On the eve of the ACC Tournament, Duke dominates the regular season awards

While Syracuse did not conduct an open workout Monday on the main court of the Spectrum Center, one current and one former Orange player received 2026 season recognition.

March 9, 2026 Charlotte, N.C., USA; A sign on the outside wall of the Spectrum Center in Uptown Charlotte, promotes the 2026 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament. Mandatory Credit: Brad Bierman, The Juice Online - On SI | Brad Bierman, The Juice Online - On SI

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Certainly not wanting to have a bunch of media potentially throwing similar questions out at Adrian Autry to one's he answered last Saturday about his job status after the Dome regular season finale, 14th seed Syracuse (15-16) handled its pre-ACC Tourney business privately Monday in Charlotte, arriving on an afternoon charter flight.

A day after two of his league coaching colleagues (Earl Grant at BC at Damon Stoudamire at Georgia Tech) were dismissed from their jobs, there was no desire by SU to put Autry out front, other than his routine pre-tourney game production meeting with the ESPN/ACC broadcast talent calling and producing the matchup with the 11-seed SMU (19-12) Tuesday afternoon (4:30 p.m. ET / ACCN).

While the 'Cuse stayed low key, the five other first-round participants conducted 45 minute practice sessions on the arena's main floor, and as those sessions wrapped up in late afternoon, the league released its season award honors.

The 2026 face of ACC basketball is Duke's Cameron Boozer

The Blue Devils big man, who makes the game look so easy at times playing so much under control, was the unanimous selection as the ACC Player and Rookie of the Year, in voting determined by an 86-member panel consisting of the league’s 18 head coaches and 68 members of the media. Incredibly, Boozer became the fifth Duke player to win the POY and ROY awards in the same season,

In one that hurts for Syracuse fans, former Orange big man Maliq Brown of Duke was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year, becoming the first player in conference history to sweep those two awards in the same season.

Duke's Jon Scheyer was named Coach of the Year, while Wake Forest guard Juke Harris was named the Most Improved Player of the Year. Four of the five First Team selections were freshmen, a historic first for the conference since frosh became varsity eligible in 1972-73.

Two Syracuse players were recognzed in a losing regular season

The only SU player to receive all-conference recognition was Orange forward Donnie Freeman named to the Honorable Mention list, Freeman led SU in scoring and rebounding at 17 ppg and 7.4 rpg despite missing nine games due to injury.

Center Will Kyle III was seventh in the voting for Defensive Player of the Year, after he finished the regular season tied for fourth in the country in blocked shots with 80, and was just behind Freeman in rebounding averaging 7.1 rpg.

ACC FIRST TEAM

Cameron Boozer, Duke (Freshman)

Caleb Wilson, North Carolina (Freshman)

Ebuka Okorie, Stanford (Freshman)

Malik Reneau, Miami (Senior)

Thijs De Ridder, Virginia (Freshman)

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