Terps, Dukies dominate this ballot

CLEMSON — With the ACC's regular season concluding hours before the Oscars on Sunday night, it seems an appropriate time to release our ACC regular season awards. The envelopes please …

Best director

Gary Williams, Maryland

It's best not to wire him for sound due to his R-rated language, but Williams did a fine job leading Maryland to a No. 2 seed in the Tournament. The Terps were picked to finish fifth and ended up in a first-place tie with Duke despite lacking blue-chip talent, and having just one rotation player taller than 6-8 (freshman Jordan Williams).

Other nominations: Mike Krzyzewski (Duke)

Best lead actor

Greivis Vasquez, Maryland

Vasquez is the ACC's version of Evan Turner, the Ohio State star who is one of the favorites to win national player of the year honors.

Vasquez is the ultimate playmaker. He can score in a variety of ways — second in the ACC with 19.6 points per game — and he can also set up teammates with his adept passing ability. He has the height and vision to see over defenses (6.3 assists per game) and makes relatively few errors (3.3 turnovers per game) despite handling the ball often. He shot 44 percent from the floor, which is impressive considering he is the focus of every defense he sees.

Vasquez was his best in the biggest moments: scoring 41 points in a double overtime win against Virginia Tech, and his difficult shot to seal a win against Duke last week.

Other nominations: Malcolm Delaney (Virginia Tech), Jon Scheyer (Duke), Trevor Booker (Clemson), Kyle Singler (Duke).

Best supporting actor

Nolan Smith, Duke

Scheyer received most of the acclaim at Duke this season, but it was the third member of the Big Three — Nolan Smith — who was the most efficient scorer for Duke. Smith is also the most effective Blue Devil at creating his own shot and could be ready for a major breakout in 2010-11.

Other nominations: Chris Singleton (Florida State), Ish Smith (Wake)

Freshman of the year

Derrick Favors, Ga. Tech

Enjoy him in the ACC Tournament, Paul Hewitt, because he'll probably be in the NBA at this time next year. Favors nearly averaged a double-double as a freshman, thanks to his NBA-ready body.

Other nominations: C.J. Harris (Wake), Jordan Williams (Maryland), Scott Wood (N.C. State)

Best picture

Duke

Duke is in the running for its seventh NCAA No. 1 seed since 2000, though the Blue Devils have made just two trips to the Final Four in the decade and not since 2004. While many are again skeptical of Duke's ability to play into April, Duke was again the class of the ACC, doing so with little depth but a great trio of scorers. The Blue Devils don't win every game, but they rarely lack focus or discipline.

Other nominations: Maryland

Box-office bust

North Carolina

Remember when UNC was picked as a preseason co-favorite alongside Duke? How'd that work out?

Maybe John Henson will add 20 pounds of bulk over the offseason, maybe UNC's next wave of McDonald's All-Americans will get the Tar Heels back to the first tier of the ACC sooner rather than later. But 2009-10 was a colossal failure on every level for Roy Williams and company.

Trav's takes

An ACC team or two might make it past the round of 16, but I don't project any advancing to the Final Four. Teams like Kentucky have superior athletes and a team like Ohio State would be a difficult matchup with its perimeter length and true super star in Turner.

Do you still want to expand to 96 teams? ESPN's Joe Lunardi said North Carolina would get an at-large berth under that format. Forget about rewarding mediocrity, that's rewarding ineptitude.

Vasquez should win outright player of the year honors. Vasquez was responsible for producing more wins for his team than Scheyer, who had two great running mates in Kyle Singler and Smith.

All ACC Team

The voting for the 2009-10 all-Atlantic Coast Conference basketball teams, as cast by 53 members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association.

First team

Greivis Vasquez, Maryland (159)

Jon Scheyer, Duke (159)

Malcolm Delaney, Va. Tech (159)

Trevor Booker, Clemson (137)

Kyle Singler, Duke (134)

Second team

Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake (126)

Nolan Smith, Duke (104)

Sylven Landesberg, Virginia (95)

Tracy Smith, N.C. State (82)

Ishmael Smith, Wake Forest (76)

Third team

Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech (73)

Dorenzo Hudson, Va Tech (51)

Chris Singleton, FSU (50)

Joe Trapani, Boston College (38)

Solomon Alabi, FSU (30)

All-Rookie Team

Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech (52)

Jordan Williams, Maryland (51)

Durand Scott, Miami (44)

C.J. Harris, Wake Forest (41)

Michael Snaer, Florida State (35)

All-Defensive Team:

Chris Singleton, FSU (48)

Solomon Alabi, FSU (39)

Trevor Booker, Clemson (21)

Lance Thomas, Duke (17)

L.D. Williams, Wake Forest (16)

Reach Travis Sawchik at tsawchik@postandcourier.com

Associated Press contributed to this report.