The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team has some high expectations this season, and it appears the assembled media agreed down at “Operation Basketball” (media day) in Charlotte on Wednesday.
Syracuse was picked fourth in the ACC’s preseason media poll, with one first-place vote. The Orange collected 1,268 points in the poll overall, which was great — but also pretty far back of North Carolina at No. 3. Nearly 100 points separated SU and Virginia Tech in fifth. Duke (52 first-place votes) finished on top, followed by Virginia (47) and then UNC (20). Clemson (sixth overall) also received a first-place vote.
Some other notables from the poll: Pitt is in dead last (lulz), while fellow nemeses Louisville (11th) and Boston College (12th) are also pretty far down the list. All of that said, you could see all of the first seven teams here in the top 25 rankings at any given point. Overall team quality doesn’t really fade enormously until you get to the Panthers at No. 15.
The ACC media also voted on a couple other items while in Charlotte, most notably the all-conference team. There, Tyus Battle received the second-most votes of all players with 86. The Orange junior trailed Luke Maye (111) by a fair amount there. RJ Barrett (Duke), Kyle Guy (Virginia) and Ky Bowman (Boston College) also rounded out the firs-team.
Battle was also bested by Maye for Player of the Year honors, which the Carolina big man won overwhelmingly with 50 votes. Barrett finished second with 22 and Blue Devil teammate Zion Williamson had 15, while Battle tallied 11.
There was also a vote for Orange point guard Jalen Carey on the rookie of the year ballot. Barrett (66 votes) won that honor by a significant margin, with Williamson (43) being the only other player to receive double-digit votes.
Any qualms here? #MADONLINE because Oshae Brissett didn’t get any love? Feel like Marek Dolezaj should be first-team All-Pizza? Share your thoughts below.