The ACC is looking to be one of the best conferences in the nation. There are a ton of great teams this year. They welcome Louisville to the conference which has now made the championship race even tougher. Here is the 1st team All-ACC preseason team prediction.

Guard/Marcus Paige- Paige last season averaged 17.5 PPG, 4.2 AST, and 3.2 TRB. The Tar Heels bring in a great recruiting class and return most of their starting five. He is looking like the best point guard in the nation this year. Expect him to be in the conversation for POTY and lead the Tar Heels to a top seed in the NCAA tournament.

Guard/Jerian Grant- Coming off a suspension last season he is going to have a huge season. Before the suspension he averaged 19 PPG, 6.2 AST, and 2.5 TRB. The Irish will be looking to lean on him for a lot of points and big time decisions. He will be one of the best players in the country on a not so good Notre Dame team. Expect him to be a possible All-American and POTY candidate.

Guard/Forward/Malcolm Brogdon- He was the best player on the best team in the ACC last year. Virginia will lean on him even more this season with the loss of a few key players. He should thrive defensively this season again. Last year he averaged 12.7 PPG, 6.9 TRB, and 3.5 AST. The Cavaliers should have similar success as last year but will have a tougher chance to repeat.

Forward/Montrezl Harrell- The best player on a Louisville team that lost great players in Russ Smith and Luke Hancock. UofL will lean on him as a leader this season and take a more offensive role. When he surprisingly returned for a 3rd season, he automatically got put in POTY discussions. This is Louisville’s 1st year in the ACC and he will lead them to a lot of success.

Center/Jahlil Okafor- The best recruit in the nation heads to an already loaded Duke team. He will get almost every touch in the paint since they aren’t very deep in the big man position. In high school he averaged 14 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 2.7 BLK. Okafor will be one of the best players in the country and could be the DPOTY but he still has a lot of work to do.

Player of the Year- Marcus Paige is probably the best guard in the nation and this year he will prove it. His team is set up for success this season and he will be the focal point of the offense. If he consistently makes 3’s then he will run away with this award. No one is going to able to stop him from wreaking havoc during the course of a game. The runner up for this award is Montrezl Harrell.

Defensive POTY- Chris Jones is the pick after leading the AAC in steals with 2.2. With this full court defense that Louisville plays he will have many opportunities to pick the pocket of the opposing players. Playing next to Terry Rozier will give him an even better opportunity to go right in and play well defensively. Jahlil Okafor is the runner up to this award.

Coach of the Year- Mike Kryzewski is going to have one heck of a year with Duke this season. He is already probably the best coach in the nation but he won’t lose many games in the ACC this season. It also helps that they brought in a top recruiting class while returning other solid players. Rick Pitino is the runner up for this award.

There are many other players at each of these positions. ACC is shaping up to have many top seeds in the NCAA tournament. It will be a four team race for the ACC crown. This conference will allow many of the teams to be battle tested before the NCAA tournament.