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Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim was named to the Preseason All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team and the Orange were picked to finish seventh in the conference’s preseason poll, the league announced on Tuesday.

Boeheim’s 68 votes led the first-team selections, and he finished third with 13 votes for ACC preseason player of the year behind Virginia Tech’s Keve Aluma (16) and Duke’s Paolo Banchero (28). Aluma, Banchero, North Carolina’s Armando Bacot and Miami’s Isaiah Wong joined Boeheim as preseason first-team selections.

As a junior during the 2020-21 season, Boeheim averaged 17.8 points per game, shot 38.3% on 3-point attempts and scored at least 25 points in four of SU’s five postseason games across the ACC and NCAA tournaments. That tear to close the season earned him first-team honors at the conference’s tournament and thrust him onto the radar of NBA scouts, and he told syracuse.com at the ACC men’s basketball media day that he has “no plans of coming back” for a final year of eligibility in 2022-23.

Syracuse’s predicted finish of seventh is one spot lower than last year, though the Orange ended the season eighth in the ACC’s standings with their 9-7 record — four fewer wins than Virginia, the conference’s regular-season champion. Duke, with its 47 first-place votes, finished atop the preseason poll heading into the 2021-22 campaign, followed by Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Louisville.

All of those five teams except for Virginia Tech appeared in the first AP Top 25 poll of the year, while Virginia Tech received 25 votes and Syracuse received five. SU ranked 41st and the sixth-highest ACC team in the preseason KenPom rankings too, but Notre Dame slotted in at No. 27 and Virginia dipped beneath the Orange at No. 45.

Additionally, Benny Williams received one vote for preseason ACC freshman of the year, tying for sixth and trailing Banchero, the leader, by 63 votes. Williams was the only commit in Syracuse’s Class of 2021 recruiting cycle, and the four-star small forward — who spent his final year of high school at IMG Academy — ranked eighth nationally at the position for his class.

SU began practice on Sept. 28 and will host a pair of preseason exhibitions against Pace and Le Moyne before opening its 2021-22 season against Lafayette on Nov. 9. Their first ACC game comes less than a month later when the Orange travel to Florida State.

Published on October 19, 2021 at 10:38 am

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew