Sophomores rule ACC

For every ACC team outside of UNC, the 2008-09 basketball season will go down as the "Year of the Sophomore."

While the Tar Heels are the rarest of major programs that still starts two seniors and three juniors, the rest of the ACC is trying to win with youth. And unlike previous seasons this decade, it's not freshmen carrying the league but sophomores.

Wake Forest's duo of Jeff Teague and James Johnson are as good as any players from the Class of  2007 in the country. They are two of 19 sophomores (compared to 14 seniors, 19 juniors and 8 freshmen) who start for ACC teams.

Duke, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Clemson will all make the NCAA Tournament based on the play of their sophomore class.

The ACC only lost one freshman (N.C. State's J.J. Hickson) to the NBA after last season. That has left the league flush with second-year talent — Teague and Johnson, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith (Duke), Demontez Stitt and Terrence Oglesby (Clemson), Gani Lawal and Moe Miller (Georgia Tech), Malcom Delaney and Jeff Allen (Virginia Tech) and Rakim Sanders and Corey Raji (Boston College).

Teague, a 6-1 combo guard, has been the league's most productive player with 19.4 points (second in the ACC), 4.6 assists (sixth), 2.4 steals (second) in leading Wake to a 9-0 start and No. 10 ranking.

Lawal and Virginia's Mike Scott, both sophomores, lead the league in rebounding (10.3 per game).

The promise of the next big thing fuels traffic on recruiting web sites. The phenomena of "wait 'til next year" is not original to college sports but it has been refined to art form.

That usually leaves the players in the program overlooked, particularly in this era of the "If you're not one-and-done, you can't play" attitude.

To be sure, there have been impressive rookies, including Wake's Al-Farouq Aminu (11.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg), but this class is closer to the Julius Hodge/Ed Nelson freshmen group of '02 — solid and useful — rather than the blockbuster group of 1994 of Joe Smith (No. 1 overall pick in 1995), Jerry Stackhouse (No. 3 in 1995), Rasheed Wallace (No. 4 in 1995) and Tim Duncan (No. 1 in 1997).

Statistically, Virginia's Sylven Landesberg has been the league's best rookie, averaging 19.0 points and 5.7 rebounds in the first six games. More important than the numbers, the McDonald's All-American gives Dave Leitao a player to build the program around. The 6-7 guard has not assumed Sean Singletary's role as point guard but he has taken Singletary's role as the program's foundation.

Iman Shumpert, filling the void left by Lewis Clinch's suspension at Georgia Tech, and Chris Singleton, giving FSU a much-needed athletic inside presence, have both been quality first-year starters.

This class also has its share of early missed steps. Wing Elliot Williams and forward Miles Plumlee, whose size is desperately needed, have fallen into the freshmen vortex at Duke. Forwards Tony Woods and Ty Walker were supposed to be program-savers at Wake but can't displace Chas McFarland or L.D. Williams for frontcourt minutes. Guard DeQuan Jones has been invisible for Miami.

Given the success of the sophomore class, the ACC hasn't needed the immediate impact from the freshmen class. Only Aminu appears to be on the NBA radar — although, given Georgia Tech's track record, Shumpert is history — which means 2010 could be the "Year of the Sophomore II."

ACC starters by class (Dave Telep's class ranking in parenthesis):

Freshmen

FSU: Chris Singleton (15), r-Solomon Alabi (25)
GT: Iman Shumpert (18)
N.C. State: C.J. Williams
UVa: Sylven Landesberg (44), Assane Sene, r-Sammy Zeglinski
Wake: Al-Farouq Aminu (13)

Key reserves: BC — Reggie Jackson (92); Clemson — Andre Young (79); Duke — Elliot Williams (16), Miles Plumlee (40); FSU — Xavier Gibson (51); Maryland — Sean Mosley (41); Miami — DeQuan Jones (22); UNC — Ed Davis (10), Tyler Zeller (21), Larry Drew II (68); Wake — Ty Walker (25), Tony Woods (48)

Sophomores

BC: Rakim Sanders (86), Corey Raji, tr-Joe Trapani, Josh Southern
Clem: Demontez Stitt, Terrence Oglesby
Duke: Nolan Smith (26), Kyle Singler (6)
FSU: Jordan DeMercy
GT: Gani Lawal (20), Moe Miller
Md: Adrian Bowie
N.C. State: Javier Gonzalez
UVa: Mike Scott
VT: Jeff Allen (51), Malcolm Delaney (83), Dorenzo Hudson (74)
Wake: James Johnson (44), Jeff Teague (46)

Key reserves: Md — Braxton Dupree (90); Miami — Eddie Rios (97); N.C. State — Tracy Smith (70); UVa — Jeff Jones (85)

Juniors

Clem: Trevor Booker
Duke: Brian Zoubek (38), Gerald Henderson (15), Jon Scheyer (20)
FSU: r-Ryan Reid (92)
GT: Zach Peacock
Md: Eric Hayes (96), Greivis Vasquez, Landon Milbourne
Miami: tr-Cyrus McGowan (69), Dwayne Collins (84), James Dews
UNC: Ty Lawson (4), Wayne Ellington (7), Deon Thompson (36)
N.C. State: r-Brandon Costner (20)
UVa: tr-Calvin Baker
Wake: L.D. Williams, Chas McFarland

Reserves: Duke — Lance Thomas (18); UVa — Jamil Tucker (67); Wake — Ish Smith (92)

Seniors

BC: Tyrese Rice
Clem: Raymond Sykes, K.C. Rivers
FSU: tr-Toney Douglas (85)
GT: Alade Aminu (50)
Md: David Neal
Miami: tr-Lance Hurdle, tr-Jack McClinton
UNC: Tyler Hansbrough (7), Danny Green (24)
N.C. State: Ben McCauley (98), Courtney Fells (30)
VT: A.D. Vassallo, Cheick Diakite

Reserves: Duke — Greg Paulus (18); FSU — Uche Echefu (37); GT — Lewis Clinch (17); Miami — Brian Asbury (65), Jimmy Graham (93); UNC — Bobby Frasor (41), Marcus Ginyard (52)

Notes: r-redshirt, tr-transfer