Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
Georgia Tech’s Wright named ACC Player of the Year, Florida State’s Scottie Barnes wins two awards, Georgia Tech’s Jose Alvarado wins Defensive honors, Va. Tech’s Young Coach of the Year
Georgia Tech senior forward Moses Wright has been selected the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, highlighting the All-ACC Men’s Basketball Team and award winners for the 2020-21 season, as released Monday morning by the conference office.
The 2020-21 All-ACC Team was determined by a 75-member panel consisting of the league’s 15 head coaches and 60 members of the media.
Florida State guard Scottie Barnes received a double nod as ACC Freshman and Sixth Man of the Year, while Virginia Tech’s Mike Young was voted the ACC Coach of the Year.
Georgia Tech senior guard Jose Alvarado earned ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors, while Duke sophomore forward Matthew Hurt was voted the ACC’s Most Improved.
A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, who came to Georgia Tech having played only one year of high school basketball, the 6-9 Wright enters this week’s New York Life ACC Tournament third in the conference in both points (18.0) and rebounds (8.1) per game. Wright keyed the surging Yellow Jackets to a 15-8 overall record and a fourth-place finish in the final ACC regular-season standings at 11-6. Wright is shooting 54.4% from the floor while playing 35.7 minutes per game.
Wright is the second Georgia Tech player to earn ACC Player of the Year honors and the first since Dennis Scott in 1990. Wright received 33 votes from this year’s panel, well ahead of runners-up Justin Champagnie of Pitt and Louisville’s Carlik Jones (13 votes each). Wright, who ranks sixth in the league in blocked shots with 38, also earned a spot on this year’s All-ACC Defensive Team.
Florida State’s Barnes helped the Seminoles to a second-place ACC finish while averaging 10.4 points and 4.3 rebounds, and ranking fifth among conference players in assists with 4.3 per game. Barnes, who averages 24.7 minutes played per contest, also ranks fourth among ACC players in assist/turnover ratio and is tied for sixth in steals per game.
Barnes received 53 votes for ACC Freshman of the Year. North Carolina’s Day’Ron Sharpe placed second with 10. The Sixth Man of the Year voting was a bit closer, with Barnes receiving 39 votes, followed by Sharpe with 24.
Virginia Tech’s Young received 26 votes for ACC Coach of the Year to edge Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton (24 votes) and Georgia Tech’s Josh Pastner (16 votes). In his second year with the Hokies, Young guided a team picked for an 11th-place finish in the preseason to a No. 3 ACC Tournament seed. It is only the second time the Hokies (15-5, 9-4 ACC) have been the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament (2007) and the first time they have been awarded a double bye since the tourney expanded to 15 teams in 2014. The No. 3 seed ties the highest Virginia Tech has ever earned in the ACC Tournament.
— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 8, 2021
Young’s selection marks the third time the ACC Coach of the Year honoree has come from Virginia Tech and the first time since 2008 (Seth Greenberg).
Alvarado leads the ACC in steals with 66 in 23 games, helping Georgia Tech to a share of the team lead in that category. Duke’s Hurt leads the conference in scoring at 18.7 points, while pulling down 6.2 rebounds per game, after averaging 9.7 points and 3.8 rebounds last season.
Wright is joined on the All-ACC First Team by Louisville’s Jones (17.0 ppg), Pitt’s Champagnie (18.4 ppg, 11.1 rpg), Duke’s Hurt and Virginia’s Sam Hauser (15.8 ppg).
The All-ACC Second Team is comprised of Virginia Tech’s Keve Aluma, Georgia Tech’s Alvarado, Virginia’s Jay Huff, Florida State’s M.J. Walker and Clemson’s Aamir Simms.
A tie in the voting resulted in a six-man All-ACC Third Team – Florida State’s RaiQuan Gray, Miami’s Isaiah Wong, Syracuse’s Quincy Guerrier, Notre Dame’s Prentiss Hubb, North Carolina’s Armando Bacot and FSU’s Barnes.
Barnes was joined on the ACC All-Freshman Team by Duke’s DJ Steward, North Carolina’s Sharpe, Louisville’s Jae’Lyn Withers and UNC’s Caleb Love.
Alvarado was the top vote-getter for the All-Defensive Team and was joined on the squad by NC State’s Manny Bates, Virginia’s Huff, Duke’s Jordan Goldwire and Georgia Tech’s Wright.
2020-21 ALL-ACC TEAM FIRST TEAM Name, School, Points Moses Wright, Georgia Tech, 344 Justin Champagnie, Pitt, 343 Carlik Jones, Louisville, 327 Matthew Hurt, Duke, 310 Sam Hauser, Virginia, 281
SECOND TEAM Name, School, Points Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 277 Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 244 Jay Huff, Virginia, 214 M.J. Walker, Florida State, 200 Aamir Simms, Clemson, 176
THIRD TEAM Name, School, Points RaiQuan Gray, Florida State, 167 Isaiah Wong, Miami, 102 Quincy Guerrier, Syracuse, 55 Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame, 42 Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 41 Scottie Barnes, Florida State, 41
HONORABLE MENTION Name, School, Points Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 35 Kihei Clark, Virginia, 31 Alan Griffin, Syracuse, 29 David Johnson, Louisville, 22 Nate Laszewski, Notre Dame, 18 Jericole Hellems, NC State, 13 Tyrece Radford, Virginia Tech, 10
Note: All-ACC Team points are determined on a 5-3-1 system (five points for first team, three points for second team, one point for third team).
ACC PLAYER OF YEAR Name, School, Votes Moses Wright, Georgia Tech, 33 Carlik Jones, Louisville, 13 Justin Champagnie, Pitt, 13 Sam Hauser, Virginia, 5 Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 4 Matthew Hurt, Duke, 3 Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 3 Jay Huff, Virginia, 1
ACC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Name, School, Votes Scottie Barnes, Florida State, 53 Day’Ron Sharpe, North Carolina, 10 DJ Steward, Duke, 6 Jae’Lyn Withers, Louisville, 5 Kadary Richmond, Syracuse, 1
ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM Name, School, Votes Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 69 Manny Bates, NC State, 62 Jay Huff, Virginia, 53 Jordan Goldwire, Duke, 43 Moses Wright, Georgia Tech, 34
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM Name, School, Votes Scottie Barnes, Florida State, 74 DJ Steward, Duke, 67 Day’Ron Sharpe, North Carolina, 63 Jae’Lyn Withers, Louisville, 58 Caleb Love, North Carolina, 32
COACH OF THE YEAR Name, School, Votes Mike Young, Virginia Tech, 26 Leonard Hamilton, Florida State, 24 Josh Pastner, Georgia Tech, 16 Tony Bennett, Virginia, 6 Brad Brownell, Clemson, 2 Chris Mack, Louisville, 1
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR Name, School, Votes Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 35 Jay Huff, Virginia, 17 Manny Bates NC State, 13 Jordan Goldwire, Duke, 5 Aamir Simms, Clemson, 4 Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 1
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER Name, School, Votes Matthew Hurt, Duke, 17 Isaiah Wong, Miami, 13 Moses Wright, Georgia Tech, 11 Justin Champagnie, Pitt, 11 RaiQuan Gray, Florida State, 10 Nate Laszewski, Notre Dame, 5 Quincy Guerrier, Syracuse, 3 Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 2 Jay Huff, Virginia, 2 David Johnson, Louisville, 1
SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR Name, School, Votes Scottie Barnes, Florida State, 39 Day’Ron Sharpe, North Carolina, 24 Nick Honor, Clemson, 6 Jordan Goldwire, Duke, 5 Nikola Djogo, Notre Dame, 1
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
