It is early Sunday evening on what has been a nice, peaceful day, and I have just e-mailed my ballot to the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association for the 2008 All-Atlantic Coast Conference basketball team and other ACC post-season honors.
All ballots were due by Sunday night at 9 p.m. The official team will be released on Monday afternoon no later than 4 p.m.
As an association member, I am one of many eligible to vote and feel privileged and honored to do so. I thought that I would share my ballot with you.
All-ACC First Team
Tyler Hansbrough - North Carolina
This is, of course, a no-brainer. Nobody in college basketball plays harder. Leads the nation’s No. 1 team in scoring and rebounding. Also leads the ACC in those categories. He reminds me of Kramer in that Seinfeld episode when Kramer was wreaking havoc on a bunch of kids in a karate class. Hansbrough is like a man among kids in the ACC. He just knocks people around, and it's always the others picking up the fouls. He's the bull in the china shop, and the Tar Heels wouldn't be the regular-season champion without him. He's a great college basketball player.
Tyrese Rice - Boston College
Second in the ACC in scoring, and even though he doesn't have a lot of help, he's still fourth in the league in assists. Always fun to watch. He's had a great year on a bad team.
Sean Singletary - Virginia
Another really good player on a bad team. Singletary is Virginia. He's third in the conference in scoring, second in assists and seventh in steals.
DeMarcus Nelson - Duke
I know he wasn't good against Carolina in the season finale, but Nelson was the heart and soul of a team that finished second in the conference and was in the top 10 all season. He was Duke's leading scorer, second-leading rebounder and a lock-down defender. Duke asked him to lead and he did.
James Gist - Maryland
The fifth spot on this team was a tough one to make, but Gist did it all for Maryland, scored, rebounded and blocked shots. He played particularly well in conference play.
Second Team
- Kyle Singler - Duke
- Wayne Ellington - UNC
- Greivis Vasquez - Maryland
- Jack McClinton - Miami
- K.C.Rivers - Clemson
Third Team
- A.D. Vassallo - Virginia Tech
- Toney Douglas - Florida State
- James Johnson - Wake Forest
- Cliff Hammonds - Clemson
- Greg Paulus - Duke
All-Freshman Team
- Kyle Singler - Duke
- James Johnson - Wake Forest
- J.J. Hickson - N.C. State
- Jeff Teague - Wake Forest
- Jeff Allen - Virginia Tech
The ACC player of the year will, of course, be Tyler Hansbrough. I expect he will be the unanimous pick. I mean, how could he not be?
I voted for Duke's DeMarcus Nelson as the defensive player of the year. He will guard whomever Duke needs him to guard. He's quick and strong and a great rebounder for a player his size. Opponents know that if Nelson is on them, it can be a tough night.
I also voted for Duke's Kyle Singler as the rookie of the year. There were a lot of great freshmen, but Singler was the best. He was the pre-season pick for rookie of the year and lived up to the expectations. He was just solid in every aspect of the game the entire season.
The coach of the year was a tough choice, but I went with Seth Greenberg of Virginia Tech. Remember in the great movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” when the posse led by Lord Baltimore was chasing Butch and Sundance? The duo did everything they could to shake the tail, and finally in exasperation Butch says, "Who are those guys?"
That's the way I look at Virginia Tech. Sure, they got a scheduling break when they only had to play Carolina and Duke once each, but the schedule is the schedule, and the Hokies won nine ACC games (actually had No. 10 at Clemson on Sunday, but let it slip away) with a lot of guys who are not exactly household names. I thought Greenberg did a heck of a job.
Now, Carolina's Ty Lawson would have been on one of the teams for sure if he didn't miss so much time with his injury. And in talking over my vote with several people around the station, I was asked about State's J.J. Hickson. He didn't make State a better team did he? Also I felt bad about leaving Clemson's Terrence Oglesby off the all-freshman team. He hit some big shots for sure, but the five I went with are all pretty good.
I wish they had a sixth man award. I would have voted for Carolina's Danny Green by a thumbnail over Duke's Jon Scheyer.
So there you go. Just my opinion. I know many differ.
The official All-ACC team will be announced late Monday afternoon. Keep checking WRAL.com. We will have it quicker than anyone else.
Now, it's time for dinner and “60 minutes.”
