Ranking ACC basketball programs as a generational talent and three new teams join the conference
1) Duke
2) UNC
3. Louisville
Biggest losses: Skyy Clark (13.2 ppg); Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (12.9 ppg, 8.4 rpg); Mike James (12.6 ppg, 5 rpg); Tre White (12.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg); JJ Traynor (10.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg); Ty-Laur Johnson (8.7 ppg, 3.6 apg); Curtis Williams (5.3 ppg); Kaleb Glenn (3.9 ppg)Returning rotation players: None
Top 100 freshmen added (1): No. 34 Khani Rooths
Top 100 transfers added (4): No. 17 Terrence Edwards Jr. (James Madison), No. 46 Chucky Hepburn (Wisconsin), No. 61 J’Vonne Hadley (Colorado), No. 70 Kasean Pryor (South Florida)
Why they’re here: Can you rebuild a whole program in a single offseason? We’re about to find out, with Louisville as the national test case. The Cardinals got rid of their coach, their entire roster and somehow still ended up with the most experienced and productive group of players in the ACC.
Pat Kelsey’s team leads the league in D-I minutes played, career made 3s and top 100 transfers added — but no one, obviously, has done anything in a UL uniform. Still, having five players with over 2,000 career D-I minutes, plus five who have made at least 50 career 3s, should be a boon for Kelsey’s 3-point happy offense. In Kelsey’s 12 years as head coach, his teams have finished in the top 75 in 3-point rate 10 times — including last season, when College of Charleston finished 17th nationally after taking 46.9 percent of its shots from deep.
Among the notable additions: Edwards, the Sun Belt Player of the Year who led JMU to a program-best 32 wins; Hepburn, an All-Big Ten defender and three-year starter; and Pryor, who led USF to 21 wins in 22 games last season after becoming a starter. This ranking is admittedly a gamble on Kelsey getting all the players to coalesce, but Louisville has the talent to make one of the biggest year-to-year leaps in the sport — and get back to the NCAA Tournament.
4) Miami
5) Wake Forest
6) Pitt
7) Georgia Tech
8) Clemson
9) Virginia
10) NC State
11) Syracuse
12) Notre Dame
13) SMU
14) Cal
15) Virginia Tech
16) Boston College
17) Stanford
NEW YORK TIMES
