ACC men’s basketball preseason power rankings for 2026-27

The top of the ACC figures to be as strong as it’s been in a while in 2026-27, but can the middle and bottom half of the conference take a step forward? Let’s take a look.

2025–26 Record: 35–3 (17–1 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: 1st

The last two pursuits of national championships have ended just about as painfully as possible for the Blue Devils, but Jon Scheyer and company figure to be right back in the mix in 2027.

Duke will return four of its top six scorers from last year’s No. 1 overall seed, while also adding top-rated Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell and preseason ACC Rookie of the Year Joaquim Boumtje-Boumtje. If that weren’t enough, the Devils also add seasoned Belmont transfer Drew Scharnowski and five-star freshmen Cameron Williams and Deron Rippey Jr.

This may be the deepest squad Scheyer has had to date in Durham, which is saying something.

2025–26 Record: 24–11 (11–7 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: 6th

Pat Kelsey has once again made a push for the title of “portal king” after landing a loaded class highlighted by Flory Bidunga (Kansas), Jackson Shelstad (Oregon), Karter Knox (Arkansas), Alvoro Folgueiras (Iowa), and De’Shayne Montgomery (Dayton). The return of guard Adrian Wooley, who came on late last season when star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. was sidelined with a back injury, hasn’t received as much national attention but could prove to be just as crucial when it comes to Louisville’s chances of making its first NCAA Tournament second weekend since 2015.

Whether or not this team is a legitimate threat to Duke’s reign at the top of the league standings could hinge on the eligibility of North Carolina transfer Seth Trimble — the man who beat the Blue Devils at the horn last season — and Northern Kentucky import L.J. Wells. Both players are ineligible as of this moment, but that could change as early as Friday.

2025–26 Record: 26–9 (13–5 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: 3rd

In his first season as a head coach, Jai Lucas proved he has what it takes to be one of the next big coaching stars in this sport. After taking Miami from seven wins in 2024-25 to 26 wins and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2025-26, Lucas now has the pieces needed to accomplish even more in year two.

Malik Reneau, Shelton Henderson and Dante Allen are all back and will be bolstered by a very good portal class that features Villanova point guard transfer Acaden Lewis as well as DeSean Goode (Robert Morris) and Somto Cyril (Georgia). Five-star freshman Caleb Gaskins has the potential to be an immediate star.

2025–26 Record: 30–6 (15–3 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: 2nd

Virginia fans will likely be upset with this ranking, and it isn’t hard to understand why. The Cavaliers return four of their six leading scorers from a team that finished second in the ACC and lost to Duke in the ACC Tournament title game last season. Among those group of returnees is Thijs De Ridder, the preseason ACC Player of the Year.

Fellow returnees Sam Lewis, Chance Mallory, Johann Gunloh and Elijah Gertrude didn’t leave Ryan Odom with a ton of work to do in the portal, but he still added a couple of nice pieces in Jurian Dixon (UC Irvine) and Christian Harmon (Arkansas State).

Virginia has the pieces necessary to be even better than they were a season ago, and if they can take another step forward offensively, they could certainly challenge Duke for the league crown.

2025–26 Record: 24–9 (12–6 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: T-4th

The top four in this league, in some order, feel pretty established. If a wildcard team is going to crash the party at the top of the league standings, UNC feels like the best bet.

A new era begins under Michael Malone, the former NBA champion, who takes over as head coach. Transfers Terrence Brown and Neoklis Avdalas should add options to the rotation, but the Tar Heels have plenty of adjustments to make. Malone is known in basketball circles as an Xs and Os wizard, but will that translate to the college game and how much of a learning curve will come with these players learning an entirely new system?

UNC has the talent to compete with the big four in this league, but the questions are too large and numerous to predict them to finish any higher than fifth.

2025–26 Record: 24–11 (12–6 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: T-4th

Banking on Brad Brownell to have more success than it seems like he ought to has become one of the safest annual bets in this conference. The Tigers don’t have the talent of the five teams above them here, but they have a coach and a system with a proven track record of success. That alone gives them a good shot to make the NCAA Tournament for a fourth consecutive season.

Brownell added perimeter shooting and frontcourt depth in the offseason, including Notre Dame transfer Cole Certa. Losing Zac Foster to a season-ending ACL injury earlier this week is a significant setback, but getting injured big man Carter Welling back around the midway point of the season should provide a huge boost as conference play kicks off.

2025–26 Record: 18–15 (10–8 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: T-7th

The Seminoles were the surprise of the league last season, as first-year head coach Luke Loucks bounced back form a pretty disastrous non-conference run to lead FSU to 11 wins in their final 15 games.

While it isn’t loaded with proven commodities like the teams at the top of the league, Florida State has the size and athleticism needed to give those same squads nightmares this winter. If two or three members of Loucks’ highly-talented six-man freshman class prove to be even better than advertised, this could be a team that hears its name called on Selection Sunday.

2025–26 Record: 20–14 (10–8 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: T-7th

The Will Wade experience in Raleigh was shorter and less successful than any Wolpack fans could have anticipated, but it also seems to have left those same fans even hungrier for success than they were before. New head coach Justin Gainey has an intriguing roster that could bring that success sooner than most national voices are anticipating.

Sharpshooter Paul McNeil and bruising big man Ven-Allen Lubin are both back after averaging double figures last season. They’ll be joined by a solid group of imports headlined by Kyle Evans, a former Big West Defensive Player of the Year at UC-Irvine.

Defense has been the main weakness of NC State in recent seasons, but there’s hope that Gainey — the former right-hand man of defensive guru Rick Barnes at Tennessee — can get that fixed quickly.

2025–26 Record: 19–13 (8–10 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: T-11th

The NIL/portal era has not been kind to Mike Young, who hasn’t taken the Hokies to the NCAA Tournament since 2022. There was talk last spring that four consecutive seasons of 19 wins or fewer could spell the end of his tenure in Blacksburg, but instead he signed a contract extension with the school in July.

The Hokies finally have a bit of roster retention by bringing back their two leading scorers from last season in Amani Hansberry and Ben Hammond. Tansfers Jaylen Curry (Oklahoma State) and Isaiah Elohim (Florida Atlantic) both averaged double figures this season and should add options for Young in the backcourt.

This feels like Young’s best shot in a few years to get back to climbing the ACC ladder.

2025–26 Record: 20–14 (8–10 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: T-11th

It’s hard to call the Andy Enfield experience in Dallas anything less than a success so far. The former USC and Florida Gulf Coast front man has produced 44 wins in two seasons, and led the Mustangs to the NCAA Tournament last March.

The 2026-27 season may provide Enfield with his biggest challenge to date. All five double-digit scorers from last season are gone, leaving the Mustangs to rely on a group of players who were either big performers at lower levels now out to prove they can hack it in a major conference, or underachievers from power conference squads looking to prove they deserved more of an opportunity at their last stop.

Chief among those additions are Rowan Brumbuagh, who averaged nearly 20 points per game for Tulane last season, and Jaylin Stewart, who is excited about having a larger role than the one he played for Dan Hurley at UConn.

2025–26 Record: 13–20 (5–13 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: 15th

It feels like Pitt has been spinning its wheels under Jeff Capel for about 35 years at this point. Will 2026-27 be the breaking point? The break through point? Or will the wheel spinning continue?

Pitt has once again overhauled much of its roster and will depend heavily on transfers to turn things around. A’lahn Sumler and Naithan George provide offensive potential, while former five-star recruit Jalil Bethea is a potentially exciting piece that can give Panther fans hope. George and big man Baye Ndongo should have established chemistry after being the two best players on a Georgia Tech team that went 17-17 two years ago.

2025–26 Record: 15–17 (6–12 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: 14th

The Gerry McNamara era at Syracuse begins with an interesting roster featuring a few young players who should provide Orange fans with some hope. Kiyan Anthony and Sadiq White are both back, but McNamara’s biggest offseason win was convincing do-everything star Gavin Doty to come with him from Siena.

There isn’t much proven power conference production on this squad, which should result in some early growing pains. Even if the Orange hit their stride during conference play, making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021 feels like a long shot.

2025–26 Record: 20–13 (9–9 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: T-9th

Losing Ebuka Okorie to the NBA after just one season leaves a hole that’s pretty impossible to fill, but Kyle Smith did the best he could during the offseason. Christian Bliss averaged 16.7 ppg for Delaware last season and should provide some solid experience in the backcourt, but it’s the play of freshman Aziz Olajuwon that will be the most interesting to follow on the West Coast this winter. If he can overachieve at even half the level Okorie did last season, the Cardinal could spring a couple of major upsets in league play.

2025–26 Record: 18–17 (7–11 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: 13th

The book on Wake Forest is out at this point: They’ll have a fringe all-league guy and a weak supporting cast, but Steve Forbes will get as much as he can out of them. The fringe all-league guy on this team isn’t clear, but Merrimack transfer Kevair Kennedy feels like the best bet.

The lack of resources being devoted to Demon Deacon basketball has been well documented. With that not seeming to have changed, it’s hard to envision the program taking a sizable step forward in 2026-27.

2025–26 Record: 11–20 (4–14 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: T-16th

Luke Murray has been known as one of the best minds in college basketball for years and years, and now he finally has an opportunity to prove it as a head coach. Murray’s first roster at Boston College is limited, but it does feature a potential all-conference performer in Montana transfer Money Williams.

Expect the man who helped lead UConn to back-to-back national titles to give Eagle fans their first glimpses of hope in a long while.

2025–26 Record: 13–18 (4–14 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: T-16th

The Micah Shrewsberry era in South Bend has been wildly disappointing so far, a trend that seems likely to continue in 2026-27. The return of Shrewsberry’s son, Braeden, and then addition of Big South Player of the Year Logan Duncomb (Winthrop) give this team a decent backbone, but there’s just not enough on this roster to predict that the Irish will finish better than 11th in the league for the first time under Shrewsberry.

2025–26 Record: 22–12 (9–9 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: T-9th

Cal won 22 games last season, but replacing nearly all of the production that got them to that total figures to be a challenge. Michael Cooper (Wright State) and Nojus Indrusaitis (Pitt) are imports that will help, but probably not enough to finish near the middle of the league standings.

2025–26 Record: 11–20 (2–16 ACC)

2025–26 Conference Finish: 18th

Scott Cross, who just took Troy to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, will do all that he can to bring success back to Georgia Tech. It just might not happen in year one.

Cross will rely heavily on a pair of high-scoring transfers in Nasir Whitlock (Lehigh) and Colby Garland (San Jose State), both of whom averaged better than 20 points per game last season. Still, patience feels like it will be necessary in Atlanta.