We'll have to wait a bit longer before the release of the preseason ACC men's basketball poll, but it won't really tell us anything we don't already know. Expectations will be terribly low for first year coach Jim Christian and the new-look Boston College Eagles; breaking in a bunch of new players while trying to replace the production of Ryan Anderson and Joe Rahon, who transferred to Arizona and St. Mary's, respectively.
As something of a preview of this year's ACC men's basketball poll, ESPN's Jeff Goodman asked an anonymous group of Big 5 conference coaches to rank the programs in the ACC from top to bottom. The results, of course, are not surprising.
1. Duke Blue Devils - 260 (12)
2. Louisville Cardinals - 238 (4)
3. North Carolina Tar Heels - 236
4. Virginia Cavaliers - 230 (2)
5. Syracuse Orange - 198
6. Pittsburgh Panthers - 172
7. Florida State Seminoles - 138
8. North Carolina State Wolfpack - 136
9. Miami Hurricanes - 126
10. Notre Dame Fighting Irish - 118
11. Clemson Tigers - 110
12t. Wake Forest Demon Deacons - 62
12t. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets - 62
14. Virginia Tech Hokies - 42
15. Boston College Eagles - 30
It'll be interesting to see whether Christian can make all the disparate players work together this season. Considering BC finished NOT last in three out of four years under Donahue, including NOT last in each of the last two, it's a reasonable assumption that BC will finish NOT last again this season and defy preseason expectations (which, again, will be extremely low).
Nowhere to go but up, right?
HT: Card Chroncle