ACC announces awards. Players from Duke, Wake, UNC and NC State among those honored
After finishing alone in first place in the ACC regular-season standings for the first time since 2006, Duke missed on two top league-wide awards on Monday but snared two others.
While Wake Forest swept the coach of the year and player of the year awards in Steve Forbes and Alondes Williams, Duke’s Paolo Banchero was named the ACC’s top freshman and Mark Williams the league’s defensive player of the year.
All-ACC awards are determined by a 78-person voting panel established by the league office. It includes the 15 head coaches as well as a mix of media members.
Wake Forest is in the midst of a dramatic resurgence, having won 10 more ACC games this season after going 3-15 in the ACC last season in Forbes’ first at the school
The Demon Deacons (23-8, 13-7 ACC) finished fifth in the ACC regular-season standings, their best finish since tying for second in 2009.
Alondes Williams, a 6-5 guard from Milwaukee who transferred to Wake Forest this season from Oklahoma, averaged 19.3 points and 5.3 assists this season.
He led the ACC in scoring and assists entering Saturday’s final day of regular season play. With Wake Forest having finished the regular season on Wednesday, Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim scored 30 points in a loss to Miami to edge Williams by one point for the regular-season scoring title.
Williams still has a chance to win the scoring title as that race includes post-season play.
Regardless, he’s the first Wake Forest player since Josh Howard in 2003 to win the ACC’s player of the year award.
While Williams received 41 votes from the ACC’s panel, North Carolina center Armando Bacot finished second in the balloting with 31 votes.
Banchero, a 6-10 forward, averaged 17.1 points and 7.7 rebounds for No. 4 Duke (26-5, 16-4 ACC).
Mark Williams, a 7-1 sophomore center, led the ACC in blocked shots (87).
N.C. State’s Dereon Seabron, a sophomore forward, was named the ACC’s most improved player in a tight voting race over Clemson’s P.J. Hall.
The ACC’s sixth man of the year is Florida State freshman Matthew Cleveland.
Alondes Williams, Bacot and Banchero were joined on the all-ACC first team by Boeheim and Miami’s Kameron McGusty.
The second team includes Seabron, Duke’s Wendell Moore, Notre Dame’s Blake Wesley and Virginia Tech’s Keve Aluma and Jake LaRavia of Wake Forest.
The third team is Duke’s Mark Williams, Notre Dame’s Dane Goodwin, Virginia’s Jayden Gardner, Miami’s Isaiah Wong and Michael Devoe of Georgia Tech.
Duke landed three players on the all-rookie team in Banchero, A.J. Griffin and Trevor Keels. They were joined by N.C. State’s Terquavion Smith and Notre Dame’s Wesley.
Mark Williams headed the all-defensive team which also included Virginia’s Reece Beekman, North Carolina’s Leaky Black, Miami’s Charlie Moore and Duke’s Wendell Moore.
2021-22 ACC Award Winners
Player of Year: Alondes Williams, Wake Forest
Rookie of Year: Paolo Banchero, Duke
Coach of Year: Steve Forbes, Wake Forest
Defensive Player of Year: Mark Williams, Duke
Most Improved Player: Dereon Seabron, NC State
Sixth Man of Year: Matthew Cleveland, Florida State
2021-22 All-ACC Team
First Team
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 380
Alondes Williams, Wake Forest, 373
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 372
Kameron McGusty, Miami, 315
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 241
Second Team
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 192
Dereon Seabron, NC State, 166
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 161
Blake Wesley, Notre Dame, 148
Jake LaRavia, Wake Forest, 147
Third Team
Dane Goodwin, Notre Dame, 131
Mark Williams, Duke, 119
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 119
Jayden Gardner, Virginia, 106
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 105
Honorable Mention
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 84
PJ Hall, Clemson, 72
John Hugley, Pitt, 54
Charlie Moore, Miami, 42
Brady Manek, North Carolina, 38
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 22
AJ Griffin, Duke, 22
Paul Atkinson Jr., Notre Dame, 20
Terquavion Smith, NC State, 15
Reece Beekman, Virginia, 15
Note: All-ACC Team points are determined on a 5-3-1 system (five points for first team, three points for second team, one point for third team).
ACC Player of the Year
Alondes Williams, Wake Forest, 41 votes
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 31
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 6
ACC Freshman of the Year
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 72 votes
Blake Wesley, Notre Dame, 4
Terquavion Smith, NC State, 1
Trevor Keels, Duke, 1
ACC Defensive Player of the Year
Mark Williams, Duke, 46 votes
Reece Beekman, Virginia, 20
Leaky Black, North Carolina, 7
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 3
Charlie Moore, Miami, 2
ACC Most Improved Player
Dereon Seabron, NC State, 33 votes
PJ Hall, Clemson, 28
Mark Williams, Duke, 4
John Hugley, Pitt, 4
Dane Goodwin, Notre Dame, 3
Jesse Edwards, Syracuse, 2
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 2
James Karnik, Boston College, 1
RJ Davis, North Carolina, 1
ACC Sixth Man of the Year
Matthew Cleveland, Florida State, 52 votes
El Ellis, Louisville, 6
Anthony Walker, Miami, 6
Khadim Sy, Wake Forest, 6
Kadin Shedrick, Virginia, 5
Quinten Post, Boston College, 2
Cam Hayes, NC State, 1
ACC Coach of the Year
Steve Forbes, Wake Forest, 40 votes
Mike Krzyzewski, Duke, 19
Mike Brey, Notre Dame, 13
Jim Larrañaga, Miami, 3
Mike Young, Virginia Tech, 1
Hubert Davis, North Carolina, 1
Tony Bennett, Virginia, 1
All-ACC Defensive Team
Mark Williams, Duke, 77 votes
Reece Beekman, Virginia, 69
Leaky Black, North Carolina, 55
Charlie Moore, Miami, 45
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 33
All-Rookie Team
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 77 votes
Terquavion Smith, NC State, 73
Blake Wesley, Notre Dame, 72
AJ Griffin, Duke, 66
Trevor Keels, Duke, 50
This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 9:20 AM with the headline "ACC announces awards. Players from Duke, Wake, UNC and NC State among those honored."