CHARLOTTE – North Carolina received 57 of a possible 59 first-place votes to finish atop the ACC media poll released Wednesday at the conference’s Operation Basketball media event.

The Tar Heels return all five starters, including preseason ACC player of the year selection Harrison Barnes, from a team that finished 29-8, reached an NCAA regional final and won first place in the ACC with a 14-2 conference record last season.

Duke was picked second in the poll, followed by Florida State, Virginia, Miami, Virginia Tech and Clemson. N.C. State was selected to finish eighth, with Maryland, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Boston College closing out the poll.

You don't have to look far to find ACC talent in the NFL.

Every team in the league has at least three players from ACC schools and the conference has a total 249 players in the league as the season begins tonight in Green Bay.

Despite a recent downturn on the field, Miami leads the ACC with NFL players with 44. For the first time since expansion, Maryland takes over the second spot with 28, edging Florida State, which is down to 25 from an ACC-best 46 in 2006, and North Carolina (24).

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Coach Frank Beamer has signed a new contract with Virginia Tech through the end of the 2016 football season, athletic director Jim Weaver announced today.

Beamer's previous deal was scheduled to end at the conclusion of the 2012 season. He had agreed to the new deal in August of 2010, but just signed the contract recently.

Negotiations on Beamer's compensation will begin in January. A win today over Appalachian State will give him a 199-95-2 record in his 25th season as the Hokies' coach.

Virginia Tech's David Wilson (4) scores his third touchdown against Appalachian State during the first half at Lane Stadium, in Blacksburg. DON PETERSEN - AP

Updated 5:56 p.m.

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Appalachian State quarterback DeAndre Pressley said it was by far the worst game he had ever played, but a 66-13 thumping by 13th-ranked Virginia Tech on Saturday didn’t diminish his confidence.

Ranked No. 2 in the nation in the Football Championship Subdivision poll, Appalachian State entered Lane Stadium with hopes of duplicating the season-opening magic it delivered in a 34-32 win at Michigan in 2007.

Editor's note: J.P. Giglio is one of 60 AP voters.  The AP will release the Top 25 on Saturday.

It's beyond obvious at this point that I should just put an SEC team at No. 1 and move on. Except, I can't find the right SEC team.

I almost talked myself into Auburn last year (I was the only voter that had them in the preseason top 10) but I had no idea Cam Newton was going to be that good.

Florida State and Virginia Tech are the only ACC teams ranked in the USA Today coaches poll, which was released today.

Oklahoma, which received 42 of the 59 first-place votes, starts the season No. 1, one of three Big 12 teams in the top 10 and five in the rankings.

Updated at 1:48 p.m. to include complete Preseason All-ACC list.

GREENSBORO — Florida State and Miami led all ACC teams with four players from each school selected to the Preseason All-ACC Football team announced today.

Virginia Tech, Clemson and North Carolina all had three selections apiece, Boston College and Duke each had two players named and N.C. State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, and Virginia each had one player selected.

Wake Forest was the only league team not to place a player on the Preseason All-ACC team.

PINEHURST — Florida State has not won a ACC title since 2005, but the Seminoles are the popular pick to return to glory this fall.

FSU is the consensus choice to win the ACC's Atlantic Division and to defeat Virginia Tech in the league's championship game, according to a poll of media members attending this week's ACC Football Kickoff.

Green Hope junior girls basketball player Kristen Gaffney has re-opened her recruitment.

The area's leading scorer with 31 points per game this season was committed to Virginia Tech. But former VT coach Beth Dunkenberger resigned following her team's last-place finish in the ACC and was replaced by director of basketball operations Dennis Wolff.

Add ACC commissioner John Swofford to the list of those who were disappointed that Virginia Tech was not selected to the NCAA tournament field.

"I'm surprised that Virginia Tech was excluded from the NCAA Tournament," Swofford said in a statement he released this afternoon. "I believe they are a quality team that earned and deserved to be in the field of 68."

In decisions that have prompted much controversy and criticism nationally, the Division I men's basketball committee awarded at-large NCAA tournament bids to Alabama-Birmingham and Virginia Commonwealth while leaving Virginia Tech and Colorado out of the tournament.