As we wind down the regular season - All-ACC team picks?

[CDu]

So we're down to the last 3 games of the regular season for everyone in the ACC. I feel like the ACC picture is really taking shape. In fact, I feel pretty confident that at least 4 of the top 5 are all but locks. My picks:

1st Team:
Harris, UVa
Green, VT
Mason, Duke
Larkin, Miami
Curry, Duke

2nd Team:
Howell, State
Brown, State
Scott, Miami
Bullock, UNC
Leslie, State

3rd Team:
Mitchell, UVa
Len, Maryland
Bullock, UNC
Snaer, FSU
Anderson, BC

Honorable Mention:
Hairston, UNC (would be on the list if Williams had realized he should play him more)
McKie, Wake
McAdoo, UNC (won't be surprised if he ends up on the actual list, but he shouldn't)
Cook, Duke
Booker, Clemson

Your thoughts?

[DallasDevil]

I would think Kadji would get some votes as well. I could see Len making 2nd team, with perhaps Leslie or Scott getting bumped down to 3rd team. And Bullock is UNC's best player this year, but probably not good enough to be on both the 2nd and 3rd team. ;)

[Wander]

Bullock is good enough to make two teams?!

Agreed on Kadji - he should be there somewhere.

[vick]

So we're down to the last 3 games of the regular season for everyone in the ACC. I feel like the ACC picture is really taking shape. In fact, I feel pretty confident that at least 4 of the top 5 are all but locks. My picks:

1st Team:
Harris, UVa
Green, VT
Mason, Duke
Larkin, Miami
Curry, Duke

2nd Team:
Howell, State
Brown, State
Scott, Miami
Bullock, UNC
Leslie, State

3rd Team:
Mitchell, UVa
Len, Maryland
Bullock, UNC
Snaer, FSU
Anderson, BC

Honorable Mention:
Hairston, UNC (would be on the list if Williams had realized he should play him more)
McKie, Wake
McAdoo, UNC (won't be surprised if he ends up on the actual list, but he shouldn't)
Cook, Duke
Booker, Clemson

Your thoughts?

As of right now, I'm with you on the first team (I think you also said in another thread Harris would be your POY pick, which I also agree with). I don't quite get the State love on the second team though--in a 12 team conference, your 'quota' of all-ACC picks is 1.25. I'd think if you had three of the top 10 players, you should be better than the 5th best team in the conference. To me, Leslie is the weak link there, as he's turnover-prone (I think he's second in league-only play in turnovers per game) and just in general not a very efficient scorer. I think I'd go with Bullock, Howell, Booker, Kadji, Mitchell right now (if you statistically compare Mitchell and Howell, it's awfully close--Howell's stats are inflated relative to Mitchell's due to State playing a much faster pace than UVa).

[JasonEvans]

I know Green is gonna make first team, but I really feel like scoring a bunch for a team that is rarely really in games is just not something that should be rewarded. If VaTech was even sniffing the middle of the pack I might feel differently, but they are dead last. I mean, how much worse would they be if Green was not on the team?

I think there is too much emphasis on scoring average when it comes to picking the best players. I try to take a more complete look at the games of the guys who make the honored teams. And, if you ask me, the best players in the conference, the All-ACC players, should almost always come from the best teams in the conference -- the ones that are winning the most. My All-ACC teams would be:


1st Team
Shane Larkin, Miami (POY)
Joe Harris, Virginia
Mason Plumlee, Duke
Seth Curry, Duke
Richard Howell, NC St

2nd Team
Reggie Bullock, UNC
Durand Scott, Miami
Lorenzo Brown, NC State
Kenny Kadji, Miami
Eric Green, Va Tech

3rd Team
Akil Mitchell, Virginia
Ryan Anderson, BC
Alex Len, MD
CJ Leslie, NC St
JMMcAdoo, UNC

9 of my top 10 spots go to players on the top 5 teams in the conference. I just think winning should matter.

-Jason "I think Quin Cook is darn close to making 3rd team" Evans

[CDu]

I would think Kadji would get some votes as well. I could see Len making 2nd team, with perhaps Leslie or Scott getting bumped down to 3rd team. And Bullock is UNC's best player this year, but probably not good enough to be on both the 2nd and 3rd team. ;)

Yeah, I was doing some editing. Bullock replaced Kadji on 2nd team and Kadji should have been on 3rd team. Oops.

[CDu]

I know Green is gonna make first team, but I really feel like scoring a bunch for a team that is rarely really in games is just not something that should be rewarded. If VaTech was even sniffing the middle of the pack I might feel differently, but they are dead last. I mean, how much worse would they be if Green was not on the team?

9 of my top 10 spots go to players on the top 5 teams in the conference. I just think winning should matter.

-Jason "I think Quin Cook is darn close to making 3rd team" Evans

I'd agree with you, except that Green isn't just chucking up shots. He's one of the most efficient scorers in the country. That's incredible when you consider the volume of shots he has to take, and when you consider that he's the single player a defense has to focus on. For him to lead the country in scoring and do so at such an incredible efficiency is truly amazing.

And while I get the "winning matters" argument, I don't know that it's completely fair. It's only in the rarest of cases where one player can singlehandedly carry a team to wins. It's a team sport, and VT is so bad at the other spots that they don't stand a chance (even with Green's amazing skills).

There is no way someone could convince me that Green is not one of the 3 best players in the ACC. As such, there is no way I'd exclude him from the 1st team.

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

With four (or more) ACC losses, I can't see how both Plumlee and Curry will be first team. Depending on Saturday, I think two Miami players will be first team. Then, it's likely that either Plumlee or Curry will drop to #1 on the second team. Based on most recent games, it looks to me like Plumlee may fall ... unless he shows up big for the next three games.

[rsvman]

With four (or more) ACC losses, I can't see how both Plumlee and Curry will be first team. Depending on Saturday, I think two Miami players will be first team. Then, it's likely that either Plumlee or Curry will drop to #1 on the second team. Based on most recent games, it looks to me like Plumlee may fall ... unless he shows up big for the next three games.

Endorse.

Mason's entire body of work is perhaps superior to Curry's, but if you take out all the pre-ACC regular season games, I think the order reverses. Mainly because Mason was really, really good in November and December.

[CDu]

As of right now, I'm with you on the first team (I think you also said in another thread Harris would be your POY pick, which I also agree with). I don't quite get the State love on the second team though--in a 12 team conference, your 'quota' of all-ACC picks is 1.25. I'd think if you had three of the top 10 players, you should be better than the 5th best team in the conference. To me, Leslie is the weak link there, as he's turnover-prone (I think he's second in league-only play in turnovers per game) and just in general not a very efficient scorer. I think I'd go with Bullock, Howell, Booker, Kadji, Mitchell right now (if you statistically compare Mitchell and Howell, it's awfully close--Howell's stats are inflated relative to Mitchell's due to State playing a much faster pace than UVa).

Yeah, I felt weird about Leslie too, and agree that Mitchell should probably be higher.

I'm not as sold that Booker should be second team. He's a good player, but he's not overly efficient and plays on a bad team (I'll penalize a less-efficient player on a bad team).

Revising my list:

Harris (PoY)
Green
Plumlee
Larkin
Curry

Howell
Brown
Scott
Mitchell
Kadji

Bullock
Leslie
Len
Anderson
Snaer

Booker
Hairston
McAdoo
Cook
McKie

[vick]

Yeah, I felt weird about Leslie too, and agree that Mitchell should probably be higher.

I'm not as sold that Booker should be second team. He's a good player, but he's not overly efficient and plays on a bad team (I'll penalize a less-efficient player on a bad team).

Revising my list:

Harris (PoY)
Green
Plumlee
Larkin
Curry

Howell
Brown
Scott
Mitchell
Kadji

Bullock
Leslie
Len
Anderson
Snaer

Booker
Hairston
McAdoo
Cook
McKie

I like this list. Booker was the weakest of my second teamers anyway. Bullock/Scott is an interesting comparison to me, because Bullock seems to have a clearly superior statistical profile--he shoots a higher percentage despite the fact that he shoots more threes (giving him a much higher eFG), he gets more rebounds, he gets almost as many assists despite far fewer turnovers--but he's just never seemed to be as assertive offensively as he needs to be, and it's not totally clear to me why, other than the traditional Williams bias toward post play--but McAdoo isn't May or Hansbrough or Zeller down there.

At the midway point I argued against Brown because he missed 2.5 games, which at 9 games is a lot to me, but now that he's back you can see how his defense helps (not that he's an outstanding defender, but he's better equipped than Tyler Lewis), and 2.5 games out of 18 is a lot different (in my subjective opinion). I wouldn't argue with him either, really.