Tag: All-ACC

Eight Duke football stars, including wideout Jordan Moore, honored on All-ACC teams

The ACC included eight Duke Blue Devils on its all-conference team for the 2024 college football season, including star wideout Jordan Moore.

The ACC released its 2024 all-conference teams for the 2024 college football season on Tuesday, and eight Blue Devils earned a spot on one of the three squads.

Cornerback [autotag]Chandler Rivers[/autotag], who finished the season with three interceptions, nine other deflections, and 52 total tackles, was the lone Duke football player on the First-Team squad, joining California’s Nohl Williams at the position. However, four Blue Devils made the Second-Team unit with three others on the Third-Team roster.

Offensive linemen Brian Parker II and Caleb Krings joined defensive tackle Kendy Charles and safety Terry Moore on the second team. Parker and Krings helped protect quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] all season, and the Blue Devils only surrendered 12 sacks as a team in 2024.

Charles, an offseason transfer from Liberty, finished with 49 total tackles, 7.0 of which resulted in a loss, with 2.0 sacks from the interior, and Moore tied Rivers with three interceptions on the season.

Wideouts [autotag]Jordan Moore[/autotag] and [autotag]Eli Pancol[/autotag], both of whom surpassed 700 yards in the regular season, made the third team alongside linebacker Ozzie Nicholas.

Pancol, the Brian Piccolo Award recipient for the ACC this season, caught 55 passes for 741 yards and nine touchdowns after missing the entire 2023 season due to injury. His best game came in his final home game at Wallace Wade Stadium in Week 13 when he picked up 188 yards and scored three touchdowns on five catches against the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Moore, who battled injury in the middle of the season, caught 50 passes for a team-leading 798 yards and seven scores. Nicholas paced the Blue Devils with 89 total tackles, and he forced turnovers on back-to-back plays against the Florida State Seminoles in Week 8.

Defensive end Wesley Williams, defensive tackle Aaron Hall, safety Jaylin Stinson, punter Kade Reynoldson, return man Que’Sean Brown, and linebackers Alex Howard and Tre Freeman all made the Honorable Mentions.

Duke cornerback Chandler Rivers named to First-Team All-ACC squad after standout season

The ACC revealed its 2024 all-conference football teams on Tuesday, including a First-Team nomination for Duke cornerback Chandler Rivers.

The ACC unveiled its 2024 all-conference honorees for the 2024 college football season on Tuesday, and star Blue Devils cornerback [autotag]Chandler Rivers[/autotag] earned one of two First-Team spots at his position.

Rivers, in his third season with the program, intercepted a career-high three passes over the regular season. He returned the first for a touchdown against the Florida State Seminoles in Week 8, his second straight game with a pick-six against FSU, en route to ACC Defensive Back of the Week honors. He picked off a pass in each of the next two games against SMU and Miami as well.

Rivers also broke up nine other throws, and his 12 total passes defended put him in a tie for 20th among all FBS defensive backs.

Pro Football Focus graded Rivers as the best FBS cornerback through Week 13, and he finished the season with 52 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, and a sack on top of his pass protection.

Seven other Blue Devils made the Second-Team or Third-Team squads, including fellow defensive back Terry Moore (Second-Team) and defensive tackle Kendy Charles (Second-Team).

Notre Dame guard Sonia Citron named to shooting guard award watch list

Good luck, Soni!

For all the talk about [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag], there’s a third Notre Dame guard who often gets lost in the shuffle. [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] has made both All-ACC and All-ACC Tournament in two consecutive seasons. She was ACC Rookie of the Year two seasons before Hidalgo arrived.

Now, there’s a possibility she could be honored in a different way this season. The Ann Meyers Drysdale Award is presented annually to the best female shooting guard in the country. Citron is one of 20 to make this year’s watch list.

Also on the list is defending winner JuJu Watkins of USC, which will face the Irish in nonconference play. If Watkins impresses as she did as a freshman, Citron will have to somehow surpass that level to have a shot at the award. Of course, the Irish will take that version of Citron if only to improve their national championship chances:

Best of luck to Citron in her attempt to dethrone Watkins.

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Notre Dame guard Markus Burton makes ESPN preseason top 100

The Irish have a nice player.

[autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] had quite a freshman season for Notre Dame a season ago. He was the straw that stirred a young Irish team, leading everybody in scoring, assists and steals. For his efforts, he was named the ACC Rookie of the Year and Third Team All-ACC.

Burton’s opening act for the Irish has meant greater expectations for him as a sophomore, and those haven’t gone unnoticed. He’s been named to the watch list for the Bob Cousy Award, which is given to the best male point guard in the country. That alone would make anyone notice.

Now, ESPN has decided he’s worthy of being called one of the best players in college basketball this season. Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf have assembled their list of the top 100 players in the sport entering this season. Not only has Burton cracked the list, but he’s all the way up at No. 40.

Here’s their entry for Burton:

“Burton gave ND fans a reason to smile in a 13-20 season – [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag]’s first year in South Bend. The 5-foot-11 guard, averaged 17.5 points a game as a freshman, finishing with 20 points or more in 11 games. If he can become a consistent threat from the 3-point line (30%), the all-ACC third team pick could mature into one of the expanded conference’s best players.”

We soon will see how accurate these predictions are.

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Five-star Duke women’s basketball freshman leads ACC Newcomer Watch List

Duke women’s basketball freshman Toby Fournier, a top-10 prospect in the Class of 2024, led the ACC’s Newcomer Watch List.

The ACC released its preseason women’s basketball voting results on Tuesday, and Duke freshman Toby Fournier finished atop the Newcomer Watch List.

Fournier, a five-star talent from the Class of 2024, finished 10th on the 2024 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings from espnW. A 6-foot-2 forward from Canada, the Blue Devils already posted a video of her dunking in practice ahead of her debut season.

Duke head coach [autotag]Kara Lawson[/autotag] brought back her four leading scorers from the 2023-24 season, but all of them play in the backcourt. Senior center Kennedy Brown, who averaged 8.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, won’t be back, so there’s a clear role for Fournier to fill on the court.

Lawson brought her and fellow five-star forward Arianna Roberson to add an interior presence to her roster, but Roberson will miss her entire freshman season with a knee injury. It’s easy to picture a world in which Fournier leads the team in rebounds this season, and on a team picked to finish third in the conference, that could be enough for some hardware.

Fournier finished with 222 points in the newcomer voting, 42 more than any other freshman (Louisville’s Imari Berry got 180 points).

Duke women’s basketball star Reigan Richardson named to Preseason All-ACC Team

The ACC released its Preseason All-ACC Team for the 2024-25 women’s basketball season on Tuesday, and one Blue Devil made the list.

Reigan Richardson, the leading scorer on the Duke women’s basketball team last season, made the Preseason All-ACC Team on Tuesday.

Richardson averaged 12.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.0 steals per game in 2023-24.

Her biggest moment came in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament when she scored 25 points against Richmond and 28 points against the Ohio State Buckeyes while shooting 58.3% from the floor and 62.5% from 3-point range. The two performances helped propel Duke to the Sweet 16 for the first time in six years.

Richardson put together seven 20-point performances throughout her junior season, including 23 points against Notre Dame and 22 points against Virginia Tech, and she added 15 points to Duke’s top-10 upset of the NC State Wolfpack in February.

Richardson earned 202 points in the All-ACC voting, the ninth-most in the conference. No other Blue Devil finished within the top 10 despite Duke finishing third in the predicted standings.

Fighting Irish star Hannah Hidalgo led the way with a staggering 921 points, including 62 Player of the Year votes on 79 total ballots. Two other Notre Dame players finished on the all-conference team while NC State and Florida State also had multiple players on the roster.

Notre Dame guard Markus Burton named to Preseason All-ACC First Team

He’s the player to watch on the Irish this season.

Although Notre Dame was rebuilding a season ago, [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] was a clear bright spot. He led the Irish in averages for scoring (17.5), assists (4.3) and steals (1.9). Basically, he was the men’s equivalent of [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] put together.

All of that was enough for him to be named ACC Rookie of the Year as well as Third Team All-ACC. Now entering his sophomore season, a select media panel expects to produce highly once again.

Burton has been named to the Preseason All-ACC First Team, receiving 41 votes. He joins a group that includes Cooper Flagg of Duke, Hunter Sallis of Wake Forest, Nijel Pack of Miami and RJ Davis of North Carolina, the unanimous selection for Preseason ACC Player of the Year.

The same panel has picked the Irish to finish 10th out of 18 teams in the expanded ACC. It’s an indicator that the Irish still have some work to do to get back near the top of the conference. It should be a fun season though.

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All-ACC third baseman Ben Miller surprises everyone by returning to Duke baseball team

Duke baseball’s All-ACC third baseman Ben Miller announced on Monday that he will return for the 2025 season.

As we speed towards the start of football season and drool over what could happen fin Cameron Indoor Stadium starting in November, the Duke baseball team just received some major news of its own on Monday.

Ben Miller, a significant part of Duke’s team in 2024, announced on Monday that he would return for one final season with the Duke team.

Miller is no stranger to Durham. He grew up there. Before Duke, Ben played collegiate baseball at Penn, the Ivy League school. He then transferred home to play his fourth year of college baseball.

With one final year of eligibility, Miller decided to play with the Blue Devils for one more season instead of seeking professional opportunities. He started in all 55 games in 2024, leading the team with a .360 batting average. He scored 56 runs from the top of the lineup while tallying 82 hits, including 18 doubles, one triple, and 15 home runs. He drove in 49 runs for an explosive Duke offense.

Last year, he posted 13 two-hit days, six three-hit days, and one four-hit day. In short, he was a firestarter for Chris Pollard and the Duke team. At the end of the season, he was named the All-ACC First Team third baseman and was a big force in the conference tournament as Duke clenched an ACC Tournament title.

Miller’s return can’t be overstated. It gives Duke leadership and instant offense and fills a significant hole in the infield that Duke could’ve struggled to fill.

 

Charlie Beilinson and Zac Morris named NCBWA All-Americans

Two of Duke baseball’s best senior contributors earn All-America honors.

While Duke’s season was far from what they wanted it to be, Chris Pollard, his staff, and his players had one heck of a baseball season. They reached new heights in the polls, had a historic offensive season, and won the second ACC Tournament title in program history. Bowing out before making it to Omaha in the NCAA Tournament will sting and inevitably serve as fuel for next year’s squad.

Replicating some of this year’s team’s magic will be difficult, considering the Blue Devils must replace some significant contributors in the offseason.

Two of those contributors are major holes because they were good players, great leaders, and all-American caliber players.

Charlie Beilenson was one of the nation’s best relievers and was named a National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association first-team All-American. His 2024 was remarkable. In 2024, he appeared in 34 games on the mound, posting a 7-3 record with a 2.01 ERA. He worked 62.2 innings, allowing 14 earned runs and striking out 92 of the 226 batters he faced. Beilenson held opponents to a .181 average and walked just 18 batters. Earlier this week, he was named a Perfect Game First Team Relief Pitcher and an ABCA/Rawlings First Team Relief Pitcher. If that wasn’t enough, he’s a Stopper of the Year finalist. Whenever Chris Pollard needed outs from the seventh inning onward, Beilenson was available and almost always answered the call. He was as consistent a player as Pollard had all year.

If Beilenson was the most consistent pitcher Pollard could depend on, Zac Morris was the bat his coaches could believe in every time he came to the plate. It shouldn’t be surprising that he was named NCBWA third-team All-American. The former transfer from VMI, Morris, was named the third team’s second baseman. He was an All-ACC First Team second baseman during the 2024 campaign. In his 60 games played, Morris produced a .343 average at the plate, posting a robust OPS of 1.068. He registered 245 at-bats, scoring 69 runs and collecting 84 hits to lead the Blue Devils. Morris added 12 doubles, two triples, a career-high 18 home runs, 59 RBI, and walked 39 times.

He was a walking offensive powerhouse at the top of the Duke lineup. He played a terrific second base in the field, too.

Both players are set to move on to professional endeavors and will look to be drafted in the upcoming 2024 MLB Draft.

Two Duke football players make Phil Steele Preseason All-ACC team

The Phil Steele Preseason All-ACC teams were revealed on Wednesday, and two Blue Devils made the Second Team ahead of the 2024 season.

The Phil Steele Preseason All-ACC teams were revealed on Wednesday, and two Duke football stars made the Second Team.

Wide receiver Jordan Moore and linebacker Tre Freeman both made the preseason squad ahead of head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag]’s debut season.

Moore led the Blue Devils with 835 yards and eight receiving touchdowns last season. He set a season-high with 117 yards against the Virginia Cavaliers and caught three touchdowns against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

He also put together another 100-yard game against Pittsburgh the week after the Virginia game. Across his last three regular-season games, Moore had 23 receptions for 311 yards and four touchdowns.

On the defensive side, Freeman ended the season with 106 total tackles, the first Duke defender to reach triple digits since Koby Quansah in 2019. He also created five tackles for loss, recorded an interception, and broke up three passes. 

After an offseason that saw Duke lose more than a half-dozen starters to the NFL and the transfer portal, no other Blue Devils made the preseason team.

Duke’s season begins on August 30 against Elon.