College Basketball 2021-2022 Atlantic Coast Conference

This will be an Atlantic Coast Conference college basketball season like few others because North Carolina begins life after legendary coach Roy Williams, while it will be the final season as Duke coach for an even bigger legend in Mike Krzyzewski. The 2021-22 NCAA basketball season begins on Nov. 9.

Duke is the -250 favorite to win the ACC and in early June, Coach K announced this would be his final season. He is the winningest coach in Division I men’s basketball history and has led the Blue Devils to five national championships in his 41 seasons. Let’s take a look at the following analysis to help you place your NCAA basketball odds.

Analysis College Basketball Atlantic Coast Season 2021- 2022

That Coach K is walking away wasn’t a shock to some around the program because the 2020-21 season was a tough one finished 13-11 and didn’t make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since his back-injury-asterisked 1994-95 season. Duke’s year ended unceremoniously, with a positive COVD-19 test and a quiet exit from the ACC Tournament.

Duke associate head coach Jon Scheyer, who played for Krzyzewski from 2006 to 2010, has been named Krzyzewski’s successor. Scheyer will spend the 2021-22 season as coach-in-waiting and will take over after that.

The Blue Devils are ranked No. 9 in the AP Preseason Top 25 and were picked by the media to win the ACC this season. Duke leads Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech atop the preseason poll. Duke has one of the best freshmen in the country in Paolo Banchero. He was named both the Preseason ACC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year while landing on the Preseason All-ACC First Team. He was ranked as the No. 3 freshman recruit in the country this year out of Seattle.

Junior Wendell Moore Jr., and sophomore Mark Williams each earned a spot on the Preseason All-ACC Second Team. Over the final 14 games of last season, Williams led the team in rebounds (6.1), field goal percentage (.684) and blocked shots (28) while ranking fifth in scoring (10.8) in that stretch. Duke opens the season Nov. 9 vs. Kentucky in the Champions Classic.

North Carolina and Florida State are both +450 to win the ACC. In April, Williams retired from the UNC bench. In addition to NCAA titles in 2005, 2009 and 2017, he led the Tar Heels to a 485-163 record, two other Final Fours, nine ACC regular-season championships and three ACC Tournament crowns. Including his time at Kansas, Williams is third all-time in wins by a Division I head coach with 903.

Williams assistant and former star Heels guard Hubert Davis is the new coach. Davis has been an assistant coach under Williams for the past nine seasons in Chapel Hill and was one of the favorites as soon as the job opened. He becomes the first Black head coach in UNC men’s basketball history.

Armando Bacot picked up preseason first-team All-ACC honors and Caleb Love was named to the second team for the Heels. Bacot led Carolina in scoring (12.3), field goal percentage (.628), rebounding (7.8) and blocks (26) last season, becoming the first Tar Heel to lead in those four categories since first-team All-America Brice Johnson in 2015-16. Bacot’s field goal percentage was the eighth-highest in a season by a Tar Heel.

Florida State was picked to finish in second place in the ACC standings for the first time in school history. The Seminoles have been picked to finish third in three different seasons (1993, 2012 and 2021) and fourth on two occasions (2009 and 2019). In four of the last five seasons, Head Coach Leonard Hamilton has led the Seminoles to a higher finish in the final standings than was predicted in the preseason.

Since the start of the 2016 season, Florida State is the third winningest team in ACC play with a 115-38 record (.752 winning percentage). FSU has averaged 24.8 over wins per season in the last five seasons with a school-record 29 wins coming during the 2019 season. Florida State averaged 12.8 ACC wins in the last four seasons with a school record 16 ACC wins coming in winning the first ever regular season championship in school history in 2020.

Florida State is one of three teams in the nation that has played in the Sweet 16 of each of the last three NCAA Tournaments (Florida State, Gonzaga, Michigan). The Seminoles are 8-4 with at least one win in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments. FSU led the ACC in scoring offense, scoring margin, field goal percentage shooting and 3-point field goal percentage shooting during the 2020-21 season. Florida State enters the 2021-22 season having won 25 consecutive ACC home games.

Expert Pick

Florida State wins the ACC with Duke 2nd