It’s been a long offseason. Let’s get the previews rolled out and dive right into it all. OK, so those two things don’t add up, but let’s start anyway. The ACC, for perhaps the first time in six years, will enter the season without a clear-cut top-tier team or two.
Who’s in the Top 25: North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, Georgia Tech.
Last three regular-season champions: UNC, UNC, UNC.
2009 Tournament record: 11-8.
Five best players:
• Senior Greivis Vasquez (Maryland). A “gamer,” if you will. Vasquez could have one of those years in which he wins the conference player of the year award in the same fashion Jared Dudley or Julius Hodge did: powering a team to The Tournament and having terrific performances despite clearly being the marked man each night.
• Sophomore Ed Davis (North Carolina). Ed Davis will probably end up being three times the pro player he is in college, but it should be a joy to watch the UNC offense funnel through the 6-10 center.
• Junior Kyle Singler (Duke). Singler, many insist on arguing, has the most talent of any player in this conference. I’ve never seen it, but he makes sure he gets the ball in the final minutes. Since he comes through with regularity, he deserves mention.
• Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest). Aminu is a guilty pleasure of mine. If he wakes up this year, he has the talent to run away with the POY award.
• Sophomore Sylven Landesberg (Virginia). Yeah, you probably don’t know who this guy is, but hopefully you will soon enough. It might be a bit of a stretch putting him here (Clemson’s Trevor Booker has a claim), but Landesberg is a joy to watch on a mostly yawn-inducing team.
Freshmen to watch:
• Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech). Favors is the newbie getting the most pub. Kind of shock that he ended up in Atlanta, where the Bumble Bees might have a chance to turn around last year’s 12-19 record into a Tournament berth.
• Mason Plumlee (Duke). Plumlee is expected to get the start in the Blue Devils’ lineup. The system will be adapting to him, instead of vice versa, so it might not take too long for Duke to get the new system clicking.
• Milton Jennings (Clemson). Athletic player who only enhances Clemson’s aggressive style. He’ll fit right in, but the deep range will need to be above the 40 percent mark if the Tigers want to flirt with the big boys.
Coaching changes: Tony Bennett left Washington State (uh, why?) to come to Virginia. Despite the change in philosophy, it’s going to be a similar style in Charlottesville: not a lot of points on offense.
Five storylines to follow:
1) Duke’s change in strategy. The Blue Devils will be going big for the first time in, well, maybe ever. Two frosh forwards — Plumlee and Ryan Kelly — will hope to give television producers a reason to show an insufferable amount of Christian Laettner and Carlos Boozer highlights.
2) UNC’s return to earth. Carolina was anticipated to win the title last year and they did just that. So many fellas from that team are gone. Still, it wouldn’t surprise you if this team finishes 13-3 in conference, would it? Let’s see how the club looks when it plays in the Coaches vs. Cancer. Ohio State, Cal and Syracuse are all possible foes.
3) Climate shift in Charlottesville. I still don’t quite get why Tony Bennett decided to move across the country and coach at UVA. Literally, it was a lateral move. It might take three, four years to get the Cavs back to The Tournament, but let’s see if his slow-it-down style can get this team to upset a few teams on the road this year.
4) Lowe profile. Think Wolfpack fans have realized how much Herb Sendek meant to the program yet? Lowe’s a good fit as coach there, but he probably has two seasons to make some noise in the conference before the self- entitled fanbase forces him out, too. Can you believe this program has the longest drought in the conference in qualifying for The Dance? I don’t think N.C. State has near the talent to do anything this season, so watch out.
5) New idol needed. Hansbrough finally left, so who will emerge as the media darling in this conference this year?
Calendars circled:
— Jan. 31: Clemson @ Maryland
— Feb. 13: Georgia Tech @ Wake
— Feb. 13: Maryland @ Duke
— Feb. 27: UNC @ Wake
— March 6: UNC @ Duke
