/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45846488/usa-today-8430898.0.jpg)
Now that the dust has settled on the regular season, let's revisit those ACC men's basketball preseason rankings.
Seed | Program | Preseason | W-L |
1 | Virginia Cavaliers | 3 | 16-2 |
2 | Duke Blue Devils | (1) | 15-3 |
3 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 4 | 14-4 |
4 | Louisville Cardinals | (1) | 12-6 |
5 | North Carolina Tar Heels | (3) | 11-7 |
6 | Miami Hurricanes | 4 | 10-8 |
7 | North Carolina State Wolfpack | 2 | 10-8 |
8 | Clemson Tigers | 3 | 8-10 |
9 | Florida State Seminoles | (1) | 8-10 |
10 | Pittsburgh Panthers | (4) | 8-10 |
11 | Wake Forest Demon Deacons | 1 | 5-13 |
12 | Boston College Eagles | 2 | 4-14 |
13 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | --- | 3-15 |
14 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 1 | 2-16 |
-- | Syracuse Orange | (3) | 9-9 |
Despite going on a 9-game losing streak in conference play, the Eagles ever so slightly exceeded expectations in Jim Christian's first regular season. Boston College, which lost three of its top four scorers from the 2013-14 team that finished 14th in the conference (Anderson and Rahon to transfer, Jackson to injury), was picked to once again finish 14th in the preseason media poll. While BC earned the tournament's #12 seed, if you include Syracuse, BC bested preseason expectations by just one spot. Still, Jim Christian had his team playing pretty good basketball down the stretch—including convincing victories over both Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, the other two ACC outfits coached by first-year coaches.
Looking around the conference, the media overrated Pitt the most of any program. The Panthers, picked to finish 6th in the preseason media poll, finished in a three-way tie for 8th and earning the tournament's #10 seed. Had Syracuse participated in this year's ACC Tournament, Pitt would have fallen all the way to Tuesday's opening round. The media also overvalued North Carolina and Syracuse by three spots.
On the flipside, the media undervalued Notre Dame and Miami the most. Both the Fighting Irish and Hurricanes finished four spots higher than their predicted preseason poll finish. Regular season champion Virginia and Clemson also finished three spots higher than their predicted finish.
Syracuse's Rakeem Christmas and BC's Olivier Hanlan displaced Louisville's Montrezl Harrel and North Carolina's Marcus Paige on the postseason All-ACC first team, while the preseason pick for Rookie of the Year, Duke's Jahlil Okafor, also took home postseason POY honors.