With college basketball season rapidly approaching (the Tar Heels tip off against Western Carolina in 25 days), its time to return to an exercise from last season and remind ourselves of some of the top returning players returning from this past ACC season (an exercise that becomes exceedingly harder each transfer portal season).
First a quick reminder of the rules. One, all players listed here must have played in the ACC last year. Now that means no freshman and no out of conference transfers. It
does however include guys who played in the ACC last season but transferred to a different ACC school. Two, I am looking at one player from each team. Because of these rules, this is by no means a list of the top guys in the conference (13 of the 15 players who made an All-ACC team last season are no longer in the conference and one of the two is in limbo), let alone on each team, just the guys who played in the ACC last season and could have an impact this season as well. Additionally, if a player is currently in roster limbo, he will be considered ineligible for this list.
With all that in mind, lets look at each school’s returning impact player for next season (the schools are listed in alphabetical order).
Boston College
F Jack Bailey
When you get a new head coach, you often see a lot of roster turnover and this is definitely true for the Eagle’s new head coach Luke Murray. The red shirted freshman Jack Bailey (a future law suit candidate?) is the only returning player for this roster (the team is bringing in 10 transfers but none played for an ACC school last year). The 6’10 forward, who was ranked as the fourth best prospect from New Jersey in his class, averaged 12.5 points and 8.5 rebounds his senior year of high school.
California
F Lee Dort
In addition to returning six players from last season’s team that finished ninth in ACC play (a huge step up from their first ACC season), the Golden Bears also added an ACC transfer in guard Nojus Indrusaitis from Pittsburgh. However, the nod goes to Lee Dort, who led Cal in rebounds last season with 7.8 per game. The fifth year senior also had 8.1 points per game last season for the Golden Bears
Clemson
F Carter Welling
Like the Golden Bears, the Tigers are returning several players (six to be exact) from last season’s squad that finished tied for fourth in the ACC while also adding another ACC transfer in junior guard Cole Certa from Notre Dame, who was the Irish’s third leading scorer last season while also leading the team in three point attempts. Carter Welling gets the call here, one because he was my pick for top Clemson transfer last season, and two he was the team’s leading rebounder last season and their second leading scorer.
Duke
G Caleb Foster
Caleb Foster is one of five Blue Devils to return this season, four of which started games this past season for Duke, which is one of the reasons they are still a Final Four candidate despite their consistent roster turnover. The fourth year guard gets the nod over players like Patrick Ngongba II and Cayden Boozer, due to his importance running the team and he clear drop off the squad faced when he got injured and was at less than 100% last season.
Florida State
F Cooper Schwieger (Wake Forest Transfer)
Cooper Schwieger gets the call here over the Seminole’s only returning player, AJ Swinton, one because he had the better stats last season (5.1 ppg and 2.5 rpg vs 4.5 ppg and 1.8 rpg) and two because he has shown he is a capable forward when given the opportunities as he was at Valparaiso the two seasons before last. Florida State will be wise to use the 6’10 senior better than the Demon Deacons did last season.
Georgia Tech
G Cam Kraft
Like Boston College, the Yellow Jackets have a new head coach in Scott Cross. However, unlike the Eagles, Georgia Tech has a couple of returning players who actually played last season in Cam Craft and Cole Kirouac. Craft, who averaged 7.9 ppg and 2.1 rpg, appeared in all 29 games for a Yellow Jackets team that finished dead last in the ACC last season.
Louisville
G Adrian Wooley
Wooley, the third player so far from my top transfers list from last season, is the only returning ACC player for the Cardinals (Seth Trimble would’ve been the easy choice here but he is currently in roster limbo). Adrian Wooley, who averaged 8.9 ppg, was a spark plug off the bench last season for a Louisville team that finished sixth in the ACC last season. He will probably return to that role as the Cardinals brought in six transfers (not including the aforementioned Trimble) this offseason.
Miami
F Shelton Henderson
Much like with the Cardinals, someone else would be the choice here if not for roster limbo status (First team All ACC forward Malik Reneau would be the easy choice after leading the Hurricanes in points and finishing second in rebounds). So instead the honor falls on Henderson (one of two returning ACC players), who was my top freshman for Miami last season. Henderson was the team’s third leading scorer and, depending on what happens with Reneau, could be a huge part of a Hurricane’s squad that finished third in the ACC last season.
NC State
G Paul McNeil Jr.
This was an easy pick as the Wolfpack are the third ACC team so far to bring in a new head coach and additionally only returned two players in McNeil and Zymicah Wilkins, who redshirted last season. Paul McNeill would’ve been an easy choice regardless even if most of last years seventh place ACC squad had returned after scoring 13.2 ppg and hitting 42.7% of his team leading 246 three pointers last season.
North Carolina
F Jarin Stevenson
Despite being the fourth squad on this list to bring in a new Head Coach, the Tar Heels are still returning three players from last years team that finished tied for fourth in the ACC. They also brought in two other ACC transfers in forward Neoklis Avdalas from Virginia Tech and guard Matt Able from NC State. Avdalas and Able would both make fine selections here and while both may have better seasons this year, I am going with the returning Jarin Stevenson because one he came back and two he is the one reliable post player currently on a roster with several question marks there otherwise.
Notre Dame
G Braeden Shrewsberry
The Fighting Irish return four players from last season’s team that finished sixteenth in the ACC. Braeden Shrewsberry, who also gets the nepotism award on this list, was the leading scorer of those four, finishing fourth on the team with 11.9 ppg while also hitting 40.7 of his 219 three pointers.
Pittsburgh
F Baye Ndongo (Georgia Tech Transfer)
The Panthers return only one player from last season’s fifteenth place ACC squad in Macari Moore, who averaged 1.4 ppg last season. However, Pitt did bring in a whopping four ACC transfers including Baye Ndongo and Jonathan Powell, who played at UNC last season. Ndongo, who was my pick for best returning ACC player for Georgia Tech last season, was the Yellow Jackets top rebounder (8.1 rpg) and second leading scorer (11.8 ppg) last year.
SMU
C Jaden Toombs
The Mustangs return four players (all freshmen last season) from last year’s eleventh place ACC team. Jaden Toombs, the second top freshman pick to return thus far, was SMU’s second leading blocker while finishing the season with 8.3 ppg and 4.6 rpg in 27 games last season.
Stanford
F Aidan Cammann
The Cardinal return six players from last year’s ninth place squad, led by the rising third year Aidan Cammann. The 6’10 forward finished last season with 6.5 ppg and 3.8 rpg.
Syracuse
G Kiyan Anthony
The Orange are the fifth ACC squad to be bringing in a new head coach and therefore are also experiencing the joys of roster turnover with just two returning players, albeit two highly touted freshmen from last year’s class in Kiyan Anthony and Sadiq White. Anthony, who is the son of Orange legend Carmelo Anthony as well as the third top freshmen returning on this list, averaged eight ppg for a team that finished fourteenth in the ACC last year. He and White will have to earn their spots again this season as new head coach Gerry McNamara brought in three transfers from a Sienna team that was oh so close to upsetting top seeded Duke last year in the NCAA tournament.
Virginia
F Thijs De Ridder
Thijs De Ridder, who was a first team All ACC player last year, was the easiest pick of this entire list, even with the Cavaliers returning seven players from last years squad that made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament. The returning big man finished last season leading the second place Virginia in points and rebounds.
Virginia Tech
F Amani Hansberry
Armani Hansberry gets the slight nod over returning guard Ben Hammond after leading the Hokies in points and rebounds last season. Hansberry and Hammond are two of six returning players from a Virginia Tech squad that finished eleventh in the ACC last season. The team also added an ACC transfer from NC State.
Wake Forest
G Isaac Carr
The choice for the Demon Deacons came down to Isaac Carr, the fourth player from my top freshman list, and transfer Antonio Dorn from Virginia Tech. Neither player did much last season (2.2 ppg for Carr, 2.6 for Dorn) but they were also the only two viable options for the list. Carr gets the nod for making the top freshmen list in the hopes that he will get more playing time at Wake Forest this season especially with Juke Harris no longer on the team.
What do you think of the returning ACC players? Let us know in the comments below.
