Louisville basketball picked 5th in preseason ACC poll

The Louisville men’s basketball has been picked fifth in the preseason ACC media poll, which was unveiled by the league on Wednesday morning.

For the first time since 1982, Virginia is the preseason pick to win the conference, garnering 97 of the 155 first-place votes cast. Duke, Florida State and North Carolina round out the schools ahead of Louisville in the poll.

This also marks the first time since 2015-16 that Duke hasn’t been the preseason pick to win the conference. The Blue Devils have failed to make good on their preseason prediction to win the league’s regular season title in each of those last four seasons.

Here’s the full poll:

Predicted Order of FinishSchool, Points

1. Virginia (97), 2214
2. Duke (34), 2146
3. Florida State (15), 1973
4. North Carolina (7), 1933
5. Louisville (2), 1693
6. Syracuse, 1234
7. Miami, 1223
8. NC State, 1149
9. Georgia Tech, 1147
10. Clemson, 1057
11. Virginia Tech, 794
12. Notre Dame, 769
13. Pitt, 635
14. Boston College, 404
15. Wake Forest, 229

First-place votes in parentheses; 155 total voters

On the individual side of things, Louisville sophomore point guard David Johnson was the only Cardinal to be named preseason All-ACC. Johnson graced the league’s Second Team.

Preseason All-ACC Team

First Team

Garrison Brooks, North Carolina, 137
Sam Hauser, Virginia, 89
Scottie Barnes, Florida State, 59
Jalen Johnson, Duke, 52
Aamir Simms, Clemson, 50
Chris Lykes, Miami, 50

Second Team

David Johnson, Louisville, 46
Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 43
M.J. Walker, Florida State, 38
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 37
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 32

Preseason ACC Player of the YearName, School, Points

Garrison Brooks, North Carolina, 102
Sam Hauser, Virginia, 24
M.J. Walker, Florida State, 10
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 7
Aamir Simms, Clemson, 5
Matthew Hurt, Duke, 3
Chris Lykes, Miami, 3
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 1

Preseason ACC Freshman of the YearName, School, Points

Scottie Barnes, Florida State, 64
Jalen Johnson, Duke, 60
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 9
Day’Ron Sharpe, North Carolina, 6
DJ Steward, Duke, 4
Reece Beekman, Virginia, 3
Jeremy Roach, Duke, 3
RJ Davis, North Carolina, 3
Mark Williams, Duke, 2
Cam Hayes, NC State, 1