Despite winning the ACC championship in March, Georgia Tech was picked to finish 10th in the conference in the coming season. The ACC released its media poll, taken at last week’s ACC Tipoff event, on Tuesday.
Guard Michael Devoe was selected to the preseason All-ACC second team. Last year’s ACC Tournament most outstanding player and an honorable-mention all-conference pick, Devoe received the sixth most votes of all players. Last season, Devoe finished in the top 10 in the ACC in scoring (15.0 points per game), field-goal percentage (45.6%), 3-pointers per game (2.2 per game), assists (3.4 per game) and minutes played (34.7 per game).
Credit: AJC
Tech likely was not a favorite among many voters after having lost ACC player of the year Moses Wright and ACC defensive player of the year Jose Alvarado. Only once since the ACC expanded to 11 teams before the 2004-05 season had the defending champion been selected lower than 10th – the 2013-14 Miami team, which was picked 12th before finishing 10th.
The Jackets have surpassed their preseason projection each of the past three seasons, finishing 10th in the regular season in 2019 (picked 13th), fifth in 2020 (12th) and fourth in 2021 (ninth).
Duke was picked as the favorite to win the ACC with 47 of the 81 first-place votes in coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final season followed by Florida State and North Carolina. Duke freshman Paolo Banchero was chosen as both the ACC preseason player of the year and preseason freshman of the year.
