ACC Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2022-23 season

Mar 27, 2022; Philadelphia, PA, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels pose for a photo after the Tar Heels defeated the St. Peters Peacocks in the finals of the East regional of the men's college basketball NCAA Tournament at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

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ACC Basketball Virginia Cavaliers (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /

4. Virginia Cavaliers

Most of the teams in the ACC have had to rebuild and reload but in a rare occurrence, the Cavaliers’ roster returns all of their seven main rotation players from last season. That includes leading scorer and rebounder Jayden Gardner (15.3 ppg and 6.4 rpg), as well as longtime starting point guard Kihei Clark. Armaan Franklin is back, along with big men, Kadin Shedrick and Francisco Caffaro, who split the starts and overall minutes at the center position.

The other returning guy to watch is Reece Beekman, a sophomore guard that averaged 8.2 ppg and 5.2 apg and was a candidate for ACC Defensive Player of the Year. He’ll be the key to the team getting back to the NCAA Tournament. If he can take another step offensively, he’ll give Virginia what they need scoring-wise.

What also will help is the addition of Ben Vander Plas, a 6’8 versatile forward from Ohio that averaged over 14 ppg and 6.0 rpg with a career 33% three-point shooting percentage. That’s better than the numbers the Cavaliers had last season, ranking as one the worst in terms of attempts and makes.

For a team that was outside of the NCAA Tournament, Virginia should be projected to be inside the Field of 68 at the moment. But unless the shooting improves and the backcourt of Clark and Beekman can be better offensively, they’ll be spending a lot of time on the bubble.