Oct. 26, 2008

North Carolina was selected first in the preseason media poll. The Tar Heels were picked to finish first all 40 ballots. Duke was picked second, followed by Wake Forest. Miami was tabbed to finish four, followed by Clemson and Virginia Tech.

The second half of the preseason list was - in order - Maryland, Georgia Tech, NC State, Florida State, Boston College and Virginia.

Senior guard Tyrese Rice gained a spot on the All-ACC preseason first team. The Richmond, Va., product earned All-Conference first-team accolades last winter. He enters his senior season with 1,542 career points.

Rice and North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough were both unanimous choices. Joining Rice and Hansbrough on the preseason team were Miami's Jack McClinton, North Carolina's Ty Lawson and Duke's Gerald Henderson.

Hansbrough was also a unanimous selection for ACC (Preseason) Player of the Year honors. Wake Forest's Al-Farouq Aminu was the preseason choice as the conference's Rookie of the Year.

Media Day Notes: Head coach Al Skinner and Rice represented the Eagles at the event ... The event featured four hours of interviews. The 12 league coaches met with the electronic media for the first two hours, while many of the league's finest players in attendance chatted with the electronic media. The coaches and players switched assignments for the second half of the event ... Among the players in attendance were Henderson (Duke), Greivis Vasquez (Maryland), McClinton (Miami), Mamadi Diane (Virginia), A.D. Vassallo (Virginia Tech), L.D. Williams and Harvey Hale (Wake Forest), Ben McCauley (NC State), K.C. Rivers and Trevor Booker (Clemson), Toney Douglas (Florida State), Wayne Ellington and Danny Green (UNC).

*Courtesy of ACC.org