2025-26 ACC Men's Basketball Preseason Media Poll Selections Released: ACC Daily

How does the media rank the men's basketball programs of the Atlantic Coast Conference heading into 2025-26, as well as select other player-specific awards?

Oct 8, 2025; Charlotte, NC, USA; NC State player Darrion Williams answers questions from the media at The Hilton Charlotte Uptown. Mandatory Credit: William Howard-Imagn Images | William Howard-Imagn Images

On Tuesday afternoon, the Atlantic Coast Conference released its Preseason Poll selections by select media for ACC men’s basketball teams, including the rankings for ACC Preseason Player of the Year and ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year.

The poll also included the 2025-26 Preseason All-ACC First and Second Team selections, with two starting fives—10 total players—making up the selections.

For the 10th time in the last 13 years, Duke, ranked No. 6 in the preseason Associated Press poll, was voted the preseason favorite to win the 2025-26 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Championship.

The Blue Devils received 34 out of 49 first-place votes, accumulating 866 total points. No. 11 Louisville (15 first-place votes, 842 total points) received the second-most points, followed by No. 25 North Carolina (741 total points), North Carolina State (710 total points), and Virginia (623 total points).

The full list for the ACC Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll is as follows (with first-place votes in parentheses):

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

Preseason Predicted Order of Finish for the 25-26 season 📊 pic.twitter.com/tomny8ScPK

— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) October 14, 2025

NC State senior forward Darrion Williams was named the 2025-26 ACC Preseason Player of the Year with 23 votes, and Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer—who received 19 votes for ACC Preseason Player of the Year, second to Williams—was tabbed the ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year with 43 votes.

The additional players who received votes for the conference’s Preseason Player of the Year were Notre Dame’s Markus Burton (2), Syracuse’s J.J. Starling (2), Boston College’s Donald Hand Jr. (1), Georgia Tech’s Baye Ndongo (1), and UNC’s Caleb Wilson (1).

For Preseason Rookie of the Year, Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr. (3), Wilson (2) and Virginia Tech’s Neoklis Avdala (1) received votes.

Meanwhile, the 2025-26 Preseason All-ACC First and Second Team are comprised of the following players:

First Team by name, school, and 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

Season No. 73 of ACC men’s basketball opens up play on Monday, Nov. 3, when 15 of the conference’s 18 programs go into action mode. However, the BC men's basketball program was technically the first ACC program to start play in 2025, as it headed down to the Mohegan Sun Casino on Monday to face UConn in an exhibition game.

The Eagles lost, 71-52, to the No. 4 Huskies.

Conference play will not start until Tuesday, Dec. 30, and the ACC has returned to an 18-game format for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign.