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NCAA Basketball: Predicting all 32 regular-season conference champions for 2018-19

By Tristan Freeman

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 10: The Villanova Wildcats celebrate their overtime win over the Providence Friars during the championship game of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 10, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 10: The Villanova Wildcats celebrate their overtime win over the Providence Friars during the championship game of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 10, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 10: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers cuts down the net after defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 71-63 during the championship game of the 2018 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 10, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 10: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers cuts down the net after defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 71-63 during the championship game of the 2018 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 10, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

Atlantic Coast Conference

2017-18 regular season champ: Virginia

2018-19 favorite: Virginia – Biggest threats: Duke and UNC

Even though the ACC has been considered the toughest league out of all 32, Virginia made it look like a cakewalk last year. The Cavaliers went 17-1 and won the regular season title by a whopping four games (were ahead by 6+ games by the 3rd place team).

This season it’s going to be more of the same, with the great starting backcourt of Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy now becoming veteran upperclassmen. The key piece is DeAndre Hunter, a 6’7 forward whose already being projected as a top-10 NBA Draft pick in 2019. Not only does he figure to be another defensive stud for Tony Bennett’s system, Hunter’s offensive potential has yet to be tapped. Virginia looks to be the clear-cut ACC favorite for 2018-19.

Related Story. Preseason ACC Rankings for 2018-19. light

That seems to be a strong statement considering that both Duke and UNC are also preseason national top-10 teams as well. But this is about a marathon stretch in a tough conference, not a one-game scenario. The Blue Devils will be starting at least four freshmen this upcoming season and last year’s early loss at Boston College is a reminder of how hard it truly is to win in the ACC.

North Carolina has the right mix of veterans (Luke Maye, Kenny Williams, and Cam Johnson) and newcomers (Nassir Little, Coby White, and Rechon Black) to contend for a title and Chapel Hill is an incredibly difficult place to win at. But the Tar Heels’ defense needs improvement if they’re going to win the ACC and as of now, there’s no established starting point guard for the team.

In a weird scenario, Duke (and UNC somewhat) is more likely to win the NCAA Tournament than they are to winning the ACC, as they’ll need a whole season to come together and set their proper rotations. Virginia and their historical defense are already set to go and that’ll give them the advantage in the league this season.

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