UNC guard named preseason ACC Player of the Year

This UNC guard has an opportunity to do something done by only JJ Reddick since 2000 — win back-to-back ACC Player of the Year awards.

RJ Davis and the North Carolina Tar Heels had a tough schedule last season, and even though they played tough teams, Davis continued to shine.

Besides being the ACC Player of the Year last year along with a consensus All-American and an All-ACC first-team member, RJ Davis dominated on the biggest stages against the highest-ranked teams.

In the game against Arkansas, Davis dropped 30 points shooting 7-for-13 from the floor and 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. In the very next game against a top-10 Tennessee team, Davis had 27 points including five threes and four rebounds.

He continued that dominance with 26 points and four rebounds against a ranked UConn and back-to-back 27 points and seven rebounds with four assists against a ranked Kentucky team.

Davis heads into this year with “unfinished business” as he proclaimed at the ACC Tipoff event earlier this month. I expect that he will surpass the numbers he put up last year which were already lofty expectations just to hit the same numbers.

I’m not the only person who thinks that, though, as the Atlantic Coast Conference named him their men’s basketball preseason ACC Player of the Year which would put him in elite company.

Only two people have accomplished that feat since 1990 including Wake Forest’s NBA Hall of Famer Tim Duncan and Duke’s J.J. Reddick. Davis would make the third player in the last 25 years to go back-to-back.

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