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Will Duke repeat as ACC and national champs? Will North Carolina rebound from one of its worst seasons in school history? What will the coaching changes at Boston College, Clemson and Wake Forest mean? Stay tuned.

Here’s how I see the teams finishing this season:

1. Duke – The reigning ACC and national champ will be loaded again this year despite losing John Scheyer and Brian Zoubek. The Blue Devils do return forward Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and the Plumlee brothers, Mason and Miles. Supposedly, Duke will try to speed up the pace of their attack this year with smaller skilled players, and they’ll have one of the best freshman point guard in Kyrie Irving. Oh, by the way, Seth Curry joins the team as well. Yes, he’s the younger brother of Stephen Curry. Duke should once again be good enough to win the ACC and the national title.

2. Virginia Tech – The Hokies return all key starters from a team that went 25-9 (10-6 in the ACC) a year ago but got left out of the NCAA tournament so experience will not be an issue. Superb rebounder Jeff Allen and ACC assist leader Malcolm Delaney comes back as seniors. Delaney was the ACC’s scoring leader a year ago. Forward J. T. Thompson will be joined by Florida transfer Allan Chaney. Virginia Tech needs them as they have upgraded their schedule in hopes of making it to the NCAA tournament this time after getting snubbed once again despite having a 25-9 record.

3. North Carolina – The Tar Heels went to the NIT last year instead of the Big Dance, but the rumors of their demise have been greatly exaggerated. The frontcourt has been severely depleted with losses of Deon Thompson and Ed Davis. However, all is not lost as UNC still have Tyler Zeller and John Henson. Alabama transfer Justin Knox could bolster this unit as well. In the backcourt, Larry Drew II returns for his junior season; he returns as the ACC’s assist leader. Freshman Reggie Bullock is expected to help the Tar Heels with his sharp shooting. UNC should return to the NCAA tournament.

4. NC State – Sidney Lowe enters his fifth season in Raleigh, and he’s expected to produce this time. His teams have failed to make the NCAA tournament in all previous 4 years. This year’s team is expected to be his best at NC State. He has 3 starters (Javier Gonzalez, Scott Wood and Tracy Smith) coming back plus 3 outstanding recruits (McDonald’s All-American Lorenzo Brown, Ryan Harrow and CJ Leslie) who could find some significant playing time that could help the Wolfpack cause. This team will enjoy its first NCAA tournament under Lowe.

5. Clemson – Coach Brad Brownell now roams the sideline, and he will inherit a team that ran a pressing style. He must find someone to replace forward Trevor Booker for some inside game. His younger brother, Devin Booker, did shoot better than Trevor. The Tigers are looking to improve on its 34.2% 3-point shooting to take some of the pressure off the inside game. Brownell’s first Clemson signee, guard Cory Stanton, could bolster an already experienced backcourt with Tanner Smith, Demontez Stitt and Andre Young, the fourth best 3-point shooter in the ACC, playing significant minutes a year ago. They must also improve on the FT-shooting if they want to win the close games. The Tigers should once again make it to the NCAA tournament and can expect to get past the first round this time.

6. Florida State – The losses of center Solomon Alibi and forward Ryan Reid could be big, but don’t think FSU is done. They’ve had a solid recruiting class in addition to returning starters forward Chris Singleton and Deividas Dulkys, who shoots 40% from 3-point land. The Seminoles do need to improve their 3-point shooting and their FT-shooting to become a threat. Seminoles fans can rightfully expect this team to be dancing in March.

7. Maryland – Greivis Vazquez and Eric Hayes are gone. Sophomore forward Jordan Williams will be expected to fill some of the void after finishing second in the ACC Rookie of the Year voting and being the top rebounder in the conference. In the backcourt, Adrian Bowie, Sean Mosley and Cliff Tucker are a formidable bunch that can score and defend. It will take a lot of the new players to step up for Maryland to match last year’s top scoring offense in the conference. It looks this team might be NIT-bound.

8. Miami (FL) – The young Hurricanes from last year are now grown up or at least that’s what Frank Haith hopes. A lot of freshmen and sophomore played last year, including guard Durand Scott. He will be expected to take more of the leadership role. Adrian Thomas will be expected to help the offense, especially after shooting 42.1% from the 3-point line. Part of the hurricanes’ woes last year were on the free throw line, and they must learn to take care of the ball. The Cavaliers should be improve from a year ago, but don’t expect this team to be in the big dance.

9. Boston College – Steve Donahue takes over the helm as head coach, and he will inherit a team with 4 returning starters. The potential problem is that those 4 starters come back from a team that had a 15-16 record (6-10 in the ACC). The Eagles were ninth in the ACC in scoring. Joe Trapani returns as 3-point and free throw shooter on the team. Biko Paris and Corey Raji return to help Trapani. Freshman guard Gabriel Moton comes in as an excellent shooter and ball handler.

10. Virginia – Tony Bennett enters his second season at Virginia after a 15-16 season. Don’t expect much of an improvement this year, and really don’t expect this team to have a good start like it did last year (they started 14-6). Help could come from junior guard Sammy Zeglinski as he was one of the top 3-point shooter a year ago, and if he can get the outside shooting to fall in, then that might help senior forward Mike Scott. Scott averaged 7.2 rebounds per game, and that should give Virginia more opportunities to score. K. T. Harrell might also be able to help the Cavaliers as he comes in as a member of one of the highly regarded recruiting classes in the ACC.

11. Wake Forest – Jeff Bzdelik replaces Dino Gaudio in what some people considers to be a surprising move after 20-11 season, and Bzdelik will inherit a team with new faces. Sophomore guard C. J. Harris is the only returning starter. Bzdelik hopes that the deep but unheralded inside presence can prevent this team from having an expected woeful season in 2010-11. 6’11” Tony Woods, 7’ Ty Walker and 6’11’ Carson Desrosiers are expected to give Wake Forest a fighting chance in the ACC.

12. Georgia Tech – Paul Hewitt is expected to have a guard-oriented offense as the Yellow Jackets are deep in guard play as Mfon Udofia, Iman Shumpert and Maurice Miller return. That’s good news for Georgia Tech as frontcourt is expected to struggle a bit after losing Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal to the NBA. The Yellow Jackets will need the guards to help improve on the 16.4 turnovers per game, and the FT-shooting was a woeful 65.7%.

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Go CLEMSON Tigers!!

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