Duke’s Williamson, UVa’s Bennett headline AP All-ACC team
Duke freshman Zion Williamson is both The Associated press player and newcomer of the year in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and Virginia’s Tony Bennett is the coach of the year for the second straight year.
Williamson and teammate RJ Barrett were the only unanimous selections to the AP All-ACC team also announced Tuesday. Williamson earned nine votes for the top overall individual honor and 13 votes for the award for newcomers following a vote of 15 journalists who cover the ACC throughout the league’s nine states.
Williamson and Barrett are the only ACC players averaging more than 20 points, with Barrett scoring 23.3 per game and Williamson at 21.6.
Williamson — a top national player of the year candidate — missed the last five games after spraining his right knee early against North Carolina on Feb. 20, but coach Mike Krzyzewski hopes he will be back for the ACC Tournament this week in Charlotte.
He’s the second straight Duke player to sweep the two individual player awards. Marvin Bagley III also did it last year.
Those two were joined on the first team by Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome, North Carolina’s Cam Johnson and Boston College’s Ky Bowman.
Virginia’s Kyle Guy and North Carolina’s Coby White lead a second team that also includes Luke Maye of the Tar Heels along with Clemson’s Marcquise Reed and Virginia Tech’s Kerry Blackshear Jr.
Bennett received eight votes for the coaching award after leading the Cavaliers (28-2) to a share of first place with North Carolina in the final standings and their second straight No. 1 seed in the league tournament.
The 2019 AP All-ACC team, with players listed alphabetically with name, school, height, weight, class and hometown (“u-” denotes unanimous selections):