The ACC on Monday unveiled its 2021-22 men’s basketball awards.
Clemson’s PJ Hall was named All-ACC Honorable Mention and finished second, narrowly, in Most Improved Player voting.
Wake Forest graduate guard Alondes Williams has been chosen as the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and Demon Deacons head coach Steve Forbes is the ACC Coach of the Year, highlighting the 2021-22 All-ACC Men’s Basketball Team and award winners.
The 2021-22 All-ACC Team was determined by a 78-member panel consisting of the league’s 15 head coaches and 63 members of the media.
Duke earned two season awards, as forward Paolo Banchero was tabbed ACC Rookie of the Year, while sophomore center Mark Williams earned Defensive Player of the Year honors. Florida State freshman guard Matthew Cleveland received Sixth Man of the Year laurels, while NC State redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron claimed ACC Most Improved Player honors.
This marks the 11th time a Demon Deacon has earned ACC Player of the Year honors and the first since Josh Howard in 2003. A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Williams averaged 19.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and a league-high 5.3 assists per game in the regular season in his first season at Wake Forest. Entering the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, he is just one point behind Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim for the ACC scoring lead and has the potential to finish the season as the first player in league history to lead the league in scoring and assists.
In just his second season at Wake Forest, Forbes is the first Demon Deacons head coach to win ACC Coach of the Year honors since Skip Prosser in 2003 and the eighth all-time. Forbes has led Wake to a remarkable turnaround, with the Demon Deacons going from a 6-16 record (3-13 ACC) last season to a 17-win improvement and a 23-8 record (13-7 ACC) and fifth-place conference finish this year. The Deacs were projected to finish 13th in the preseason media poll. Wake Forest’s 13 ACC wins match its most in program history.
Banchero ranks second nationally in scoring among all freshmen this season with a 17.1 points per game average. The native of Seattle is sixth overall in the ACC in scoring and fourth in rebounding (7.7). He also owns eight double-doubles, fourth among all ACC players. He is the fourth Blue Devil in the last five years to win the Rookie of the Year award, joining Marvin Bagley III (2018), Zion Williamson (2019) and Vernon Carey Jr. (2020).
Williams led a Blue Devils defense that was the ACC’s best in field-goal defense (41.3%), three-point defense (30.2%) and blocked shots (5.5/game) this season. A native of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Williams topped the ACC in blocked shots per game (2.81).
Cleveland is the fourth straight Seminole to earn Sixth Man of the Year honors, joining Mfiondu Kabengele (2019), Patrick Williams (2020) and Scottie Barnes (2021). The freshman from Atlanta averaged 11.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 28 games (20 off the bench).
Seabron averaged 17.3 points and 8.0 rebounds this season. His scoring output has improved by 12.1 points per game from the 2020-21 campaign, the best improvement among any ACC player. A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Seabron ranks fifth in the league in scoring and second in rebounding. He owns 11 double-doubles, second most in the ACC.
–Press release courtesy of the ACC
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