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

2) Who are the early favorites to make the NCAA Tournament?

Five was the magic number for the ACC in 2023-24 in the NCAA Tournament as NC State led the charge for a conference that may be top-heavy, but there's always one Cinderella who seems to emerge. This past season it was the Wolfpack, UNC, Duke, Virginia and Clemson who made appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Clemson and UNC made Elite Eight appearances while Virginia fell in the First Four and UNC lost in the Sweet 16.

The Tar Heels, Blue Devils, Tigers and Cavaliers should be favored to make the Tournament, but don't count out the number rising above five in 2024-25. The Pittsburgh Panthers, Florida State Seminoles, Miami Hurricanes and Syracuse Orange don't look too shabby heading into what should be another exciting year of college basketball.

While much hasn't been said about the Orange, they return JJ Starling, Chris Bell, Naheem McLeod and Kyle Cuffe Jr. while adding Jyare Davis (Delaware), Eddie Lampkin Jr. (Colorado), Lucas Taylor (Georgia State) and Jaquan Carlos (Hofstra) from the portal and Donnie Freeman, the No. 6 rated prospect in ESPN 100's 2024 class.

There are a lot of moving parts but after finishing in a tie for fifth place in Coach Red Autry's first season on the sidelines, look for a lot more stability and consistency from his group in Year 2. They finished with a record of 20-12 and despite winning five of their last seven conference games, Syracuse missed the cut for the NCAA Tournament this past season.