Duke lacrosse picked 2nd in preseason ACC rankings

The Blue Devils may be the defending national champions, but they were not picked to finish first this year by the ACC's coaches.

Despite graduating just three primary contributors from last year's team, Duke was picked to finish behind Syracuse, the team the Blue Devils throttled 16-10 in the national championship game. The Orange—who are newcomers to the ACC this year—received 28 points in the poll. Duke received 27, tied with crosstown rival North Carolina for second in the conference.

The Blue Devils had three players selected to the preseason All-ACC team in senior attack Jordan Wolf, senior longstick midfielder Luke Duprey and senior face-off specialist Brendan Fowler. Syracuse did not have a single player named to the preseason all-conference team.

Although the beginning of the lacrosse season is still months away, this could serve as some bulletin-board material heading into winter workouts for Duke. With the addition of lacrosse blue-bloods Syracuse and Notre Dame to this year's ACC, the conference is projected to be the most difficult ever in the history of college lacrosse.

The Blue Devils were previously ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation in the Inside Lacrosse preseason poll.