The Duke Blue Devils earned 61 of 62 first place votes as the preseason pick to win this year's ACC crown. This is the third time in the last six years that Duke has at least been the co-favorite to win the league. North Carolina was the only other team to garner a first place vote in the balloting. Duke is coming off of a National Championship season and is going to be forced to replace the likes of Jon Scheyer and Brian Zoubek. However, with the likes of freshman Kyrie Irving and transfer Seth Curry coming into the fold, Duke faithful are talking more about reloading rather than rebuilding.
Duke senior forward Kyle Singler was named preseason ACC player of the year. As a junior the versatile Singler averaged 17.7 points and 7 rebounds per game while leading the Blue Devils to the National Championship. Singler was also named ACC first team all conference and was joined by his teammate Nolan Smith, Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney, N.C. State's Tracy Smith, and Florida State's Chris Singleton.
Duke, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina were predicted to round out the top three spots in the ACC this season. N.C. State and Florida State were picked to finish fourth and fifth and were followed by Maryland, Clemson, Miami, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Virginia, and Wake Forrest.