Louisville Men's Basketball Picked to Finish 12th in 2022 ACC Preseason Poll

The Cardinals are heading into the first year of the Kenny Payne era.

CHARLOTTE - The 2022-23 Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball preseason poll and All-ACC team was released Tuesday, and Louisville was selected to finish 12th in the conference race, according to a vote of 101 media members across the league.

North Carolina, who was recently ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll, was chosen as the favorite to win the ACC title this season. Duke, Virginia, Miami and Florida State round out the top five.

UNC senior forward/center Armando Bacot earned Preseason ACC Player of the Year honors, whereas Duke freshman center Dereck Lively II was tabbed as the Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year.

Related: Louisville Ranked No. 91 in 2022-23 Preseason KenPom Ratings

Last season, Louisville suffered their first losing campaign in over two decades, going 13-19 and mutually separating with head coach Chris Mack midway through the season. The Cardinals hired Kenny Payne, a former national champion with Louisville as a player and longtime assistant coach at Kentucky, as their next head coach.

The Cardinals have just six returners from last season in Sydney Curry, El Ellis, Mike James, Jae'Lyn Withers, J.J. Traynor and Roosevelt Wheeler. Louisville and Payne added 2022 prospects Kamari Lands, Devin Ree and Fabio Basili; as well as transfers Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Hercy Miller to the fold to replace the departing talent.

Louisville will tip-off the regular season on Wednesday, Nov. 9 against Bellarmine at the KFC Yum! Center. The complete predicted order of finish and preseason All-ACC team is listed below:

ACC Men’s Basketball Tipoff - 2022 Preseason Poll (101 total votes)

1. North Carolina (90), 1504
2. Duke (2), 1339
3. Virginia (6), 1310
4. Miami (2), 1138
5. Florida State, 1064
6. Notre Dame, 971
7. Virginia Tech (1), 921
8. Syracuse, 700
9. Wake Forest, 672
10. NC State, 548
11. Clemson, 528
12. Louisville, 477
13. Boston College, 368
14. Pitt, 320
15. Georgia Tech, 260
First-place votes in parentheses

Preseason All-ACC

First Team
Name, School, Votes
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 100
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 81
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 58
Terquavion Smith, NC State, 46
Jeremy Roach, Duke, 35

Second Team
Name, School, Votes
Jayden Gardner, Virginia, 32
Dereck Lively II, Duke, 19
Justyn Mutts, Virginia Tech, 18
PJ Hall, Clemson, 17
RJ Davis, North Carolina, 14

Preseason Player of the Year
Name, School, Votes
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 82
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 5
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 4
Jeremy Roach, Duke, 3
PJ Hall, Clemson, 2
RJ Davis, North Carolina, 2
Terquavion Smith, NC State, 1
Hunter Cattoor, Virginia Tech, 1
Dariq Whitehead, Duke, 1

Preseason Rookie of the Year
Name, School, Votes
Dereck Lively II, Duke, 57
Dariq Whitehead, Duke, 25
Tyrese Proctor, Duke, 5
Mark Mitchell, Duke, 3
Tyler Nickel, North Carolina, 2
Jalen Washington, North Carolina, 2
JJ Starling, Notre Dame, 2
Kyle Filipowski, Duke, 2
Prince Aligbe, Boston College, 1
Isaac McKneely, Virginia, 1
Seth Trimble, North Carolina, 1

(Photo of Kenny Payne: Nell Redmond - theACC.com)

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