As basketball keeps creeping closer, more and more things are happening to get all the college basketball fans in the mood. Whether it’s preseason AP rankings, media days, or exhibitions/scrimmages, the time has come to turn our attention from the oval shaped ball toward the round orange one instead (especially when you’re having a football year like UNC is having).
So to continue in that vein, having already looked at the top returning player, the top transfer, and the top freshman for each ACC team, its time to look at the possible starting lineups for each school. In this ever-changing world of transfers and one-and-dones, starting lineup projections are a lot harder than when the same players returned season after season.
Unlike previous articles, a lot of the players here will probably make up All-ACC squads by the time the season is over. Now, a couple of notes: these are mere guesses based on the rosters with preferential treatment given to players who started last season, top freshmen, and players who participated at ACC Tipoff.
Additionally, each starting line up has two guards, a wing (guard or forward), and two bigs. Size does matter, especially for the post positions, and though the best five players were considered, there was a deference to players who fit the mold better as opposed to trotting out four guards and a small forward.
With all that said, here is one writer’s best guess at each ACC team’s starting five to begin the 2025-26 season.
(All teams are listed alphabetically. Stats listed are the top three the player averaged last season. Rookie rankings are per 247.)
Boston College
G: Chase Forte (17.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.2 apg)
G: Fred Payne (6.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.2 apg)
G/F: Donald Hand Jr (15.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.3 apg)
F: Jayden Hastings (4.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.3 bpg)
F: Boden Kapke (4.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 0.6 apg)
Hand Jr was the easiest pick here after starting all 31 games for the Eagles last season and leading the team in points and rebounds. He is joined by fellow returnees Hastings, who started five games, and Payne who led the team in steals. Forte (South Dakota) and Kapke (Butler) are both transfers who started at their schools last season. The only questions here were whether freshmen Akbar Waheed III and Jack Bailey would get the nods, but neither rated highly enough to unseat the upperclassmen for coach Earl Grant.
California
G: Dai Dai Ames (8.7 ppg, 1.9 apg, 1.4 rpg)
G: DeJuan Campbell (7.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.6 apg)
G/F: Rytis Petraitis (8.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.7 apg)
F: John Camden (16.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.1 apg)
F: Milos Ilic (14.4 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 3.0 apg)
The Golden Bears were a hard team to figure, as they only returned three players from last season’s team. Petraitis (29 starts, led the team in steals) and Campbell (14 starts) are two of those players. Camden (Delaware) and Ilic (Loyola Maryland) are both transfers who provide size in the post as well as experience as starters for coach Mark Madsen (who knows a thing or two about post players, having been one in the NBA for 10 seasons). The last spot went to Ames (Virginia) — over options such as transfers Chris Bell and Nolan Dorsey, as well as freshmen Semetri Carr and Jovani Bell — due to his inclusion at ACC Tipoff.
Clemson
G: Ace Buckner (redshirt)
G: Dillon Hunter (5.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.9 apg)
G/F: RJ Godfrey (6.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.0 apg)
F: Carter Welling (13.1 ppg, 6.3, 1.8 bpg)
F: Nick Davidson (15.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 2.8 apg)
Much like Cal, the Tigers return very little production from last year’s team, which is why Hunter was an easy choice. Transfers Welling (Utah Valley) and Davidson (Nevada) are both big double-digit scoring post players who started for their respective clubs last season. Considerations were given to transfer Jestin Porter (Middle Tennessee), redshirt Dallas Thomas, and freshman Zac Foster, but the final two spots ended up with Buckner (a redshirt and son of Clemson legend Greg Buckner) and Godfrey, a transfer from Georgia, who was one of coach Brad Brownell’s two players at ACC Tipoff.
