Building The Perfect Player: ACC Basketball Edition

Dan Siegel begins this multi-part series by mixing and matching attributes of ACC basketball players to create the best product.

Handles: Boopie Miller (Wake Forest)

Miller is an absolute magician with the ball in his hands, breaking presses with ease and making it difficult for opposing defenses to stay in front of him. Of the 75 D1 players Torvik qualifies as a “Pure PG,” Miller has the 7th lowest turnover rate.

Passing: Tyrese Proctor (Duke)

Of the hesitations NBA scouts have had about Proctor, passing is certainly not one of them. He sees the court extremely well and is perhaps the best in the country at dishing the rock in live ball situations. Proctor is averaging 4.6 assists per game on the season.

Shooting: Isaac McKneely (Virginia)

As a pure shooter, McKneely is as good as it gets. Sometimes, he has struggled to move off-ball and create space but that hasn’t stopped him from averaging 47.6% on three-point attempts this year. Much of this is thanks to his incredibly quick release.

Shot Creation: Bub Carrington (Pitt)

As a recruit considered good but not elite by any means, Carrington exploded onto the scene immediately, achieving a triple-double in his first career game. Since then, he has further displayed his NBA talent, most specifically utilizing Pitt’s offensive spacing to create all sorts of shots. Only two players nationally have been assisted on a smaller share of jumpers than Carrington.

Transition Offense: Judah Mintz (Syracuse)

Mintz can beat you down the court and is a perfect catalyst for Syracuse’s fastest-paced tempo in the ACC. Perhaps more importantly though, he is smooth and controlled on the move, which places him in the 97th percentile in Shot Quality’s transition efficiency, even at such a high volume.

Post Offense: Armando Bacot (North Carolina)

Bacot has been doing it for years and nothing has changed; when he is on the court, defenses have to completely adjust their scheme. It’s easier said than done, though. If you try to battle him one-on-one…good luck. If you double-team, Bacot will pass escape, and find a shooter. Oh, and now you can’t give him space either because Bacot is a threat to let it fly too, now. This was the easiest pick of the feature.

Man-to-Man Defense: Ryan Dunn (Virginia)

Dunn is currently on pace to win the ACC Basketball Defensive Player of the Year on a team that features last year’s award winner Reece Beekman. He is the only player to lead his conference in both steal rate and block rate. Dunn has a rare combination of length and mobility that makes him a potential NBA lottery pick despite an extremely limited offensive game.

Rim Protection: Tafara Gapare (Georgia Tech)

Georgia Tech’s paint is a no-fly zone when Gapare is in the game. He is 6-9 with incredible bounce and great recovery speed. Gapare will not be in the national blocks leaderboard because his raw offensive skillset keeps him off the court at times. However, I see ACC Basketball Defensive Player of the Year in his future.

Rebounding: Ian Schefflin (Clemson)

Schefflin is an under-the-radar part of the Clemson frontcourt duo that clears the glass extremely well. A double-double machine, he leads the conference in defensive rebounding rate and is second in offensive rebound rate.

Toughness: Norchad Omier (Miami)

Omier is simply a winner. Miami needed somebody to step up into the leading scorer role following the departure of Isaiah Wong. It was not one of Jim Larranaga’s plethora of guards their 6-7 center. And yes, that size is not a typo; Omier will physically compete with and outwork high-major bigs throughout conference play.