Duke's Cooper Flagg is ACC player of the year; Wake's Hunter Sallis is first team again

Cooper Flagg, the likely No.

1 overall pick in this summers NBA Draft, was voted the ACCs player of the year.

The 18-year-old Flagg, who is a freshman, was also named the ACC Freshman of the Year as voted on by an 81-member panel consisting of the 18 head coaches and 63 media members.

Named on the first team for the second straight year was senior Hunter Sallis of Wake Forest.

His backcourt teammate, Cameron Hildreth, was named honorable mention.

Louisville senior Chucky Hepburn was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year while his coach, Pat Kelsey, was the ACC Coach of the Year beating out Dukes Jon Scheyer.

Boston Colleges Donald Hand Jr.

notched the ACCs Most Improved Player award and Californias Jeremiah Wilkinson was picked as the Sixth Man of the Year.

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Flagg was the overwhelming pick from the voting panel as Player of the Year, earning the nod on 75 of 81 ballots.

He joins former Duke standouts Jahlil Okafor (2015), Marvin Bagley III (2018) and Zion Williamson (2019) as the only players in ACC history to be chosen as the leagues Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season.

Dukes Cooper Flagg, right, was named the ACC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.

Flagg ranks among the ACCs top 10 this season in points (third, 19.4 points per game), rebounds (eighth, 7.6), assists (eighth, 4.2), steals (10th, 1.5) and blocks (eighth, 1.3).

The native of Newport, Maine, is a finalist for the John R.

Wooden Award, presented to the nations most outstanding player.

He also is a finalist for the 2025 Julius Erving Award, presented to the top small forward in the country.

In his first season at the helm of Louisville, Kelsey, a former assistant coach at Wake Forest, has led a remarkable turnaround for the Cardinals, who own a 25-6 record and finished in a second-place tie in the ACC regular-season standings at 18-2.

Louisville earned its highest ACC Tournament seed in program history, just a year after a last-place finish and the No.

15 seed at the 2024 ACC Tournament.

While Kelsey is Louisvilles first ACC Coach of the Year honoree, Hepburn is the Cardinals first player to be tabbed ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

The Omaha, Nebraska, native leads the conference in steals this season with 73 (2.43 per game).

He heads up the Cardinals defensive effort and in addition to his staunch on-ball defense on the perimeter has averaged 16.3 points and 5.9 assists per game, which rank 11th and third in the ACC, respectively.

He was named to the Naismith Trophy Midseason Watch List earlier this season.

Hand Jr.

is the second Boston College player in the last three years to earn the ACC Most Improved Player honor, joining Quinten Post in 2023.

The native of Virginia Beach, Virginia, averaged a team-best 15.7 points per game this season, boosting his scoring average by 10.7 points per game from a season ago and ranking 15th in the ACC.

That jump is the third best among all ACC players this season.

He also led the team in rebounding at 6.1 rebounds per game.

Wake Forest's Hunter Sallis was named on the All-ACC first team for the second straight season.

Wilkinson has made a tremendous impression during his fresh-man campaign in picking up ACC Sixth Man of the Year honors.

In 31 games, he is averaging 15.4 points per game, but he has averaged 17 points per game in league play, which is seventh among all players.

He owns 10 20-point games this season.

Duke led all schools with three honorees on the All-ACC first, second and third teams, while Clemson and Louisville each had two.

[email protected] 336-727-4081 @johndellWSJ Player of the Year Cooper Flagg, Fr., G/F, Duke Defensive Player of the Year Chucky Hepburn, Sr., G, Louisville Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg, G/F, Duke Most Improved Player Donald Hand Jr., So., Boston College Sixth Man of the Year Jeremiah Wilkinson, Fr., G, California Coach of the Year Pat Kelsey, Louisville 2024-25 ALL-ACC TEAM FIRST TEAM Name, School, Points Cooper Flagg, Duke, 400 Maxime Raynaud, Stanford, 392 Chucky Hepburn, Louisville, 364 Chase Hunter, Clemson, 328 Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest, 257 SECOND TEAM RJ Davis, North Carolina, 241 Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 238 Ian Schieffelin, Clemson, 225 Kon Knueppel, Duke, 208 Jamir Watkins, Florida State, 150 THIRD TEAM Terrence Edwards Jr., Louisville, 125 Tyrese Proctor, Duke, 72 Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 72 Boopie Miller, SMU, 71 Jaland Lowe, Pitt, 62 HONORABLE MENTION Matthew Cleveland, Miami, 49 Andrej Stojakovic, California, 48 Naithan George, Georgia Tech, 40 Isaac McKneely, Virginia, 38 J.J.

Starling, Syracuse, 32 Donald Hand Jr., Boston College, 29 Cameron Hildreth, Wake Forest, 26 Khaman Maluach, Duke, 23 Viktor Lakhin, Clemson, 20 Eddie Lampkin, Syracuse, 19 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).

Player of the Year Cooper Flagg, Duke, 76 votes Maxime Raynaud, Stanford, 4 Chucky Hepburn, Louisville, 1 Defensive Player of the Year Chucky Hepburn, Louisville, 32 votes Cooper Flagg, Duke, 26 Jaeden Zackery, Clemson, 8 Zack Austin, Pitt, 4 Maliq Brown, Duke, 3 Chad Venning, Boston College, 2 Khaman Maluach, Duke, 2 Sion James, Duke, 1 Mady Sissoko, California, 1 Tae Davis, Notre Dame 1 Cameron Hildreth, Wake Forest 1 Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg, Duke, 79 votes Jeremiah Wilkinson, California, 2 Sixth Man Of the Year Jeremiah Wilkinson, California, 22 votes Duncan Powell, Georgia Tech, 15 Ian Jackson, North Carolina, 13 Maliq Brown, Duke, 11 Kario Oquendo, SMU, 11 Isaiah Evans, Duke, 9 Most Improved Player Donald Hand Jr., Boston College, 25 votes Jaylen Blakes, Stanford, 22 Tae Davis, Notre Dame, 8 Naithan George, Georgia Tech, 7 Jaland Lowe, Pitt, 7 Andrej Stojakovic, California, 4 Andrew Rohde, Virginia, 4 B.J.

Edwards, SMU, 2 Eddie Lampkin, Syracuse, 1 Tyrese Proctor, Duke, 1 Coach of the Year Pat Kelsey, Louisville, 47 votes Jon Scheyer, Duke, 25 Brad Brownell, Clemson, 8 Kyle Smith, Stanford, 1 All-Defensive Team Chucky Hepburn, Louisville, 70 votes Cooper Flagg, Duke, 57 Jaeden Zackery, Clemson, 55 B.J.

Edwards, SMU, 34 Sion James, Duke, 28 Zack Austin, Pitt, 28 All-Rookie Team Cooper Flagg, Duke, 80 votes Kon Knueppel, Duke, 79 Ian Jackson, North Carolina, 65 Jeremiah Wilkinson, California, 59 Khaman Maluach, Duke, 47 81 total votes Note: coaches cannot vote for their players Get local news delivered to your inbox! {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items..

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