How will the ACC men's basketball awards look?
A struggle of a season has seen a slew of streaks snapped this winter for the Notre Dame men’s basketball team.
The Irish (15-16, 6-12 Atlantic Coast Conference) likely will see their run of four-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament end. So will a run of seven seasons of at least 20 wins. Notre Dame also had placed at least one player on a first team all-league squad in eight of the last nine years.
That likely won’t happen this week when the ACC hands out postseason honors prior to the conference tournament, which starts Wednesday at Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum. Here’s how the Tribune’s all-league/top honors ballot would look following Notre Dame’s first season in the ACC.
FIRST TEAM: C.J. Fair, Syracuse; K.J. McDaniels, Clemson; Marcus Paige, North Carolina; Jabari Parker, Duke; T.J. Warren, North Carolina State
SECOND TEAM: Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia; Pat Connaughton, Notre Dame; Tyler Ennis, Syracuse; Rodney Hood, Duke; Lamar Patterson, Pittsburgh.
THIRD TEAM: Eric Atkins, Notre Dame; Joe Harris, Virginia; James Michael McAdoo, North Carolina; Ian Miller, Florida State; Aaron Thomas, Florida State.
HONORBALE MENTION: Rion Brown, Miami (Fla.); Olivier Hanlan, Boston College; Garrick Sherman, Notre Dame; Dez Wells, Maryland; Devin Thomas, Wake Forest, Talib Zanna, Pittsburgh.
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM: Anthony Barber, North Carolina State; Tyler Ennis, Syracuse; Kennedy Meeks, North Carolina; Jabari Parker, Duke; London Perrantes, Virginia
ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM: Tyler Ennis, Syracuse; K.J. McDaniels, Clemson; Akil Mitchell,, Virginia; Marcus Paige, North Carolina; Talib Zanna, Pittsburgh;
COACH OF THE YEAR: Tony Bennett, Virginia
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jabari Parker, Duke
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Marcus Paige, North Carolina
Here are a few additional Irish categories that won’t make this week’s ACC honors:
BIGGEST WIN: Duke.
TOUGHEST LOSS: Jerian Grant
BEST ROAD ATMOSPHERE: Chapel Hill, N.C.
TOP MOMENT: Pat Connaughton’s drive and windmill dunk over Jabari Parker in the league opener.
BIGGEST SHOT: Eric Atkins’ step-back 3 to beat Boston College in overtime.
BIGGEST SURPRISE: Steve Vasturia.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Pat Connaughton.
MOST DISAPPOINTING STAT: The Irish finished 5-4 at home and 1-8 on the road in league play after going 24-3 at home and 14-13 on the road their last three seasons in the Big East.
MOST TELLING STAT: Since winning at Cincinnati last January to move to 14-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big East, Notre Dame is 26-25 overall, 15-19 in league play.
TNoie@SBTinfo.com
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Twitter: TNoie@NDInsider
