North Carolina State University Athletics
ACC Coaches' Poll Picks NC State As Preseason Favorite
10/15/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 15, 2012
GREENSBORO, N.C. – NC State has been picked as the favorite in the inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball coaches preseason poll announced on Monday.
The Wolfpack, which returns four starters from last season’s team that posted a 24-13 record and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, received eight first-place votes in balloting among the league’s 12 head coaches.
NC State junior forward C.J. Leslie, who averaged 14.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game last season, was voted the Preseason ACC Player of the Year. Leslie heads up the ACC Coaches’ Preseason All-ACC team and is joined by Wolfpack teammate Lorenzo Brown, Duke’s Mason Plumlee, Florida State’s Michael Snaer and North Carolina’s James Michael McAdoo.
NC State’s Rodney Purvis, one of three members of a highly-regarded Wolfpack freshman class, was voted the Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year.
"Obviously, this says a lot about the improvement of our program, but I'm well aware that it's all about how we finish, not how we're projected" said coach Mark Gottfried. "This is new territory for our players and we need to make sure we stay focused on the process of improving."
This marks this first year that the ACC coaches have predicted a preseason order of finish or voted on individual honors. Media members will vote on their predicted order of finish and other preseason honors during the ACC’s annual Operation Basketball, which will be held Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C.
Listed below are results of the coaches’ voting in the ACC preseason poll.
| Team Predictions | |
| 1. NC State (8) | 139 |
| 2. Duke (3) | 130 |
| 3. North Carolina (1) | 124 |
| 4. Miami | 104 |
| 5. Florida State | 103 |
| 6. Maryland | 78 |
| 7. Virginia | 68 |
| 8. Clemson | 61 |
| 9. Georgia Tech | 40 |
| 10. Virginia Tech | 32 |
| Wake Forest |
32 |
| 12. Boston College |
25 |
(first-place votes)
Preseason All-ACC
Lorenzo Brown, Jr., NC State
C.J. Leslie, Jr., NC State
James Michael McAdoo, So., North Carolina
Mason Plumlee, Sr., Duke
Michael Snaer, Sr., Florida State
Preseason ACC Player of the Year
C.J. Leslie, Jr., NC State
Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year
Rodney Purvis, Fr., NC State
