Virginia Cavaliers picked fourth in ACC Basketball Preseason Poll

On Tuesday the ACC released the official 2021 Preseason Poll and it features the Virginia Cavaliers as the No. 4 team.

The Hoos earned 949 points and 9 first place votes in a poll that saw the leading vote getter Duke Blue Devils earn 1132 points and 47 first place votes.

UVA is coming off another ACC regular season championship and NCAA tournament berth. Last season, UVA was the preseason favorite receiving 97 of a possible 155 first place votes. Just two years ago (2019-20), UVA was picked to finish 4th in the preseason poll but finished in a tie for second in the league with a 15-5 ACC record.

This position should come as no surprise to UVA fans. In the AP poll released on Monday, UVA found themselves at No. 25 and behind Duke (No. 9), UNC (No. 19), and FSU (No. 20).

The preseason All-ACC team was also announced and while no UVA players made the First Team, 4th year Kihei Clark was named to the Second Team.

This is the second straight season that Clark has been on the preseason All-ACC team. He earned honorable mention All-ACC at the end of last year. The year prior, he didn’t make the preseason team but finished third team All-ACC.

Virginia freshman Igor Milicic Jr also earned three votes for Preseason ACC Freshman of the Year. We sat down with Milicic earlier to talk about his recruitment.

UVA tips off in just 21 days when they play host to Navy on November 9th.

Here are the full results:

ACC Men’s Basketball Tipoff - 2021 Preseason Poll
School, Points
1. Duke (47), 1,132
2. Florida State (14), 1,034
3. North Carolina (5), 1,001
4. Virginia (9), 949
5. Virginia Tech (5), 857
6. Louisville (1), 791
7. Syracuse, 781
8. Notre Dame, 599
9. NC State, 555
10. Georgia Tech, 524
11. Clemson, 430
12. Miami, 428
13. Wake Forest, 274
14. Pitt, 253
15. Boston College, 112

First-place votes in parentheses; 81 total voters

Preseason All-ACC
First Team
Name, School, Votes
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 68
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 52
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 49
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 46
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 37

Second Team
Name, School, Votes
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 25
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 23
Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame, 17
Mark Williams, Duke, 12
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 9
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 9
Malik Williams, Louisville, 9

Preseason Player of the Year
Name, School, Votes
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 28
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 16
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 13
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 12
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 5
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 3
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 2
Mark Williams, Duke, 2

Preseason Freshman of the Year
Name, School, Votes
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 64
Trevor Keels, Duke, 5
Terquavion Smith, NC State, 3
Dontrez Styles, North Carolina, 3
Igor Milicic Jr., Virginia, 3
Wooga Poplar, Miami, 1
Benny Williams, Syracuse, 1
Cameron Hildreth, Wake Forest, 1