Duke’s Bagley takes ACC Player of the Year, Rookie honors; UVA’s Bennett is Coach of the Year
GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – With a sweep of Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors, Duke’s Marvin Bagley III leads the 2017-18 season award winners and the All-ACC basketball team announced by the league on Sunday.
Bagley, who shares the ACC lead in scoring and leads the league in rebounding heading into the postseason, was the choice for ACC Player of the Year by 37 members of the 57-member voting panel (15 ACC head coaches, 42 selected media) that cast ballots for this year’s postseason honors. Boston College junior Jerome Robinson placed second with 14 votes.
The ACC Rookie of the Year balloting was more clear cut, with Bagley receiving 56 of the 57 votes cast. Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter received the remaining vote.
Bagley joins former Duke standout Jahlil Okafor (2015) as the only players in the ACC’s 65-year history to be chosen as the league’s Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season.
Virginia’s Tony Bennett was recognized as the ACC Coach of the Year. Bennett’s Cavaliers, who won the ACC regular-season title and own the nation’s No. 1 ranking, earned two more individual honors as Virginia senior Isaiah Wilkins received the nod as the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and freshman De’Andre Hunter was tabbed as the Sixth Man of the Year.
North Carolina junior Luke Maye was voted the ACC’s Most Improved Player.
Bagley is joined on the All-ACC first team by Boston College’s Robinson, North Carolina’s Maye and senior Joel Berry II, and Virginia sophomore Kyle Guy.
Highly touted as the nation’s top recruit entering the season, the 6-11, 234-pound Bagley lived up to his billing by keying the Blue Devils to a 25-6 overall record and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming New York Life ACC Tournament. The Phoenix native is tied with Boston College’s Robinson for the ACC scoring lead at 20.7 points per game and leads the conference with 11.9 rebounds per contest.
Bagley, back in action after missing four games in February with a knee injury, leads the ACC with 19 double-doubles, 10 of which have come in conference play. Bagley, who has scored at least 30 points in a game a league-leading six times, was twice named the ACC Player of the Week and earned ACC Rookie of the Week recognition six times.
In addition to sharing the overall conference scoring lead, Robinson’s average of 24.3 points in ACC games leads the league by more than four points per game. The Raleigh, North Carolina, native has posted three 30-point games and scored at least 20 points an ACC-leading 16 times. That included a 46-point performance at Notre Dame on Feb. 6, the most ever by a visiting ACC player in a conference game. Robinson leads the ACC in 3-point field goal percentage at .438. He is bidding to become the first Boston College player since Olivier Hanlan in 2014-15 to lead the ACC in both overall and conference-only scoring.
After averaging 5.5 points and 3.9 rebounds as a sophomore last season, Maye has helped North Carolina to a 22-9 record in 2017-18 by ranking fifth among conference player in scoring (17.7 points per game) and second in rebounding (10.1 rebounds per game). The Huntersville, North Carolina, native has put up 15 double-doubles and has three games with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds. Maye is one of two players in the ACC who ranks in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage (.511). He has established career scoring highs four different times, including 33 points at NC State on Feb. 10.
Berry is scoring at a 17.8 points per game clip for the Tar Heels while ranking second in the ACC in free throw percentage (.876) and tied for third in made 3-pointers (79). The Apopka, Florida, native has made five 3-pointers in a game three times this season. Berry has 11 games this season with 20-or-more points, including a career-high 31 against Miami on Feb. 27, and he scored the game-winning points in three of UNC’s conference victories.
Guy is averaging a team-best 13.9 points per game for top-ranked Virginia. The Indianapolis native is shooting .870 from the foul line and has connected on 74 shots from 3-point range to rank sixth in the ACC. Guy has reached double-figures in 24 games, including a career-high 29 against Virginia Commonwealth on Nov. 17. Guy has also contributed 2.4 rebounds per contest, 42 assists and 30 steals while playing a team-high 31.7 minutes per game.
Clemson’s Marcquise Reed (16.4 points per game, .855 free throw percentage), Syracuse’s Tyus Battle (20.0 points, 1.58 steals per game), Virginia Devon Hall (11.9 points, 3.2 assists per game), Virginia Tech’s Justin Robinson (13.8 points, 5.5 assists per game) and Duke’s Wendell Carter Jr. (14.1 points, 9.5 rebounds per game) comprise the second team.
The All-ACC third team includes Duke’s Grayson Allen (15.5 points, 4.6 assists per game), Notre Dame’s Matt Farrell (16.8 points per game, ACC-leading 86 made 3-pointers), Virginia’s Ty Jerome (10.6 points, 1.5 steals per game), Georgia Tech’s Josh Okogie (18.4 points, 6.3 rebounds per game) and NC State’s Omer Yurtseven (13.6 points, 6.8 rebounds per game) comprise the third team.
Bennett has guided a Virginia team that was picked to finish sixth in the ACC in preseason – and unranked in the national polls – to an ACC regular-season championship and the nation’s No. 1 ranking. The Cavaliers (28-2 overall) won 17 of 18 conference games and will enter this week’s New York Life ACC Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the third time in five years.
Virginia’s 17 ACC regular-season wins are a new league record, as are its nine conference road wins. The Cavaliers are the fourth team in the Associated Press Top 25 era (since 1990) to reach the No. 1 spot in the AP weekly poll after being unranked in preseason. The ACC Coach of the Year honor is the Bennett’s third since he took the helm at Virginia prior to 2009-10 season. He was also recognized in 2014 and 2015.
Hunter has come off the bench in all 30 of Virginia’s games this season, averaging 9.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. The 6-7 guard from Philadelphia scored in double-figures in 11 ACC games, including a game-high 22 in a win at Miami and 17 in another road victory at Georgia Tech. His other first-year achievements included last Thursday night’s 3-pointer at the buzzer that capped the Cavaliers’ dramatic one-point win at Louisville. Hunter has averaged close to 23 minutes played per game in ACC contests, chipped in one double-digit rebounding game (10 at Pitt) and handed out a career-high six assists in a win at Syracuse.
Wilkins has been a mainstay in a Virginia defense that has limited opponents to 52.8 points per game (second lowest in school history) while holding 23 opponents to less than 43 percent shooting from the floor. Wilkins, a 6-7 senior from Lilburn, Georgia, has blocked three or more shots in seven games this season and ranks third at UVA in career blocked shots with 138. Wilkins also has 36 steals on the season and leads Virginia in rebounding with 6.4 per game.
Bagley, Hunter and Carter are joined on the All-ACC Freshman Team by Miami’s Lonnie Walker IV and Syracuse’s Oshae Brissett.
Louisville’s Anas Mahmoud, Clemson’s Elijah Thomas, Virginia’s Hall and Georgia Tech’s Ben Lammers join Virginia’s Wilkins on the 2017-18 All-ACC Defensive Team.
2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Post-Season Honors
All-ACC
First Team
Marvin Bagley III, Duke, 280*
Jerome Robinson, Boston College, 273
Luke Maye, North Carolina, 246
Joel Berry II, North Carolina, 223
Kyle Guy, Virginia, 168
Second Team
Tyus Battle, Syracuse, 159
Marcquise Reed, Clemson, 143
Devon Hall, Virginia, 129
Wendell Carter, Jr., Duke, 126
Justin Robinson, Virginia Tech, 123
Third Team
Grayson Allen, Duke, 119
Matt Farrell, Notre Dame, 89
Ty Jerome, Virginia, 67
Josh Okogie, Georgia Tech, 57
Omer Yurtseven, NC State, 54
Honorable Mention
Deng Adel, Louisville, 51
Ky Bowman, Boston College, 37
Lonnie Walker, Miami (FL), 30
Bryant Crawford, Wake Forest, 23
Markell Johnson, NC State, 21
Ray Spalding, Louisville, 19
Allerik Freeman, NC State, 18
Theo Pinson, North Carolina, 14
Terance Mann, Florida State, 12
Gabe DeVoe, Clemson, 12
All-Freshman Team
Marvin Bagley III, Duke, 57*
Wendell Carter, Jr., Duke, 56
Lonnie Walker, Miami, 51
De'Andre Hunter, Virginia, 33
Oshae Brissett, Syracuse, 33
All-Defensive Team
Isaiah Wilkins, Virginia, 49
Anas Mahmoud, Louisville, 37
Elijah Thomas, Clemson, 34
Devon Hall, Virginia, 32
Ben Lammers, Georgia Tech, 25
Player of the Year
Marvin Bagley III, Duke, 37
Jerome Robinson, Boston College, 14
Luke Maye, North Carolina, 5
Devon Hall, Virginia, 1
Rookie of the Year
Marvin Bagley III, Duke, 56
De'Andre Hunter, Virginia, 1
Coach of the Year
Tony Bennett, Virginia, 47
Brad Brownell, Clemson, 8
Kevin Keatts, NC State, 2
Defensive Player of the Year
Isaiah Wilkins, Virginia, 42
Anas Mahmoud, Louisville, 7
Elijah Thomas, Clemson, 3
Devin Wilson, Virginia Tech, 2
Jack Salt, Virginia, 1
Rex Pflueger, Notre Dame, 1
Wendell Carter Jr., Duke, 1
Most Improved Player
Luke Maye, North Carolina, 26
Frank Howard, Syracuse, 5
Omer Yurtseven, NC State, 5
Martinas Geben, Notre Dame, 5
Doral Moore, Wake Forest, 5
Kyle Guy, Virginia, 3
Marcquise Reed, Clemson, 3
Phil Cofer, Florida State, 2
Dewan Huell, Miami, 2
Ty Jerome, Virginia, 1
Sixth Man of the Year
De'Andre Hunter, Virginia, 39
Chris Clarke, Virginia Tech, 7
Chris Lykes, Miami, 5
Keyshawn Woods, Wake Forest, 3
Trent Forrest, Florida State, 2
Marques Bolden, Duke, 1
