While the ACC has long been known for top-notch men’s basketball — which replenishes itself annually with a new crop of incoming talent — the group of freshmen who will grace courts around the league for the first time in 2016-2017 constitutes maybe the top all-around freshman class in league history.
While that question, of course, can be left to debate, what isn’t up for debate is the fact that the ACC has the top crop of incoming talent of any major conference in the country next year.
Six ACC schools — Duke, Virginia, Florida State, North Carolina, Miami, and Syracuse — are among the top 11 ranked schools in America in the new Rivals.com national team rankings following the recent November early signing period, which lasted from Nov. 11 to Nov. 18. No other conference had more than two schools among the top 11 in the Rivals national team rankings.
Tobacco Road rivals Duke and NCSU signed three of the nation’s top four players in the Rivals national rankings — the Blue Devils snagged forward Harry Giles (No. 2) and combo guard Jayson Tatum (No. 3), while the Wolfpack landed fourth-ranked Smith. [hr]
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