoolhouse was UCLA and the elephant successful the country was John Wooden. One could reason Mike Krzyzewski is an adjacent bigger elephant for Scheyer, who wasn't adjacent calved erstwhile Coach K took implicit astatine Duke. On the flip side, the Blue Devils' coaching modulation has been meticulously managed, and Scheyer has been sitting connected Krzyzewski's seat for a decade. It's hard to ideate a large drop-off successful Durham. Scheyer's biggest challenge? Being Jon Scheyer. That, and winning each crippled for the remainder of his career. Just kidding. Probably.
Medcalf: Although Hubert Davis ended his archetypal play connected a high, the North Carolina's 29-point nonaccomplishment successful December to Kentucky surely caused immoderate interest among the fanbase. The 4 coaches who followed Wooden implicit a 10-year span endured the aforesaid sentiments. It's intolerable to cognize however Scheyer volition fare. This is the archetypal clip immoderate manager has followed a antheral wide regarded arsenic the modern GOAT successful assemblage hoops coaching. And I deliberation it's his toughest task.
North Carolina is the preseason No. 1. Are we being excessively optimistic astir Hubert Davis' accidental to scope the Final Four for a 2nd clip successful 2 years?
1:31
Check retired immoderate of the champion plays from Caleb Love, R.J. Davis, Leaky Black and Armando Bacot arsenic they instrumentality this play for North Carolina.
Medcalf: I deliberation the optimism is warranted. Davis said it would instrumentality immoderate clip to get things rolling astatine UNC, and erstwhile helium did, the Tar Heels played a bully information of the nationalist rubric crippled with a steadfast pb implicit Kansas. Bacot and different cardinal pieces are back. Pete Nance arrives from Northwestern. And I deliberation North Carolina surely looks similar the astir implicit squad successful America. North Carolina feels similar the casual prime to triumph it each close now, not conscionable a astute prime for a Final Four run.
Borzello: We request to dispel the conception the Tar Heels are "only" ranked No. 1 due to the fact that of the mode they played successful the NCAA tournament. This is simply a squad that went 17-4 successful its last 21 games, beating the likes of Duke (twice), Virginia Tech (twice), Baylor and UCLA. Their adjusted ratio borderline astatine BartTorvik.com implicit that span enactment them astatine No. 11 nationally. It's not truthful antithetic for a squad to leap up to No. 1 erstwhile it brings astir everyone back, is it? Something clicked with the backcourt of Caleb Love and R.J. Davis precocious past season. They instrumentality on with Bacot and Leaky Black. And Nance is acceptable to measurement successful for Brady Manek.
Gasaway: I privation Borzello arsenic my agent. Persuasive! Let's see, 17-4 ... [checks notes] ... The disastrous nine-point nonaccomplishment astatine location to Pitt! During Bubble Watch, I get yelled astatine by readers erstwhile a squad loses to Pitt, due to the fact that that's erstwhile I constitute things like, "The Tar Heels volition inactive marque the tournament." Well, they did. When adjacent the astir skeptical quality oregon laptop ranks you No. 9 (KenPom), you tin inactive perfectly triumph it all. Also, if Baylor wins the overtime play against UNC successful the 2022 circular of 32, the Heels are not AP's preseason No. 1. Both tin beryllium true.
Lunardi: Yes, some tin beryllium true. But determination is simply a agelong -- and I mean long -- database of teams that dramatically outplay their NCAA tourney seeds, instrumentality a mostly intact roster the pursuing twelvemonth and, astir without fail, spot a regression to the mean: Three months of results is ever a amended indicator of aboriginal show than 3 weeks. We request lone spell backmost 1 play to the past example. UCLA sprinted from the First Four to the Final Four successful 2021, and past to astir the apical of the polls the pursuing November. Those Bruins were good, but not bully enough. Were expectations unmet, oregon unreasonable to statesman with? North Carolina definite looks similar an objection to the rule. Yet the likelihood are it volition not marque the Final Four again. Much much often than not, that's conscionable the mode it goes.
Let's speech astir the ACC teams who unexpectedly underperformed past season. Who are you hoping volition bounce backmost this season?
1:30
Kihei Clark gets disconnected to a blistery commencement arsenic helium cashes retired six 3-pointers successful the archetypal fractional against Duke.
Borzello: There's nary mode a Tony Bennett-coached squad misses the NCAA tourney successful 2 consecutive seasons, is there? Nearly everyone is backmost from past season's group, including starring scorer Jayden Gardner, seasoned stalwart Kihei Clark and imaginable breakout campaigner Reece Beekman. Virginia besides brings successful a high-level recruiting people featuring 4 four-star freshmen and Ohio transportation Ben Vander Plas to assistance connected the violative end. This mightiness beryllium Bennett's deepest squad successful presumption of scoring options successful a agelong time. However, the biggest contented with the Cavaliers past play came defensively, the worst portion since 2011. If that tin beryllium fixed, this is simply a clear-cut top-three ACC team.
Gasaway: Is this a instrumentality question? I'm squinting but I can't find a squad that: a) underperformed past play and b) is owed to bounce back. Though seated comfortably adjacent to Borzello connected the Virginia 2023 bandwagon, I don't spot the Cavaliers arsenic having underperformed successful 2022. In this preview a twelvemonth agone I wondered whether the Hoos would marque the tournament. They did not. Conversely, Florida State did underperform. The Seminoles were No. 20 successful the AP preseason canvass and ended their 17-14 play with a 39-point nonaccomplishment to Syracuse. Now laptops are bearish connected Leonard Hamilton's group.
Lunardi: I'll specify "underperforming" for astir ACC teams arsenic not making the NCAA tournament. Virginia did not, aft an eight-year tally that included 4 No. 1 seeds, a No. 2 effect and the 2019 nationalist championship. The Cavs volition beryllium backmost and determination are nary UMBC's connected the horizon.
Medcalf: Virginia mightiness person underperformed comparative to our expectations for Virginia nether Tony Bennett. It besides says a batch that a 21-win play and 12-8 run successful the league contention is viewed arsenic a miss by some. But Clark & Co. volition bring Virginia backmost into ACC rubric contention and articulation Duke arsenic UNC's toughest hostile successful the ACC race.
Who oregon what are we not talking astir capable astir crossed the ACC?
1:58
Check retired highlights from NC State's standout defender Terquavion Smith arsenic helium decides to instrumentality to schoolhouse for the 2022 season.
Borzello: If I told you that the champion NBA imaginable successful the state returning from past play resided successful the ACC, your archetypal thought apt wouldn't beryllium that helium came from a bottom-half squad successful the league. But Terquavion Smith, contempt playing for 11-21 (4-16 successful the ACC) NC State past season, is simply a projected lottery pick. He's the highest-ranked subordinate successful the latest 2023 ESPN mock draft with assemblage acquisition by astir 20 spots. Smith is simply a genuinely elite scorer, shooting amended than 40% from 3-point scope successful ACC play. He scored 20-plus points 13 times past play -- 5 of those successful his last six games -- and dropped 30-plus connected some Florida State and North Carolina. NC State should beryllium much-improved this season, and Smith should go a household name.
Lunardi: Steve Forbes has precise softly turned Wake Forest into a near-immediate contender. No 1 goes from six wins to 25 successful the ACC successful 2 years (or from 3 league wins to 13). Losing Alondes Williams volition hurt, obviously, and the Demon Deacons are apt a twelvemonth distant from superior NCAA contention, but Wake's programme is yet backmost connected way aft much than a twelve years successful the wilderness.
Medcalf: The status rumors astir Jim Boeheim proceed to swirl. But the rumblings that he's going to play a batch of antheral to antheral defence this season, aft utilizing his patented 2-3 portion for decades, is the existent storyline that could get immoderate attraction this season.
Gasaway: Can Syracuse marque the tournament? If not, it volition people the archetypal clip the Orange person missed back-to-back NCAA tournaments successful 15 years. Joseph Girard III and Jesse Edwards instrumentality arsenic starters from a squad that looked similar it could propulsion for a bid successful precocious February but closed the regular play by losing 4 straight. If Boeheim's going to get this radical into the tract of 68, there's country for betterment connected D. Syracuse finished No. 12 successful league play for points allowed per possession contempt atrocious 3-point shooting by opponents.
English (US)