The ACC may have been the big winner at the June 28 NBA draft, but its teams were the big losers.
Nine ACC players were drafted, including three in the first five. Defending champion North Carolina was most notably pillaged, losing its three junior stars and its freshman stud Marvin Williams, who was chosen second overall.
The familiar faces of the ACC's past few years are now gone. North Carolina's Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Sean May will no longer be leading what was the nation's most prolific offense. Wake Forest's Chris Paul will no longer be tearing apart opposing defenses and his nemesis, Julius Hodge, will no longer be leading N.C. State's balanced attack.
And the losses don't stop there. Georgia Tech point guard Jarrett Jack and Maryland point guard John Gilchrist departed after their junior seasons. Florida State's playmaking guard Von Wafer left after his sophomore year. Familiar faces such as Duke's Daniel Ewing, UNC's Jawad Williams and Georgia Tech's Luke Schenscher are gone too.
"You can't replace that experience," North Carolina head coach Roy Williams said. "For our situation we lost so much it's unbelievable."
Reflecting the departures, the Tar Heels are unranked to start the season. The ACC begins the season with only four teams in the top 25, as compared to six last year. Wake Forest, North Carolina and Georgia Tech began last season in the top-five. This year the No. 1 Blue Devils are the only ACC representatives in the top 10.
Many coaches in the league are not eager to buy into the notion that the ACC is primed for a down year, though.
"Lots of times the predictions and polls made in October don't play out in March," Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser said. "I think there will be some teams that surprise us. This time last year people were bemoaning Miami and Virginia Tech-'How could they succeed in the league?' And they both did very, very well. It's early."
Helping to absorb some of the damage inflicted by the NBA departures is an influx of talented freshmen. North Carolina may be without its top-seven scorers from last season, but heralded forward recruit Tyler Hansbrough was picked as ACC Rookie of the Year.
"Some teams are more experienced than others but the teams without experience have a whole bunch of McDonald's All-Americans," Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said. "People have to understand that everyone in this league has players."
The dynamic of the league is somewhat different this year, though. Many of the players who graduated or left early for the draft were guards.
Returning players such as Tar Heel sophomore Quentin Thomas and Demon Deacon senior Justin Gray will be expected to play lead guard much more than they did last year, while Maryland is still searching for answers at that position.
The lack of experience makes this year's ACC more wide open than last year. Traditional league powers Wake Forest and Maryland were ranked No. 18 and No. 21, respectively. After No. 1 Duke, former Big East member Boston College was picked to finish second in its first season in the new league. The Eagles were ranked No. 11 in the preseason poll.
After the defections of Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami, the Big East recruited several new league members such as basketball powerhouse Louisville.
With those additions to the Big East and the subtraction of experienced players from the ACC, league coaches have been blitzed with questions over whether the ACC is no longer the best basketball conference in the country.
"I think that college basketball, that's the way it is," Prosser said. "You have turnover, you don't have guys for 10 or 12 years. This league has been around for 53 years. With rare exceptions it's been considered the premier basketball conference in the country. Until proven otherwise I think that will still be the perception."
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