ACC Basketball: Preseason rankings for 2019-20 season

By Brian Rauf | Sep 25, 2019

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 05: Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils drives past Jordan Chatman #25 of the Boston College Eagles during the second half of their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 05, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 80-55. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

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CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA – JANUARY 12: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals reacts after making a three-point baskwet against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the second half of their game at the Dean Smith Center on January 12, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Louisville won 83-62. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

ACC basketball has been the country’s premier conference, and the title race looks to be wide open in 2019-20. Who will reign supreme in the new season?

ACC basketball experienced another banner year last season by producing three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament (Duke, Virginia, North Carolina), which was only the second time that had been done.

The conference also produced the national champions in the Cavaliers, who claimed their first title in program history and became the fourth school currently in the ACC to win a championship this decade (Louisville was a member of the Big East when they won in 2013, though that title has since been vacated).

The ACC will remain one of the country’s best conferences in 2019-20, but there’s no doubt it will take a small step back.

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There is no surefire national championship contender that returns an entire experienced, accomplished core like Virginia and UNC did last year. There is no school loaded with a historic freshman class like Duke was. And the depth of the conference will not be as good as it was last year.

It will also be a year of great turnover and transition in the ACC. Only two all-conference performers are back (Louisville’s Jordan Nwora, Notre Dame‘s John Mooney), and both of them were only third-team selections. Neither is the conference’s most notable returner either, as that distinction belongs to Duke’s Tre Jones. Almost every team will be looking to establish a new core group and find new stars, which creates a lot of unknown.

The conditions are ripe for a surprise team or two to sneak their way up the standings. At the same time, they’re also ripe for the handful of coaches on the hot seat to seal their fate.

How will the upcoming college basketball season play out in the nation’s premier basketball conference? Here are our preseason rankings for the ACC: