2026-2027 ACC Presason PREDICTIONS
On July 31st, The Blue Devil Everything Instagram page posted a graphic consisting of my prediction of the Top 10 teams in the ACC. All 10 of these schools in my opinion are set to have a chance at being qualified as a NCAA Tournament team. This ranking is based off each teams current rosters heading into the season. I firmly believe the ACC conference as a whole will be the strongest it has been in years. All 10 of these teams had strong off-season additions from the portal and recruiting trail. Some of these teams retained a lot of production from a season ago.
ACC Top 10 ranking:
Duke
Miami
UVA
Louisville
UNC
Clemson
Syracuse
Florida State
SMU
Pittsburgh
The top 4 schools in this ranking are a step ahead of everyone else. I am very high on UVA and Miami. UVA retained a bunch of pieces from a season ago. Ryan Odum returned key guard Chance Mallory and few others. UVA are set to give Duke a run for their money. Miami has a mixture of high level recruits, portal additions, and retention. Shelton Henderson will have a monster Year 2 under Jai Lucas. In my opinion, Shelton Henderson is the favorite to win the ACC Player of the Year.
. My early predictions of ACC 2026-2027 awards were also mentioned in the caption on this post on the Instagram Page. I shared my prediction of Duke players that will be possibly receiving awards. I think this year will be a lot like the last two seasons for Duke. It is Duke’s conference titles to lose yet again this season. With the amount of talent 1-15, Duke should sweep both titles. They should win the ACC regular season and tourament titles with ease. Freshmen Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje will turn a lot of heads this season. He will be the best freshmen in the conference. Another one of my predictions was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. I firmly believe that award will go to Dame Sarr. Duke fans, including myself, really believe Dame Sarr will be one of the best defenders in the country this season. Dame Sarr’s ability to defend is the best in the conference. It showed up in glimpses last season playing alongside the superstar Cameron Boozer. I believe that John Blackwell will be in contention for the ACC Player of the Year. However, Miami star guard Shelton Henderson will more than likely win the ACC player of the Year in my opinion. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Let’s keep this conference running through Durham folks.
