The ACC became the latest power conference to release its preseason media poll on Tuesday when Duke was tabbed to finish atop the league ahead of Louisville, Virginia, Miami and North Carolina. Duke received 45 of the 49 possible first-place votes from the media. The Blue Devils enter the season as the heavy favorite to win the ACC title after bringing back a nucleus of their returning production from last season, led by Cayden Boozer, Caleb Foster, Dame Sarr and Patrick Ngongba II.
Duke also welcomes former Wisconsin star John Blackwell into the program and a talented freshman class led by Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, who could be the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2028 NBA Draft. After the ACC sent eight teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2026, there's optimism that the number could grow with expansion of the field starting this season. Louisville spent big in the transfer portal this offseason, headlined by the addition of former Kansas big man Flory Bidunga.
Miami also hauled in an impressive transfer portal class after landing former Villanova guard Acaden Lewis and Georgia big man Somto Cyril. Another team to keep an eye on this season is North Carolina. The Tar Heels are entering a new era with Michael Malone set to take over the program.
Malone, who has extensive NBA ties, has never been a college head coach. His lone experience at the college level came as an assistant at Oakland, Providence and Manhattan in the 1990s. Here is the full ACC media poll, followed by the breakdown of overrated and underrated teams and players.
Let me start out by saying this: Virginia is still a really good basketball team. However, this is how I voted at the top of our CBS Sports ACC poll earlier this month. Even with Thijs De Ridder coming back, I think Virginia is the fourth-best team in the ACC heading into the season, behind Duke, Miami and Louisville.
Getting voted second isn't a drastic difference whatsoever because two of my CBS Sports colleagues also picked UVa to finish second in the ACC. Virginia has a tough ACC schedule, with road games against North Carolina, Duke and Miami. The Cavaliers also face Louisville and Duke (again) at home.
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