Why was Vernon Carey Jr. not on the ballot for ACC Player of the Year?

The all-ACC voting rendered that curious result this week because Duke chose not to nominate freshman Carey for Player of the Year so sophomore teammate Tre Jones could win it.

Apparently, schools can nominate whichever players they want for POY and Rookie of the Year, and Duke had the perfect duo with Jones and Carey, tabbing Jones for Player of the Year and Carey for Rookie of the Year.

It doesn’t necessarily keep a player from receiving both accolades as Marvin Bagley and Zion Williamson did in 2018 and ’19; it only means that the Blue Devils split the nominations this year between their two best players and stars of the team.

Carey was the top vote-getter on the All-ACC team with 19 more than Jones, so rewarding the sophomore point guard for coming back and improving his game was why Duke nominated him alone for Player of the Year.

Before schools could dictate who earned votes for the two biggest awards, ACC media members simply voted who they favored for each accolade. Duke manipulated the current system to keep its two stars from splitting the POY votes and perhaps neither won.

Kudos to Carolina’s Garrison Brooks for making second-team All-ACC with the eighth-most votes, all by virtue of also being named Most Improved Player. That is a richly deserved honor for the hardest worker on the team and ramping up his offense and rebounding to match his defense.

Sure, critics will crow over Cole Anthony making third-team All-ACC and placing a distant third behind Carey for Rookie of the Year. Some of that was the preseason hype Anthony attracted but more for his decision to come back after missing 11 games and helping the Tar Heels to their late-season surge.

In tonight’s ACC tournament first-round game, Carolina faces fired-up Virginia Tech, which that did not earn one of the 15 places on the three All-ACC teams. Leading scorer Landers Nolly II will play with a chip on his shoulder and try to lead the Hokies over the Heels and into Wednesday night’s second-round against Syracuse.

Remember, UNC and Tech played a double-overtime game during the regular season, won by the Hokies, so this isn’t just any Tuesday match-up.

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