In what could prove to be a wide open ACC men's basketball season, NC State was picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll.

The preseason voting suggested different tiers in the league:

• Tier I consists of five teams that received multiple votes to win the conference, although Duke emerged as a heavy favorite. Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech all received at least five first place votes.

• Tier II is the smallest — two teams that project to do well in Louisville, who did have a first place vote, and Syracuse.

• Tier III includes NC State. It's a group whose total points total were tightly bunched. Notre Dame, defending ACC champ Georgia Tech, Clemson and Miami were also in this group.

• Tier IV is the three teams universally picked to finish in the bottom of the conference: Wake Forest, Pittsburgh and Boston College.

NC State went 14-11 overall and 9-8 in the ACC last year, reaching the second round of the NIT. It'll start the 2021-22 season Monday, Nov. 1 with an exhibition game against Elizabeth City State. It will tip off the regular season at home on Nov. 9 vs. Bucknell.

In terms of preseason all-conference teams, the Wolfpack freshman guard Terquavion Smith received a few votes for Freshman of the Year, but otherwise there were no other mentions for NC State.

Here were the all-conference selections:

Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse (68 votes)

Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech (52)

Paolo Banchero, Duke (49)

Armando Bacot, UNC (46)

Isaiah Wong, Miami (37)

Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech (25)

Kihei Clark, Virginia (23)

Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame (17)

Mark Williams, Duke (12)

Wendell Moore Jr., Duke (9)

Caleb Love, UNC (9)

Malik Williams, Louisville (9)

Paolo Banchero, Duke (28)

Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech (16)

Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse (13)

Armando Bacot, UNC (12)

Kihei Clark, Virginia (5)

Wendell Moore Jr., Duke (3)

Caleb Love, UNC (2)

Mark Williams, Duke (2)

Paolo Banchero, Duke (64)

Trevor Keels, Duke (5)

Terquavion Smith, NC State (3)

Dontrez Styles, UNC (3)

Igor Milicic Jr., Virginia (3)

Wooga Poplar, Miami (1)

Benny Williams, Syracuse (1)

Cameron Hildreth, Wake Forest (1)

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