We won’t say this is getting repetitious, although we could. Given the readership it’s not likely to be particularly bothersome to see the Duke men’s basketball team again picked to finish atop the ACC.
Some habits never grow old.
This is the 14th time in the last 26 years ACC media members have seen the wisdom in forecasting a Blue Devil finish atop the league standings. That’s the majority of the time in the 21st century, which might create the impression Duke dominates the ACC.
A not unreasonable conclusion.
The picture is a bit more complex, however.
This year Duke was nearly matched in the media’s preseason voting by Louisville, and that was before coach Pat Kelsey found that he could add pros who’d cut their competitive teeth in the G-League, the netherworld that’s part NBA, part exile.
Last season Creighton added a wing from Montenegro who’d played 200 games in the professional EuroLeague. Yet he was eligible to play 22 games for the Bluejays in 2025 and has two years of NCAA shelf life remaining. Now UL has added 6-3 guard London Johnson, who went directly from being ranked a four-star high school recruit in Georgia (the US version) to three years in the G-League.
Another G-man, Thierry Darlan, has joined Santa Clara. More G forces will presumably soon surface elsewhere on college teams as the NCAA grapples with how to regard inclusion of paid athletes within its ever-unraveling rules structure.
While Fedor Zugic’s 2024-25 addition to Creighton largely escaped widespread notice – oddly, Creighton eliminated Louisville in last year’s NCAA tournament — Johnson’s upcoming college participation with the Cardinals did not. “I’m not really excited about the NCAA or whoever’s making these decisions not talking to us, just letting it go because they’re afraid they’re going to get sued,” said Tom Izzo, Michigan State’s much-respected head coach. “To me, it’s ridiculous. To me, it’s embarrassing.”
A prominent opportunist had a more self-interested take. “So let me get this straight, we can now recruit G league players?” said St. John’s coach Rick Pitino. “Is the NBA next?”
Another Hall of Famer, more familiar in these parts, found the influx of G-League players “an amazing thing” and laments a rudderless NCAA ship heading toward the rocks. “They’re all screwed up, and they’ve been screwed up my entire career,” Mike Krzyzewski told me. “During this time when they needed to be organized, they’re not.”
As for being organized to finish first in the ACC — to get back to more pressing matters — Krzyzewski used to place a stronger emphasis on winning tournament titles than on regular-season primacy. Jon Scheyer, his successor, hasn’t been around long enough to discern how preference aligns with performance.
In Scheyer’s first three seasons his Blue Devils finished tied for third with Clemson and Pitt (2023), in second behind UNC (2024), and of course atop the standings last year with a 19-1 league mark. In both ’23 and ’25 they won the ACC Tournament.
Last year was the first since 2010, when Scheyer was the playmaker on a national championship squad, that Duke both finished first and won the ACC Tournament.
Seven different teams have been tabbed the league favorite since 2001, none from a program landed in a modern expansion. Nine teams, five of them from Duke, were picked first and went on to win that year’s ACC Tournament.
| PRESELECTED How Media Preseason Picks Turned Out, 21st Century (Preseason Pick To Finish) * Tournament Abbreviated Due To Covid |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Picked 1st | Finish | Tourn Champ |
| 2026 | Duke | NA | NA |
| 2025 | Duke | 1st | Duke (1) |
| 2024 | UNC | 3rd | NC State (10) |
| 2023 | Miami | 4th | Duke (2) |
| 2022 | Duke | 1st | Virginia Tech (5) |
| 2021 | Virginia | 1st | Georgia Tech (9) |
| 2020 | FSU | 5th | Florida State* (5) |
| 2019 | Duke | 3rd | Duke(1) |
| 2018 | Duke | 2nd | Virginia (6) |
| 2017 | Duke | 5th | No. Carolina (2) |
| 2016 | UNC | 1st | No. Carolina (1) |
| 2015 | Duke | 2nd | Notre Dame (7) |
| 2014 | Duke | 3rd | Virginia (4) |
| 2013 | NC State | 4th | Miami (5) |
| 2012 | UNC | 1st | Florida State (3) |
| 2011 | UNC | 1st | Duke (2) |
| 2010 | Duke | 1st | Duke (1) |
| 2009 | UNC | 1st | Duke (2) |
| 2008 | UNC | 1st | No. Carolina (1) |
| 2007 | UNC | 1st | No. Carolina (1) |
| 2006 | Duke | 1st | Duke (1) |
| 2005 | Wake | 2nd | Duke (4) |
| 2004 | Duke | 1st | Maryland (6) |
| 2003 | Duke | 2nd | Wake Forest (6) |
| 2002 | Duke | 2nd | Duke (2) |
| 2001 | Duke | 1st | Duke (1) |
