With the conclusion of the 2011 ACC Operation Basketball comes the announcement of the 2011-12 ACC Preseason Predictions. The ACC media selected Virginia to finish fourth in the conference, behind North Carolina, Duke and Florida State. Eighth year senior (rounding up) Mike Scott was also selected to the Preseason All-ACC team, tied with Duke's Seth Curry for the fifth most votes.
The last time Virginia was picked to finish this high was in 2001-02, when the Hoos were expected to finish third in the conference. The past two years, the Hoos were picked to finish 11th, and in 2008-09, they were picked to finish last.
Virginia has not had a preseason All-ACC candidate since Sean Singletary in the 2007-08 season, where Virginia wsa picked to finish fifth in the conference. They actually finished 10th that season with a 5-11 conference record.
We'll try to have more for you in the coming days. In the meanwhile, the full preseason predictions follow the jump.
| Team Finish: | |
| 1. North Carolina (57) | 706 |
| 2. Duke (2) | 649 |
| 3. Florida State | 560 |
| 4. VIRGINIA | 463 |
| 5. Miami | 455 |
| 6. Virginia Tech | 411 |
| 7. Clemson | 403 |
| 8. NC State | 316 |
| 9. Maryland | 264 |
| 10. Georgia Tech | 176 |
| 11. Wake Forest | 109 |
| 12. Boston College | 90 |
| Preseason All-ACC: | |
| Harrison Barnes, UNC | 59* |
| John Henson, UNC | 47 |
| Tyler Zeller, UNC | 46 |
| Malcolm Grant, Miami | 32 |
| Seth Curry, Duke | 20 (t) |
| MIKE SCOTT, VIRGINIA | 20 (t) |
| *denote unanimous | |