Javin DeLaurier #12 of the Duke Blue Devils tries to stop Garrison Brooks #15 of the North Carolina Tar Heels. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Four Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball teams are ranked in the 2019-20 Associated Press Preseason Top 25, including three in the top 10, which is the most of any conference.
Duke leads the ACC contingent with a No. 4 ranking, while Louisville closely follows at No. 5. North Carolina is ranked No. 9 in the preseason poll, while reigning national champion Virginia holds the No. 11 spot. The ACC is tied with the Big Ten and SEC with the most ranked teams to start the upcoming season.
Florida State, Notre Dame, Syracuse and NC State received votes in the initial poll.
The 2019-20 regular season begins Nov. 5. This season marks the ACC’s first-ever 20-game conference slate, including seven league matchups to begin the regular season on Nov. 5 and 6, with doubleheaders each evening on ACC Network. Nov. 5 features Louisville at Miami (6:30 p.m.), followed by Georgia Tech at NC State (8:30 p.m.). On Nov. 6, the network airs Notre Dame at North Carolina (7 p.m.), followed by reigning national champion Virginia playing at Syracuse (9 p.m.).
Mamadi Diakite of Virginia.
(Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
The ACC’s current 15 member schools have captured eight of the last 19 NCAA Championships and 17 overall, including Virginia’s first title in 2019. Current ACC member schools have combined for 62 Final Four appearances and a national-best 639 NCAA Tournament wins. League teams have combined to win an NCAA-record 74 NCAA Tournament games over the past five seasons, highlighted by a 68-29 mark versus teams from outside the conference.
Additionally, four of the top eight and six of the top 30 winningest programs in NCAA Division I basketball history currently reside in the ACC. Three of the six active Division I coaches currently in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame are competing in the ACC again this season – Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim.
Preseason Associated Press Top 25 (first-place votes in parentheses)
1. Michigan State (60)
2. Kentucky (2)
3. Kansas (3)
4. Duke
5. Louisville
6. Florida
7. Maryland
8. Gonzaga
9. North Carolina
10. Villanova
11. Virginia
12. Seton Hall
13. Texas Tech
14. Memphis
15. Oregon
16. Baylor
17. Utah State
18. Ohio State
19. Xavier
20. Saint Mary’s (California)
21. Arizona
22. LSU
23. Purdue
24. Auburn
25. VCU
