Coaches ALL-ACC Basketball Teams & Awards

Mark BlankenbakerMarch 9, 2015

Player of the Year

Jahlil Okafor, Fr. Duke

Coach of the Year

Tony Bennett, Virginia

All-ACC Teams

First Team All-ACC
Olivier Hanlan, Jr., Boston College
Jahlil Okafor, Fr., Duke
Jerian Grant, Sr., Notre Dame
Rakeem Christmas, Gr. Syracuse
Malcolm Brogdon, Jr., Virginia

Second Team All-ACC
Quinn Cook, Sr., Duke
Montrezl Harrell, Jr., Louisville
Terry Rozier, So., Louisville
Marcus Paige, Jr., North Carolina
Justin Anderson, Jr., Virginia

Third Team All-ACC
Tyus Jones, Fr., Duke
Brice Johnson, Jr., North Carolina
Trevor Lacey, Jr., NC State
Pat Connaughton, Sr., Notre Dame
Jamel Artis, So., Pitt

Defensive Players of the Year

Malcolm Brogdon, Jr., Virginia

Rakeem Christmas, Sr., Syracuse

All-Defensive Team

Tonye Jekiri, Jr., Miami
BeeJay Anya, So., NC State
Jerian Grant, Sr., Notre Dame
Rakeem Christmas, Gr., Syracuse
Malcolm Brogdon, Jr., Virginia
Anthony Gill, Jr, Virginia

Freshman of the Year

Jahlil Okafor, Fr., Duke

2014-15 ACC Coaches’ All-ACC Freshman Team
Jahlil Okafor, Duke
Tyus Jones, Duke
Justise Winslow, Duke
Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Florida State
Justin Jackson, North Carolina

6th Man of the Year

Mike Tobey, Jr., Virginia

ACC Release

The Atlantic Coast Conference has announced the 2015 All-ACC Team, as voted upon by the league’s 15 head coaches.

Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor, Notre Dame senior Jerian Grant, Syacuse forward Rakeem Christmas, Virginia guard Malcolm Brogdon and Boston College guard Olivier Hanlan comprise the first team.

Duke’s Okafor, a 6-foot-11 center from Chicago, ranks second among ACC scorers at 17.6 points per game and third in rebounding at 9.2 per contest. Okafor has scored 10 or more points in 29 of his 30 games coming into this week’s New York Life ACC Tournament, and his 11 “double doubles” in points/rebounds rank fourth in the conference.

Notre Dame’s Grant leads the ACC in assists at 6.7 per game, in assists-to-turnover ratio (3.23:1) and in fifth in scoring at 16.8 points per game. The 6-foot-5 guard from Bowie, Maryland, closed the season with a 19-point, eight-assist, five-rebound effort in an 81-67 victory over Clemson Saturday and has scored in double-figures in all but three games this season.

Syracuse’s Christmas led the Orange and ranks third among ACC scorers at 17.5 points per game and is fourth in rebounding at 9.1 boards per contest. In addition, the 6-foot-9 senior from Philadelphia, is second in the ACC with 2.5 blocked shots per game and fifth in field goal percentage (.552).

Virginia’s Brogdon, a second-team selection a year ago, leads the second-ranked Cavaliers in scoring at 13.7 points per game and is second in assists at 2.6 per game. The 6-foot-5 Atlanta, Georgia, junior is averaging 4.0 rebounds per game and is second in the ACC in free throw percentage at .860.

Boston College’s Hanlan leads the ACC in scoring at 19.4 points per game and is ninth in assists at 4.2 per game. The Aylmer, Quebec, junior closed out the regular season having scored in double figures 24 straight games and has scored 10-or-more points in all but one game this season.

Louisville’s Montrezl Harrell (15.8 ppg, 9.4 rpg) and Terry Rozier (17.0 ppg, 2.0 steals), Duke’s Quinn Cook (16.0 ppg, .885 FT percentage), North Carolina’s Marcus Paige (13.5 ppg, 4.4 apg) and Virginia’s Justin Anderson (13.4 ppg, .484 3-point field goal percentage) were voted to the second team.

NC State’s Trevor Lacey (16.1 ppg) was voted to the third team, along with Duke’s Tyus Jones (11.8 ppg, 5.7 apg), Notre Dame’s Pat Connaughton (12.6 ppg), Pitt’s Jamel Artis (13.8) ppg) and North Carolina’s Brice Johnson (12.6 ppg).

Jahlil Okafor of Duke has been selected as the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and the ACC Freshman of the Year in a vote of the league’s 15 head coaches.

Okafor ranked second in the league with 17.6 points per game, third with 9.2 rebounds per game, and first in field goal percentage (.668) while helping lead the Blue Devils to a 28-3 overall record and the No. 2 seed in this week’s New York Life ACC Tournament. He was voted as the ACC Rookie of the Week eight times and Player of the Week once.

One of 15 finalists for the Wooden Award, the Chicago native was also honored with both awards by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association (ACSMA) on Sunday, becoming the first freshman in league history to be voted the ACC Player of the Year.

Virginia’s Tony Bennett has been selected as the ACC Coach of the Year in a vote of the league’s 15 head coaches.

It marks the second straight year that Bennett has been honored by his peers, and it follows a regular season that saw the Cavaliers finish 28-2 overall and ranked as high as No. 2 nationally. Virginia posted a 16-2 mark in ACC play, becoming the first team in league history to win 16 regular-season conference games in successive seasons.

The Cavaliers will also enter this week’s New York Life ACC Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the second straight year as they defend their 2014 ACC title.

Virginia junior guard Malcolm Brogdon and Syracuse senior forward Rakeem Christmas have been selected as the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Co-Defensive Players of the Year in a vote of the league’s 15 head coaches.

Brogdon has provided a main defensive component for a Virginia defense that has limited opponents to 50.3 points per game and .357 shooting from the floor. The 6-foot-5 Atlanta native has established himself as lockdown defender while coming up with 22 steals, 14 blocked shots and 105 defensive rebounds.

Christmas, a finalist for the John Wooden Award, the Oscar Robertson Trophy and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, ranks second in the ACC with 2.5 blocked shots per game. The 6-foot-9 Philadelphia native, who was also voted the league’s Most Improved Player, ranks eighth all-time at Syracuse in career blocked shots with 247, and added 185 defensive rebounds and 29 steals for a defense that limited opponents to 63.4 points per game.

Virginia junior forward Mike Tobey has been named the ACC Sixth Man of the Year in a vote of the league’s 15 head coaches.

Tobey has averaged 7.2 points and 5.2 rebounds while playing nearly 18 minutes per game for the regular-season champion Cavaliers. The 7-foot Monroe, New York, native is shooting .512 from the floor and .750 from the foul line.

Defensively, Tobey has blocked 22 shots and made nine steals while contributing to a defense that has limited Virginia opponents to 50.3 points per game.

The conference’s second-leading shot-blocker and two Virginia standouts are among the six players voted to the 2014-15 All-ACC Defensive Team announced by the league’s head coaches.

Syracuse’s Rakeem Christmas, who leads all active ACC players with 247 career blocked shots, was joined by Virginia juniors Malcom Brogdon and Anthony Gill.

Also named to the defensive team are Miami’s Tonye Jekiri , NC State’s BeeJay Anya and Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant.

Brogdon and Gill have played major roles in a stifling Virginia defense that leads the nation in scoring defense (50.2) and ranks third in field goal percentage defense (.357).

Miami’s Jekiri, the ACC’s leading rebounder at 10.2 per game, is fourth in the ACC at 1.5 blocked shots per contest.

NC State’s Anya has blocked at least one shot in 28 of his 31 games and leads the ACC and ranks 20th nationally in blocked shots per game, averaging 2.7.

Notre Dame’s Grant has 58 steals and 17 blocked shots while keying the Fighting Irish to the No. 3 seed in this week’s New York Life ACC Tournament.

USBWA Freshman of the Year finalists Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow of Duke have been selected to the the five-member 2014-15 All-ACC Freshman Team as selected by the league’s head coaches.

The Blue Devil trio is joined by Florida State’s Xavier Rathan-Mayes and North Carolina’s Justin Jackson.

Duke’s Okafor, a 6-foot-11 center from Chicago, ranks second among ACC scorers at 17.6 points per game and third in rebounding at 9.2 per contest. Okafor has scored 10 or more points in 29 of his 30 games coming into this week’s ACC Tournament, and his 11 “double doubles” in points/rebounds rank fourth in the conference.

Jones leads the ACC in free throw percentage (.882) and is second in assists (5.7) while Winslow is averaging 12.4 points and 5.8 rebounds, and, along with Jones, has started all 31 games of the year for the third-ranked Blue Devils.

Florida State’s Rathan-Mayes has scored 20 or more points seven times this season, including two 35-point efforts. He leads the Seminoles and ranks second among all ACC freshmen, in both scoring (14.4) and assists (4.4).

North Carolina’s Jackson closed out the regular season averaging 13.0 points and 5.3 rebounds over his last five games. On the year in 31 games, including 30 starts, Jackson is fourth on the team in scoring (10.1) and third in assists (2.5).