Cooper Flagg highlights Duke basketball preseason awards upon release of ACC preseason poll

Duke basketball has been slotted at #1 in the ACC preseason poll with 42 first-place votes. North Carolina was next in line with eleven. Here is the full list.

It's going to be an extremely top-heavy ACC this season, as the only ranked teams in the conference in the preseason Associated Press poll were the Blue Devils at #7 and North Carolina at #9.

In ESPN's Joe Lunardi's most recent bracketology predictions for the 2024-25 season, he has seven ACC teams making the big dance: Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Clemson, Miami, and Louisville. The Blue Devils are slotted as a 1-seed.

In addition to the preseason poll, Duke freshman Cooper Flagg was named the ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year with 53 votes. The only other player with a vote was Jeremiah Wilkinson of California, who received one. Flagg was also second in voting for ACC Preseason Player of the Year behind UNC's RJ Davis and made Preseason All-ACC First Team

It seems a little surprising that no other Blue Devils made an All-ACC Preseason team. Tyrese Proctor should be looked at as one of the biggest snubs in the conference and guys like Sion James and Maliq Brown should've been in the conversation as well.

Not that Flagg needed any more attention to his name with his established pedigree before his time in Durham, but there's certainly as many eyes on him now as there could be. As just a freshman who has yet to step on the court yet, Flagg is still looked at as the second-most popular pick to win conference player of the year. The release of the preseason poll will only get Duke fans more excited for the start of the season on November 4th.