Preseason ACC Players Of The Year: Great Expectations vs. Reality

Preseason honors, while nice, don’t always pan out.

Projecting someone will earn recognition as ACC Player of the Year is a lot more difficult than it appears, what with unanticipated injuries, slumps, team stumbles, wandering attention, and exaggerated reputations based on past performance.

Counting Kyle Filipowski a month ago, 25 players since 2001 were preseason selections as the league’s player of the year. That includes a pair of guards, Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon and UNC’s Marcus Paige, who shared the honor in 2016.

A grand total of four of the two dozen honorees in this century prior to Filipowski were chosen POY at season’s end. Four of 24 translates to one in six (16.7 percent), not what anyone would dub a handsome selection rate for POY.

In fact, more preseason choices for POY failed entirely to earn all-ACC honors (5) than ultimately won the award the same year they were projected as the league’s best.

Duke’s Paolo Banchero was a freshmen, making it difficult to gauge his prowess in advance. Bonzie Colson (Notre Dame) and Miami’s Isaiah Wong were seniors who surprised – Wong led his team to the Hurricanes’ first Final Four appearance last year.

Perhaps the most unlikely favorite was Colson, whose senior season was cut short twice by foot injuries. The media’s prospective ’21 MVP, Garrison Brooks, another post player, saw his stats fall almost across the board, earned little end-of-season recognition, and transferred to Mississippi State for his senior year.

Carolina players were involved in several other odd nomination situations, perhaps indicating a measure of prejudice pro or con due to their association with the baby blue.

Paige, currently on the Tar Heel coaching staff, was nominated in 2015 and 2016 as the ACC’s Preseason Player of the Year, but the versatile, clutch guard didn’t win either time. In ‘16 Paige was also the century’s first preseason pick who didn’t subsequently make All-ACC.

UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough was the preseason pick each year from 2007 through 2009. He won the league POY award in 2008. Hansbrough was also among nine UNC preseason honorees who didn’t go on to become league POY, including current Heel Armando Bacot in 2023.

Then again, Hansborough and four other Heels were named ACC Player of the Year since Joseph Forte tied Battier in 2001.

The ACC’s last winner in consecutive years was Duke shooting guard JJ Redick in 2005 and 2006.

Brogdon in 2016 was the most recent preseason pick to win the ACC’s POY award. The next year he was chosen the NBA rookie of the year. Seven full seasons have now passed without a selected player winning the ACC preseason and postseason award in the same year.