CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Duke was voted the preseason favorite to win the 2025-26 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Championship, following a vote of a select media panel. Ranked No. 6 nationally in the preseason Associated Press poll, the Blue Devils are the preseason ACC favorites for the 10th time in the last 13 seasons.
The media panelists selected NC State senior forward Darrion Williams as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, while Duke’s Cameron Boozer was chosen as ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year.
Duke picked up 34 of the 49 first-place votes, accumulating 866 total points. Ranked No. 11 nationally in the preseason AP poll, Louisville took second in the ACC preseason prognostications with the remaining 15 first-place votes and 842 total points. North Carolina, No. 25 nationally in the AP preseason rankings, was third in the ACC poll with 741 points.
Led by first-year head coach Will Wade, NC State (765 points) was picked fourth in the poll for its highest preseason ranking since the 2013-14 season. Virginia (623) was fifth, while SMU (616) was sixth, Clemson (510) was picked seventh and Miami (500) took eighth.
Syracuse was ninth in the poll and was followed in 10th through 18th, respectively, by Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Pitt, Florida State, California, Stanford and Boston College.
Williams headlines the Preseason All-ACC Team and is joined on the first team by Boozer, Notre Dame’s Markus Burton and the Louisville tandem of Ryan Conwell and freshman Mikel Brown Jr. Williams was a First-Team All-Big 12 pick last season while at Texas Tech, while Burton was a Second-Team All-ACC selection and Conwell was a Third-Team All-Big East honoree while at Xavier.
The second team consists of Duke’s Isaiah Evans, Georgia Tech’s Baye Ndongo, North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson, SMU’s Boopie Miller and Syracuse’s J.J. Starling. Ndongo and Miller each notched Third-Team All-ACC honors last season.
Williams averaged 15.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game last year at Texas Tech and owns 1,140 career points, 674 rebounds and 295 assists entering his senior season (11.4 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 3.6 apg). He led the Red Raiders by averaging 21.0 points in four NCAA Tournament games last season and paced the team with 23 points in the Elite Eight against eventual national champion Florida, as well as a season-high 28 points in the second-round win over Drake. He recorded 27 double-figure scoring games last season, including nine games of 20 or more points. A native of Sacramento, California, Williams was a Third-Team All-Big 12 pick in 2024.
A 6-9, 250-pound forward from Miami, Florida, Boozer ranked as a five-star prospect and the third player overall in the 2025 recruiting class by both ESPN and 247Sports, as well as the No. 1 power forward and the No. 1 player in Florida. He was a three-time recipient of the Florida Mr. Basketball award and two-time recipient of the Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award (2023, 2025). Boozer was honored with a 2025 ESPY award as the Gatorade Player of the Year, for all high school male sports and earned co-MVP honors in the 2025 McDonald's All-American Game, finishing with 16 points and 12 rebounds. The son of former Duke All-American Carlos Boozer, he teamed up with twin brother Cayden to win four straight state championships and a national title at the 2025 Chipotle Nationals during a historic career at Christopher Columbus High School.
The 73rd season of ACC men’s basketball begins on Monday, November 3, with 15 of the league’s 18 teams in action. League play starts on Tuesday, December 30, as the conference returns to an 18-game format for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign.
ACC Men's Basketball:
• Has won 15 NCAA national championships.
• Teams currently in the ACC have combined to win eight of the last 24 NCAA crowns and 19 overall.
• The ACC has captured three of the last 10 NCAA Championships (Duke 2015, North Carolina 2017 and Virginia 2019).
• Since 2015, the ACC leads all conferences in Men’s Final Four appearances (10) and NCAA Tournament wins (116).
• Six different ACC programs have reached the Final Four since 2015 (Duke, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia, Syracuse) – the most schools of any league in that span.
• Since the tournament expanded in 1985, nearly half of the ACC teams that earned NCAA Tournament bids have reached the Sweet 16 (106 of 218).
2025 ACC Preseason Poll
School, Points
1. Duke (34), 866
2. Louisville (15), 842
3. North Carolina, 741
4. NC State, 710
5. Virginia, 623
6. SMU, 616
7. Clemson, 510
8. Miami, 500
9. Syracuse, 489
10. Notre Dame, 477
11. Wake Forest, 412
12. Virginia Tech, 355
13. Georgia Tech, 315
14. Pitt, 301
15. Florida State, 221
16. California, 156
17. Stanford, 138
18. Boston College, 107
First-place votes in parentheses; 49 total voters
2025-26 Preseason All-ACC Team
First Team
Name, School, Votes
Cameron Boozer, Duke, 46
Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 46
Darrion Williams, NC State, 45
Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville, 36
Ryan Conwell, Louisville, 36
Second Team
Isaiah Evans, Duke, 24
Boopie Miller, SMU, 27
J.J. Starling, Syracuse, 27
Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 24
Caleb Wilson, North Carolina, 24
ACC Preseason Player of the Year
Darrion Williams, NC State, 23 votes
Cameron Boozer, Duke, 19
Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 2
J.J. Starling, Syracuse, 2
Donald Hand Jr., Boston College, 1
Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 1
Caleb Wilson, North Carolina, 1
ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year
Cameron Boozer, Duke, 43 votes
Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville, 3
Caleb Wilson, North Carolina, 2
Neoklis Avdalas, Virginia Tech, 1