Oct. 26, 2017
Irish at ACC Operation Basketball Gallery 
The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team has been selected to finish third in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2017-18 season. The poll was conducted as part of the league’s annual media day activities in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday, October 25.
The attending media also overwhelmingly voted senior forward Bonzie Colson as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year. Colson, who led the league in rebounding (10.1) during the 2016-17 season and finished ninth in scoring (17.8), received 49 of the 69 possible votes for the preseason player of the year nod. He was the lone ACC player to average a double-double per game last season.
The third place preseason team poll position marks the high mark for the Irish in the ACC (Notre Dame joined the league for the 2013-14 season) and highest preseason conference mark since the 2012-13 team was selected to finish third in the BIG EAST Conference. The third-place recognition matches the top preseason conference ranking in program history. The Irish also were selected to finish third in the BIG EAST in 2003-04.
The preseason poll also points out just how difficult the ACC schedule will be for the Irish this season. Notre Dame is the only conference school with road games at Duke (1st), North Carolina (2nd) and Virginia (6th) this season.
Colson is the first Notre Dame player to earn a preseason conference player of the year award since Luke Harangody repeated as the BIG EAST preseason player of the year in 2008-09 and 2009-10. Colson also joins Jerian Grant (2013-14, 2014-15) and Demetrius Jackson (2015-16) as Irish players selected to the preseason all-ACC team.
Other previous Notre Dame preseason conference player of the year selections include Pat Garrity (BIG EAST, 1997-98) and Troy Murphy (BIG EAST, 2000-01). Murphy ended up earning the BIG EAST Player of the Year award at the end of the 2000-01 campaign.
2017-18 ACC Preseason Poll
(first-place votes in parenthesis)
- Duke (57), 1020
- North Carolina (7), 921
- Notre Dame (4), 852
- Miami (1), 809
- Louisville, 733
- Virginia, 690
- Virginia Tech, 549
- Florida State, 519
- Georgia Tech, 468
- Syracuse, 420
- Wake Forest, 378
- NC State, 310
- Clemson, 289
- Boston College, 181
- Pittsburgh, 141
2017-18 Preseason All-ACC Team
(votes in parenthesis)
First Team
Bonzie Colson, Notre Dame (64)
Grayson Allen, Duke (60)
Joel Berry II, North Carolina (58)
Marvin Bagley III, Duke (26)
Ben Lammers, Georgia Tech (25)
Second Team
Bruce Brown Jr., Miami (22)
Quentin Snider, Louisville (12)
Deng Adel, Louisville (12)
Josh Okogie, Georgia Tech (11)
Jerome Robinson (11)