ACC: Five Seniors Who Will Make an Impact in 2014-15

Dec 21, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Jerian Grant (22) saves a ball from going out of bounds against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the second half of the Gotham Classic at Madison Square Garden. The Buckeyes won the game 64-61. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Despite T.J Warren and Shane Larkin being the first ever Sophomores to win consecutive ACC Player of the Year awards, history favors the more experienced players taking home the hardwood, as the previous four winners were all Seniors.

This upcoming season there might not be a great fourth year candidate, but there are plenty of seniors who have had meaningful careers, and will be major contributors to teams who have their eyes set on March.

Below are the five seniors who I think have the best shot at keeping Marcus Paige, Montrezl Harrell, and Jahlil Okafor away from taking home the ACC’s most coveted individual award:

Quinn Cook, PG, Duke
11.6 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 4.4 APG

Duke point guard Quinn Cook might be the player on this list who’s needed the least on the court by his team, but might wind up having the biggest impact off of it, if that makes sense. If it weren’t for the arrival of Freshman Tyus Jones (#4 overall recruit) in Durham then I’d have Cook penciled in for a huge year, but I can’t pretend that Coach K and company didn’t bring in the top point guard in this past year’s recruiting class to hopefully revamp his offense. And while Coach K has been known for playing multiple point guards, neither Cook nor Jones are at their best playing off of the ball. With that said, Cook has shown great improvement season-after-season, improving his shot selection (he posted a career best .535 efg percentage last season), cutting his turnovers, and turning up his defensive intensity. Of course I think he’ll play a big role for Duke this season, but his biggest role might come in mentoring Jones and the rest of Duke’s star-studded freshman class.

Pat Connaughton, G/F, Notre Dame
13.8 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 3.0 APG

The fourth round pick of the Baltimore Orioles in the 2014 MLB Draft, Pat Connaughton finds himself returning to South Bend as the Fighting Irish’ leading scorer and rebounder, and in a spot to lead Notre Dame back to prominence after a blunder of a debut season in the ACC. A gunner through and through, Connaughton averaged .378-percent from three last season on 6.3 attempts per game, and is one of the best inside/outside players in the conference despite only measuring 6-foot-5 at best. Still, Connaughton’s building on being the fifth leading scorer of returning players in the ACC, and with the return of fellow senior Jerian Grant, he could be one of the most impactful seniors in the conference through the 2014-15 season.

Jerian Grant, PG/SG, Notre Dame
19.0 PPG, 6.2 APG, 2.0 SPG 

How do you define impact? Is averaging 19 points (on 52-percent shooting) and 6 assists per game impactful? How about when your team loses 13 of 18 games that you’re forced to miss due to academic ineligibility? Either way, Notre Dame and coach Mike Brey welcome back Jerian Grant with their arms as wide open as they could possibly get, as this kid is probably the best combo guard in the ACC, and the top candidate for Player of the Year amongst his peers. Grant was a second-team All Big East selection two years ago after leading the Irish in scoring (13.3 ppg) and assists (5.5 apg), and got off to a blistering pace his Junior season, scoring 20 or more in half of the games he appeared in. Reports are that Grant’s been working incredibly hard to make up for his absence last season, and he and Connaughton will make Notre Dame one of the surprise teams in the conference next season.

Cameron Wright, SG, Pittsburgh
10.5 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.8 SPG

After posting 26 wins in its first season in the ACC, Pittsburgh will more than likely take a step back this season after losing its top two scorers in Lamar Patterson and Talib Zanna. Fortunately for Jamie Dixon, he gets his third leading scorer back in combo guard Cameron Wright, who also happened to lead the team in steals (66 – good for second in the ACC) and finish third in assists. It’ll be interesting to see if in the absence of Patterson, Wright extends his game behind the arc (he attempted just 43 three’s last season), and there are definite questions about his ability to not just run an offense, but handle the rock. Wright is an exceptional athlete and should be able to handle more pressure – both from his coach and opposing defenses – as the only reason to really worry is we haven’t seen him do it before do to a different role. I expect Wright to step up as the leader of this inexperienced Panthers squad.

Rakeem Christmas, C, Syracuse
5.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.9 BPG, 61% FG

A three-year starter for Syracuse, Rakeem Christmas leads all returning ACC players with 109 career starts, having started 78 consecutive games dating back to his freshman year.  Like most Jim Boeheim coached bigs, Christmas isn’t a huge numbers guy, as he averaged career bests of 5.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game last season, while ranking fourth in the conference with 1.9 blocked shots on the season, posting 2.3 per game in conference play (he led the ACC in block percentage). While the role players around him will be changing this season with the departures of C.J. Fair and Tyler Ennis amongst others, Christmas being the rock in the middle of Boeheim’s 2-3 defense will help keep Syracuse near the top of the ACC.