Wake Forest's Williams, Forbes take AP top honors for ACC
Wake Forest guard Alondes Williams is The Associated Press men’s basketball player of the year for the Atlantic Coast Conference, while the Demon Deacons' Steve Forbes was named coach of the year after leading them to an unexpectedly strong season.
Duke’s Paolo Banchero was also named as newcomer of the year in results announced Tuesday.
Below is the list of individual award winners and AP All-ACC teams:
| Team | Player/Coach | Award |
|---|---|---|
| Wake Forest | Alondes Williams | Player of the Year |
| Duke | Paolo Banchero | Newcomer of the Year |
| Wake Forest | Steve Forbes | Coach of the Year |
2021-22 All-ACC first team
| Team | Position | Player |
|---|---|---|
| Wake Forest | G | Alondes Williams * |
| North Carolina | G | Armando Bacot * |
| Miami | G | Kameron McGusty |
| Syracuse | G | Buddy Boeheim |
| Duke | F | Paolo Banchero |
* - denotes unanimous selection
2021-22 All-ACC second team
| Team | Position | Player |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina State | G | Dereon Seabron |
| Duke | F | Wendell Moore Jr. |
| Virginia | F | Jayden Gardner |
| Virgnia Tech | F | Keve Aluma |
| Duke | C | Mark Williams |
Williams, a 6-foot-5 guard, joined North Carolina’s Armando Bacot as the only unanimous first-team picks on the AP’s all-ACC teams. He earned nine votes for player of the year, finishing ahead of Bacot (five) and Banchero (one) after voting from 15 journalists covering the ACC regional footprint.
Williams, who was also named player of the year by the league on Monday, finished one point behind Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim for the regular-season scoring lead (19.29). He also led the league in assists (5.26).
It was an unexpected performance from a player who had averaged 6.0 points in 2019-20 and then 6.7 points last year with the Sooners. Before going to Oklahoma, Williams had played two years of junior college.
Forbes earned seven votes as coach of the year, beating out Notre Dame’s Mike Brey (four) and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (two) as the only other coaches with multiple votes. The second-year coach has guided the Demon Deacons (23-8) to their best win total since 2009 after they were picked to finish 13th in the league in the preseason, and they hold the No. 5 seed in this week’s ACC Tournament in New York.
The school announced Monday that Forbes had signed a “long-term” contract extension with the school.
The 6-10 Banchero, a top NBA prospect, earned 12 votes for newcomer of the year, with Williams earning the other three votes after transferring into the league.
On the AP all-ACC teams, regular-season champion Duke had three picks in Banchero as a first-teamer while wing Wendell Moore Jr. and big man Mark Williams made the second team. The seventh-ranked Blue Devils were the only team to have multiple all-ACC picks.
Miami’s Kameron McGusty joined Alondes Williams, Bacot, Banchero and Boeheim on the first team. North Carolina State’s Dereon Seabron, Virginia’s Jayden Gardner and Virginia Tech’s Keve Aluma joined Moore and Mark Williams on the second team.
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AP All-ACC voting panel:
Mike Barber, The Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch; Mark Berman, The Roanoke (Virginia) Times; Rick Bozich, WDRB-TV, Louisville, Kentucky; Lauren Brownlow, WCMC-FM, Raleigh, North Carolina; Alexis Cubit, The State of Columbia, South Carolina; Donna Ditota, The Post-Standard of Syracuse, New York; Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald; Kevin McNamara, WPRO, Providence, Rhode Island; Craig Meyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Tom Noie, South Bend (Indiana) Tribune; Jonas Pope, The News and Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina; Adam Smith, The Times-News of Burlington, North Carolina; Ken Sugiura, Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Curt Weiler, Tallahassee (Florida) Democrat; and Steve Wiseman, The Herald-Sun of Durham, North Carolina.
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Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aaronbeardap
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