We received an email from one of our members, James in Winston-Salem, who had a question for ACC Sports Journal staff. If you would like our writers to answer your question or address an issue you think we’ve missed, drop us a line at mailbag@accsports.com
Dear ACCSports.com,
Jeff Teague had an All Star season and led the Hawks deep into the NBA playoffs. Hard to believe the ACC media completely overlooked him in their awards voting while he was at Wake Forest. Maybe if he’d played at Duke or Carolina, he’d have won Player of the Year or at least All ACC.
Is he the best NBA player to get overlooked while in the ACC? He has to be pretty close.
James in Winston-Salem
Dear James,
Teague had an outstanding season and has established himself as one of the top guards in the NBA. And it’s true that his college honors didn’t indicate that he would have that level of impact at the next level.
Teague was voted second-team All ACC in 2009, missing the first team by three points. He was also voted second-team All American that year, which is an indication that the ACC media may have undervalued him.
Still, Teague has some work to do before he can be called the most-underrated ACC player ever. Looking at ACC players who, like Teague, were never named first team all-conference, there are NBA dunk champions (Spud Webb), All Star MVPs (Kyrie Irving) and winners of multiple NBA titles (John Salley — 4, Scott Williams — 3).
There are also some long, prolific NBA careers. Here’s a look at the ten highest NBA scorers who never won an ACC honor beyond Teague’s second-team accolades.
|
Player |
NBA Points |
Highest ACC Honor |
|
|
1 |
Buck Williams, MD |
16,784 |
Rookie of Year |
|
2 |
Chris Bosh, GT |
16,179 |
Rookie of Year |
|
3 |
Larry Nance, Clem |
15,687 |
2nd team All ACC |
|
4 |
Sam Cassell, FSU |
15,635 |
2nd team All ACC |
|
5 |
Corey Maggette, Duke |
13,198 |
All freshman team |
|
6 |
Luol Deng, Duke |
11,866 |
3rd team All ACC |
|
7 |
Jarrett Jack, GT |
8,466 |
2nd team All ACC |
|
8 |
Olden Polynice Va |
8,265 |
2nd team All ACC |
|
9 |
Thaddeus Young, GT |
8,149 |
None |
|
10 |
Spud Webb, NC St |
8,072 |
2nd team All ACC Tourney |
A case can definitely be made for a Carolina/Duke bias in ACC awards. The only players from either team to make the top 10 underrated list are a pair of Blue Devils who left after one year.
As for Teague, he’s currently in 23rd place on the underrated list, although he could easily break into the top 15 next season.
|
11 |
Brad Davis, MD |
7,866 |
2nd team All ACC |
|
12 |
Marvin Williams, UNC |
7,325 |
Rookie of Year |
|
13 |
Jim Fox, SC |
6,945 |
None |
|
14 |
Tree Rollins, Clem |
6,249 |
2nd team All ACC |
|
15 |
Hubert Davis, UNC |
5,583 |
2nd team All ACC |
|
16 |
Brendan Haywood, UNC |
5,538 |
2nd team All ACC |
|
17 |
Jeff McInnis, UNC |
5,396 |
2nd team All ACC |
|
18 |
Travis Best, GT |
5,376 |
2nd team All ACC |
|
19 |
Kyrie Irving, Duke |
5,375 |
Rookie of the Week (3 times) |
|
20 |
John Salley, GT |
5,228 |
2nd team All ACC |
|
21 |
Chris Wilcox, MD |
5,150 |
3rd team All ACC |
|
22 |
Matt Geiger, GT |
5,059 |
None |
|
23 |
Jeff Teague, WF |
5,052 |
2nd team All ACC |
But, second team All ACC isn’t chopped liver. What about the truly overlooked ACC players? Here are the best NBA careers for ACC players who won nothing in college–no All Rookie Teams, no All Defense, not even a Player or Rookie of the Week honor.
| Player | NBA Points |
| Thaddeus Young, GT |
8,149 |
| Jim Fox, SC |
6,945 |
| Matt Geiger, GT |
5,059 |
| Nate McMillan, NC St |
4,733 |
| Charles Pittman, MD |
1,060 |
| Joe Kennedy, Duke |
962 |
| Sarunas Jasikevicius, MD |
933 |
| Sean Williams, BC |
581 |
| Obinna Ekezie, MD |
510 |
| Rusty Larue, WF |
486 |
Teague could have company next year. The ACC’s NBA Draft class of 2015 includes six players who never made first-team All ACC: Justise Winslow, Terry Rozier, Justin Anderson, Tyus Jones, Montrezl Harrell and Pat Connaughton.
In addition, there are two drafted players who never won any award in the ACC and are 486 NBA points away from cracking the truly underrated list: Chris McCullough and J.P. Tokoto.