Syracuse University has been picked fifth in the 2016-17 ACC preseason men’s basketball poll, the conference announced Wednesday at the annual ACC Operation Basketball event held in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Duke earned 85 of 91 first-place votes to take the top spot in the preseason ranking. North Carolina followed, with six first-place nods, according to a news release posted Wednesday on cuse.com, the website of Syracuse University Athletics.
Virginia and Louisville were ranked in the third and fourth place slots, respectively, ahead of Syracuse.
Last season, Syracuse finished in a tie for 9th place with Pittsburgh in the ACC regular-season standings (both teams posted 9-9 records). The Orange then lost to the Panthers in the ACC Tournament and barely snuck into the 2016 NCAA tournament. But Syracuse then got hot and advanced all the way to the Final Four in Houston.
Besides the basketball preseason ranking, the ACC also announced that sophomore forward Tyler Lydon had earned a spot on the 2016-17 preseason All-ACC second team.
Graduate student DaJuan Coleman and senior Tyler Roberson represented the Orange, along with coach Jim Boeheim at ACC Operation Basketball, the school said.
The Orange open the exhibition portion of its schedule on Tuesday at home against Indiana (Pa.).
Syracuse will host a second exhibition game versus Le Moyne on Nov. 8 before the Orange open the regular season against Colgate in the Carrier Dome on Nov. 11.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com