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ACC Basketball: 10 storylines/questions heading into 2024-25

There's another year of basketball on the horizon in the ACC! Take a look at 10 questions heading into the 2024-25 season.

By Jerran Anderson

North Carolina v NC State
North Carolina v NC State / Greg Fiume/GettyImages
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6) Can Damon Stoudamire turn things around for the Yellow Jackets in Year 2?

Expectations weren't too high for head coach Damon Stoudamire and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets this past season. On the bright side, they managed to win four of their last six games in conference play before things ended for them in the Conference Tournament this past March.

In his second year at the helm, Stoudamire returns both top freshmen in guard Naithan George and forward Baye Ndongo along with Kowacie Reeves Jr. while adding Javian McCollum (Oklahoma), Duncan Powell (Sacramento State) and Luke O'Brien (Colorado) out of the transfer portal and Jaeden Mustaf, an ESPN 100 top recruit.

There's room to build upon things for the Yellow Jackets this upcoming season. Ndongo was an ACC All-Freshman selection in his debut, posting 12.4 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 1.0 assists per game on 55.8 percent shooting from the field and 33.3 percent from deep.

His freshman counterpart, Naithan George finished with 9.8 points, 4.7 assists and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 31.4 percent from behind the arc and 42.1 percent from the field across 29 games, all starts. While his production didn't earn him All-Freshman notice, he did finish eighth in the conference in assists (135) in his college debut.

McCollum is another high-major guard who can take some pressure handling the ball off of George and add another scoring threat to the backcourt. He put up 13.3 points, 3.4 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game on 31.4 percent shooting from deep in 2023-24 with the Sooners.

O'Brien and Powell's arrival should give Ndongo more confidence and space to work with on the floor. O'Brien shot 37.6 percent from 3-point land as a stretch-forward with the Buffaloes this past season. Powell should provide support in the frontcourt as another defensive anchor.

After winning seven games in 2023-24, Coach Stoudamire and staff could be prime to surprise a few teams in the conference this upcoming season. He's got a backcourt that looks good on paper with some frontcourt depth to go alongside it. It will be interesting to see how things look for Georgia Tech in March.

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