My official All-ACC ballot had exactly the same first team as both the writer’s poll and the coaches’ poll. Of the 15 players on the first three teams, my ballot had 13 of the same players as the writer’s poll and 14 of the same players as the coaches’ poll.

My ballot had NC State’s Trevor Lacey on the second team and UNC’s Marcus Paige on the third team, same as the writer’s poll but the opposite of the coaches’ poll.

Probably the biggest difference I had with the two polls was my exclusion of Virginia’s Justin Anderson, who was picked on the second team of both the writer’s and coaches’ poll. I struggled with excluding Anderson, who midway through the season looked like a player of the year candidate. But he was injured for a month and I put a great emphasis on how players did during the conference season, of which he missed a lot.

My other general bias is for upperclassmen over freshmen, which could help explain why I chose Notre Dame Senior Jerian Grant as the ACC player of the year rather than Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor.

Also, I did not have Duke freshman Tyus Jones on my team, although I had him on the All-Freshman team. He was third team on both the writer’s and coaches’ poll. Instead, I had Pitt sophomore Jamel Artis on my third team. Artis leads Pitt in scoring – 13.8 overall and 16.1 in ACC games. He gets six rebounds a game, has an 80 percent conversion rate from the line, 48 percent from the floor and the forward has hit 40 percent of his threes. He is ending the season strong by scoring in double figures each of the last 16 games, averaging 18.5 points per game during that stretch.

The only other discrepancy I had with the writer’s poll (and the coaches’ poll for that matter) is that I had Syracuse’s Michael Gbinije on my third team. Gbinije is 11th in the ACC in scoring at 15.1 points per game, is 9th in field goal percentage at 45.4, is first in steals at 2.1 a game, is second in three-point percentage at 43.4, is 10th in the number of threes made plus he hauls in 5.6 rebounds a game and dishes out 3.9 assists per game.

I suspected he might not make many others’ ballot but I had hoped he would get the most improved player award but that went to Rakeem Christmas, who was also honored with first-team All-ACC and the Defensive Player of the Year. While I also voted for Christmas for first team and for defense, I thought the fact that Gbinije was coming off the bench last year gave him a slight edge for most improved player. Christmas was certainly improved offensively but he was just as excellent defensively last year.

The coaches chose Virginia’s Mike Tobey as the winner of the Sixth Man Award and that makes sense as he played for the best team in regular season and scored 7.2 points with 5.2 rebounds in 18 minutes a game. I don’t like to see players penalized for not being on the best team in the regular season so I went with Charles Mitchell of Georgia Tech, who had better numbers. Mitchell scored 9.6 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game in 22 minutes per game.

The only vote I regret is leaving Virginia’s Malcolm Brogden off the All-Defensive team. He is a lock-down defender and I should have rewarded him for that rather than simply going by numbers. I had Notre Dame’s Pat Connaughton on the team instead – I weighted very heavily that he was second in the league in defensive rebounds. While Connaughton was deserving of being mentioned, Brogden should have been on my team. But, he didn’t need my vote anyway and, again, Connaughton got mentioned.

MY ACSMA ACC AWARDS BALLOT
First Team All-ACC
Jerian Grant – Guard – Notre Dame
Jahlil Okafor – Center – Duke
Rakeem Christmas – Center – Syracuse
Olivier Hanlan – Guard – Boston College
Malcolm Brogdon – Guard – Virginia

Second Team All-ACC
Quinn Cook – Guard – Duke
Montrezl Harrell – Forward – Louisville
Terry Rozier – Guard – Louisville
Brice Johnson – Forward – North Carolina
Trevor Lacey – Guard – NC State

Third Team All-ACC
Jamel Artis – Forward – Pittsburgh
Pat Connaughton – Guard/Forward – Notre Dame
Marcus Paige – Guard – North Carolina
Anthony Gill – Forward – Virginia
Michael Gbinije – Forward – Syracuse

ACC All-Defensive team
Rakeem Christmas – Center – Syracuse
BeeJay Anya – Forward/Center – NC State
Tonye Jekiri – Forward – Miami
Montrezl Harrell – Forward – Louisville
Pat Connaughton – Guard/Forward – Notre Dame

ACC All-Freshman team
Jahlil Okafor – Center – Duke
Xavier Rathan-Mayes – Guard – Florida State
Tyus Jones – Guard – Duke
Justise Winslow – Forward – Duke
Justin Jackson – Guard – North Carolina

ACC Player of the Year
Jerian Grant – Guard – Notre Dame

ACC Rookie of the Year
Jahlil Okafor – Center

ACC Coach of the Year
Tony Bennett – Coach – Virginia

ACC Defensive Player of the Year
Rakeem Christmas – Center – Syracuse

ACC Most Improved Player
Michael Gbinije – Forward – Syracuse

ACC Sixth Man of the Year
Charles Mitchell – Forward – Georgia Tech