ACC basketball storylines: Can Duke avenge Coach K? Will NC State keep Keatts? Can UNC repeat?
The Atlantic Coast Conference will hold its annual men's college basketball tipoff event Wednesday with players and coaches from all 15 teams represented in Charlotte.
Here are some storylines to watch as we head toward the 2022-23 season.
Jon Scheyer leads new era at Duke
There will be a much younger presence leading Duke basketball at Wednesday’s media event this year.
The 35-year-old Jon Scheyer replaced Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski after last season’s Final Four run and looks to begin a legacy of his own with a young team made up mostly of the No. 1 recruiting class in the country.
The Blue Devils feature three of the nation’s top-rated recruits from the Class of 2022, including 7-foot-1 center Dereck Lively II, 6-6 small forward Dariq Whitehead and 6-11 forward Kyle Flipowski. He added four-star point guard Tyrese Proctor after the freshman from Sydney, Australia, reclassified in June and will have the veteran leadership of junior guard Jeremy Roach to anchor the young talent.
Joining him in Charlotte will be Roach and Illinois transfer Jacob Grandison.
While most of this squad didn’t suffer through two late-season defeats to rival UNC, including Coach K’s final game at Cameron Indoor and an 81-77 loss in the national semifinal, the question of revenge will undoubtedly arise this week. How will Scheyer and his players respond? And more importantly, do they have the talent to enact it?
DUKE & COACH K ERA:Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer moving on from the Coach K era
INJURY UPDATE:Dariq Whitehead injury update
REVENGE:Duke basketball wants revenge against UNC. Here's when the Blue Devils can get it
UNC will begin season as likely ACC favorites
Last year’s run to the NCAA Tournament title game as a No. 8 seed was an incredible end to a somewhat turbulent season for UNC first-year coach Hubert Davis.
The Tar Heels were a clear underdog heading into March Madness and almost pulled an upset over No. 1 Kansas in the title game before giving up a 16-point halftime lead and falling 72-69.
There will be no underdog status for UNC this year. The Tar Heels return the majority of last year’s talent, including forward Armando Bacot, guards R.J. Davis and Caleb Love, wing Leaky Black and Puff Johnson while adding a talented frontcourt player in Northwestern transfer Peter Nance.
This will be the team to beat in the ACC this year, at least for now.
Will NC State coach Kevin Keatts survive the entire season?
There’s no doubt that Keatts’ job is in jeopardy after finishing 11-21 last season with only four wins in ACC play.
Entering his sixth season, he’s advanced to the NCAA Tournament once in 2017, the NIT twice (2019, 2021) and missed the postseason for the first time in 2022.
He still has the public support of athletic director Boo Corrigan and added three new assistant caches to reenergize his program. He also brought in four players, D.J. Burns (Winthrop) and Dusan Mahorcic (Utah), forward Jack Clark (La Salle) and point guard Jarkel Joiner (Mississippi) from the transfer portal and will return talented sophomore Terquavion Smith, who returned to Raleigh after testing the NBA draft waters.
Who becomes the elder statesman in the ACC?
For as long as we can remember, Duke’s Coach K was the league’s sounding board for controversial topics, openly discussing troubles with the NCAA, the transfer portal, NIL and often off-the-court political subjects.
So, which ACC coach will take his place?
The natural progression would be 77-year-old Jim Boeheim, Syracuse’s coach since 1976 and a close confidant of Coach K. But Boeheim can be surly at best when it comes to these topics and FSU coach Leonard Hamilton (74) might be too soft-spoken. Miami coach Jim Larrañaga (73) is a solid candidate with his quick wit and Virginia’s Tony Bennett, only 53, could also take the mantle.
We may find out this week.
Will this be Jim Boeheim’s final season at Syracuse?
The 77-year-old Boeheim will return for his 46th season with Syracuse, and although he’s given no indication he plans to retire until he’s 80, it’s always a question that must be answered.
Boeheim has watched Coach K and UNC’s Roy Williams retire over the last two years, and last year’s 16-17 record (9-11 ACC), gave his critics the opportunity to say he’s lost a step. It’s been 20 years since he won the 2003 national title with Carmelo Anthony and has reached the Final Four only once since then.
He may not want to retire, but you have to wonder if he could be pushed out if the Orange produces a similar result in 2022-23.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: ACC Tipoff: Preseason event marks the beginning of college basketball
