Syracuse Basketball: Not a lot of love for Orange in ACC pre-season poll

No Syracuse basketball player received votes for All-ACC teams or other league honors.

In the Atlantic Coast Conference pre-season media poll for the 2020-21 campaign that got released on Wednesday, Syracuse basketball checks in at No. 6, and that’s precisely where the Orange should reside.

The league’s top five, in order, is Virginia, Duke, Florida State, North Carolina and Louisville. Those are the same five squads that I’ve said for months would come in ahead of the ‘Cuse in the ACC, at least as far as the pre-season prognostications are concerned.

Interestingly enough, the Cavaliers, the Blue Devils, the Seminoles, the Tar Heels and the Cardinals all received first-place votes in the ACC’s pre-season media ballot.

To me, that signifies there is no runaway favorite to capture the conference crown in 2020-21, and it also illustrates that the ACC is going to prove a lot better – and deeper – than it was a season ago.

Following the Orange in the predicted order of finish is Miami, N.C. State, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Boston College and Wake Forest.

From my own perspective and that of some bracketologists, at least for now, it seems that 2021 March Madness bubble teams may include Syracuse basketball, along with the Hurricanes, the Wolfpack, the Yellow Jackets and the Tigers.

As we noted in a column on Tuesday after the ACC released its league schedule for the ‘Cuse and its conference peers, Syracuse basketball will compete twice against Boston College, Clemson, Louisville, N.C. State, North Carolina and Pittsburgh.

The Orange will welcome to the Carrier Dome a quartet of Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, while the ‘Cuse will head out of town to Duke, Virginia, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest.

Syracuse basketball isn’t included in any of the ACC’s pre-season accolades.

Within the league’s pre-season media poll, there are individual honors such as the All-ACC first and second teams, the player of the year, and the freshman of the year.

The Orange got shut out in these departments, although this isn’t a huge surprise, by my estimation. Yes, the ‘Cuse returns four of five starters from a stanza ago and has terrific depth throughout its roster.

However, the squad’s star from 2019-20, forward Elijah Hughes, is gone. You could make a case for junior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim to maybe receive inclusion on the All-ACC second unit, given that he averaged more than 15 points per contest last year, but that’s really about it.

The only other category where I could see an Orange connection is possibly for freshman of the year. Kadary Richmond, a top-100 prospect coming out of high school, is getting a lot of hype as a versatile wing, and him receiving a vote or two for this award seems sensible.

Of course, none of these pre-season projections mean all that much to me or many other Syracuse basketball fans out there. It’s how the ‘Cuse fares on the court that matters to us.