Preseason Polls.  Who can resist?  Pick your favorite sport and the day after the previous championship is decided we’re neck deep in “way too early” top 25s for the next year.

Conference polls? You betcha! The preseason ACC men’s and women’s basketball rankings and all conference teams dropped this week.  And not that the polls have any effect on the upcoming season, they used to be a good appetite whetter and generally pretty accurate.

Full disclosure, I’m a long time voter for the ACC women’s basketball awards.  They call it a “Blue Ribbon Panel.”  Clearly it’s very distinguished as am I.  In fact I’m wearing the blue ribbon right now, but I digress.

Before we get all excited and/or bent out of shape about this year’s preseason polls, know this.  Sunday night I got ready to dive in and pick the ACC women’s basketball preseason all league team.  And I was lost at sea.

The assignment seemed simple. Pick the 10 best players in the league. I clicked and suddenly was confronted with a list of mysterious names. Who were these people? Where the heck were all the players I’d heard of before? Now I need to rank 10? Is there a hat I can pick out of?

I tell you this for one reason.  In this era of college sports and college basketball in particular, nobody knows what the heck they’re talking about in October. Between NIL, the transfer portal and eligibility limits becoming fictional, we need to see teams play to have any clue who’s actually on them much less if they’re good or not.

I can tell you that Duke will be good at men’s basketball and Notre Dame will be good at women’s.  I can tell you the Blue Devil men will have several freshman stars and their women will make me angry with their unwatchable offense.  I can also tell you that 1 + 1 = 2 and red + yellow = orange. Some things just are.

Beyond that? Hope is a beautiful thing.  Where is Syracuse going to finish in the ACC this year?  I haven’t the foggiest.  And that‘s what I hang my hat on as we rapidly approach Red Autry’s third year and Felisha Legette-Jack’s fourth.

Last season both teams finished in the bottom third of the ACC and didn’t need to locate the remote on Selection Sunday.  This year the men were picked to finish 9th and the women 13th. But none of that matters.

In the past it would be beyond head scratching to be projected near the bottom of a league like the ACC and finish towards the top.  Those teams stuck out like a sore thumb.  But when everyone’s starting from close to scratch on an annual basis, presuming to know what those groups will be is a fool’s errand.

Now, does this mean we shouldn’t look at preseason polls anymore?  Of course not!  We need to know if we’re supposed to be excited or pissed off!  This is sports!  We need something to yell about!

But it does mean, don’t be shocked if the prognosticators are comically wrong.  Because in college basketball 2025 no one knows anything in October. 

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