Pitt picked 14th in ACC preseason men's basketball poll

Pitt’s offseason roster overhaul apparently wasn’t convincing enough for voters in the ACC preseason men’s basketball poll.

The Panthers were picked 14th in the 18-team league when the ACC released the poll Tuesday. The 49-person voting panel selected Duke to finish first, ahead of Louisville, North Carolina, NC State and Virginia.

SMU, Clemson, Miami, Syracuse and Notre Dame rounded out the top 10.

The Panthers are coming off a 17-15 season, including an 8-12 mark in ACC play. They lost to Notre Dame in the first round of the ACC Tournament and finished the season by dropping 13 of their final 18 contests.

Pitt returns four scholarship players in senior forward Cameron Corhen, sophomore guard Brandin Cummings and sophomore forwards Papa Amadou Kante and Amdy Ndiaye. The transfer portal produced senior guard/forward Barry Dunning Jr. (South Alabama), senior guard Damarco Minor (Oregon), sophomore guard Nojus Indrusaitis (Iowa State) and senior center Dishon Jackson (Iowa State), who is sidelined indefinitely with an unspecified medical condition.

The freshman recruiting class consists of forwards Roman Siulepa (Brisbane, Australia) and Henry Lau (Sydney, Australia), guards Omari Witherspoon (St. John’s College, Md.) and Macari Moore (Ann Arbor Huron, Mich.) and 7-foot center Kieran Mullen (St. Thomas More, Conn.).

Duke is ranked No. 6 in the preseason Associated Press poll and is the preseason ACC favorite for the 10th time in the last 13 seasons. Louisville (No. 11) and North Carolina (No. 25) also are ranked in the AP’s preseason poll.

The media panelists selected NC State senior forward Darrion Williams as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, while Duke’s Cameron Boozer was chosen as Preseason Rookie of the Year.

Williams averaged 15.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game last year at Texas Tech and owns 1,140 career points, 674 rebounds and 295 assists entering his senior season.

A 6-foot-9, 250-pound forward from Miami, Boozer ranked as a five-star prospect and the third player overall in the 2025 recruiting class by both ESPN and 247Sports, as well as the No. 1 power forward and the No. 1 player in Florida.

Pitt opens its season at 2 p.m. Sunday with an exhibition game against Providence at the Petersen Events Center.

The regular season commences Nov. 3, and ACC play will start Dec. 30.

2025 ACC Preseason Poll

School, Points

1. Duke (34), 866

2. Louisville (15), 842

3. North Carolina, 741

4. NC State, 710

5. Virginia, 623

6. SMU, 616

7. Clemson, 510

8. Miami, 500

9. Syracuse, 489

10. Notre Dame, 477

11. Wake Forest, 412

12. Virginia Tech, 355

13. Georgia Tech, 315

14. Pitt, 301

15. Florida State, 221

16. California, 156

17. Stanford, 138

18. Boston College, 107

*First-place votes in parentheses; 49 total voters

2025-26 Preseason All-ACC Team

First Team

Name, School, Votes

Cameron Boozer, Duke, 46

Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 46

Darrion Williams, NC State, 45

Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville, 36

Ryan Conwell, Louisville, 36

Second Team

Isaiah Evans, Duke, 24

Boopie Miller, SMU, 27

J.J. Starling, Syracuse, 27

Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 24

Caleb Wilson, North Carolina, 24

ACC Preseason Player of the Year

Darrion Williams, NC State, 23 votes

Cameron Boozer, Duke, 19

Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 2

J.J. Starling, Syracuse, 2

Donald Hand Jr., Boston College, 1

Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 1

Caleb Wilson, North Carolina, 1

ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year

Cameron Boozer, Duke, 43 votes

Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville, 3

Caleb Wilson, North Carolina, 2

Neoklis Avdalas, Virginia Tech, 1