2026 MIDSEASON ALL-ACC:

Boozer, Wilson Highlight League’s
Deep, Fantastic Freshman Class

By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Feb. 10, 2026)

Last year, the All-Freshman portion of the All-Atlantic Coast Conference ballot was uncomplicated, mainly because there wasn’t a plethora of legitimate candidates, after a season in which older, more experienced players drew a large majority of the regional and national headlines.

Beyond Duke superstars Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel, a pair of sure-fire National Basketball Association lottery picks who are now battling each other for Rookie of the Year honors in that league, there wasn’t a single freshman who was a serious candidate for the 15-man All-ACC squad at this time last season.

This year is different — much different.

The list begins, once again, with a dynamic duo. Duke forward Cameron Boozer and UNC forward Caleb Wilson are virtual locks for both All-American and first-team All-ACC honors, and they also are viewed as high lottery picks in the eyes of NBA scouts.

Overall, though, more than 20 ACC freshmen are playing key roles on NCAA Tournament-caliber teams or putting up significant numbers for lesser clubs this time, and at least four of them — maybe more — appear likely to end up as first-, second- or third-team All-ACC honorees, too.

(The statistics below are through Feb. 6, which marked the first time in the 2025-26 season all 18 ACC teams had played at least half of their 18-game conference schedules. The North Carolina Sports Network’s “Midseason All-ACC” balloting was conducted at that time.)

2026 Midseason All-Freshman Honorees

F Cameron Boozer, Duke (#3 player in Class of 2025)
Stats: 32 mpg, 23 ppg, 10 rpg, 58% FG, 76% FT, 37% threes, 89/49 ATO, 42 steals, 12 blocks
Analytics: 35.7 PER, 13.8 BPR, 7.4 PRPG, 6.3 WS

A 6-foot-9, 250-pound forward, Boozer is the heavy favorite for ACC Player of the Year and among the favorites for National Player of the Year. He’s the ACC’s leading scorer and top rebounder, which is a heck of a starting point, but his value to the Blue Devils extends far beyond that of a traditional big man. He also is an outstanding 3-point shooter, an intelligent defender and a brilliant passer (his four assists per game lead the Devils) who plays with a calm, unflappable confidence rarely seen among first-year college players.

F Caleb Wilson, UNC (#5)
Stats: 31 mpg, 20 ppg, 10 rpg, 58% FG, 70% FT, 25% threes, 62/45 ATO, 34 steals, 29 blocks
Analytics: 31.3 PER, 9.0 BPR, 5.5 PRPG, 4.6 WS

A 6-10, 215-pound forward, Wilson has a few important things in common with legendary UNC forward Tyler Hansbrough, the program’s only previous freshman to earn All-America honors: toughness, intensity, relentlessness, fearlessness and, of course, high-level productivity. Stunningly, Wilson (17) already has surpassed Hansbrough’s record for most 20-point games by a Carolina freshman. If Wilson can sustain or improve his sensational averages of 20 points and 10 rebounds per game, he even will finish above the Tar Heels’ current freshman record-holders in those categories — Hansbrough (18.9 ppg in 2006) and Antawn Jamison (9.6 rpg in 1996), who authored two of the other greatest rookie seasons in program history.

G Ebuka Okorie, Stanford (#100; pictured above)
Stats: 34 mpg, 21 ppg, 3 rpg, 42% FG, 82% FT, 31% threes, 68/33 ATO, 31 steals, 6 blocks
Analytics: 23.7 PER, 5.8 BPR, 5.6 PRPG, 3.3 WS

Whereas Boozer, Wilson and many other ACC signees ranked among the top 50 players in last year’s high school senior class, Okorie barely cracked the top 100. A 6-2, 185-pound combo guard, he was the 2025 player of the year in New Hampshire as a prep senior, and Stanford coach Kyle Smith raved in the preseason about his long-term potential, but nobody expected Okorie (who originally committed to play for Harvard, in the Ivy League) to be among the top players in the ACC — and one of the top 10 freshmen in the entire country — pretty much from the first time he put on a Cardinal uniform. His scoring average of 20-plus points per game has ranked among the ACC’s top five since his team’s season opener in early November.

F Thijs De Ridder, Virginia (N/A — international)
Stats: 28 mpg, 17 ppg, 7 rpg, 54% FG, 70% FT, 37% threes, 36/44 ATO, 16 steals, 8 blocks
Analytics: 24.4 PER, 6.7 BPR, 3.9 PRPG, 3.3 WS

Yes, it’s highly unusual to have a 23-year-old freshman, but De Ridder is the best player on one of the ACC’s best teams, and that typically makes you a candidate for first-team All-ACC honors, much less the league’s All-Freshman team. A 6-9, 238-pound forward from Belgium, De Ridder personifies both college basketball’s tidal wave of international imports (reflecting the NCAA’s brand-new rules on revenue-sharing and relatively new rules on Name-Image-Likeness compensation) and the longer-standing prototype of European big men. He can beat his defender off the dribble, in the post or from 3-point land.

G Chance Mallory, Virginia (#64)
Stats: 25 mpg, 11 ppg, 4 rpg, 46% FG, 76% FT, 37% threes, 77/26 ATO, 43 steals, 3 blocks
Analytics: 22.8 PER, 7.8 BPR, 3.5 PRPG, 3.3 WS

There are plenty of quality candidates (see below) for this fifth and final spot on the All-Freshman team, and many of them have more prominent roles (Mallory comes off the bench for UVa) and/or bigger numbers, but this guy is an absolutely stellar combination of competitiveness, aggression, toughness, intelligence and two-way efficiency. Any voter who values both winning and efficiency (many players with huge numbers fail that test badly) will have to consider Mallory on his or her final ballot, in March, especially if Mallory’s role with the Cavaliers continues to grow down the stretch, as expected.

NOTES: Player Efficiency Rating (PER) and Win Shares (WS) from BasketballReference.com; BPR from EvanMiya.com; PRPG from BartTorvik.com; Prep recruiting rankings from 247Sports Composite.

Also:

G Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville (#8) — 28 mpg, 16 ppg, 3 rpg, 81% FT, 71/39 ATO (missed eight games)

G Jalan Haralson, Notre Dame (#17) — 26 mpg, 15 ppg, 4 rpg, 50% FG, 11 steals

G Neo Avdalas, Virginia Tech (#50) — 32 mpg, 13 ppg, 3 rpg, 110/56 ATO, 15 steals

F Shelton Henderson, Miami (#23) — 30 mpg, 14 ppg, 5 rpg, 62% FG, 49/41 ATO, 25 steals

C Johann Grunloh, Virginia (#139) — 22 mpg, 8 ppg, 6 rpg, 50% FG, 11 steals, 50 blocks

C Mouhamed Sylla, Georgia Tech (#105) — 22 mpg, 9 ppg, 7 rpg, 58% FG, 19 blocks

F Roman Siulepa, Pitt (N/A; international) — 26 mpg, 9 ppg, 6 rpg, 47% FG, 25 steals, 14 blocks

F Jaden Toombs, SMU (#41) — 18 mpg, 7 ppg, 4 rpg, 53% FG, 15/11 ATO, 11 blocks

F Dame Sarr, Duke (#32) — 20 mpg, 6 ppg, 3 rpg, 32% threes, 24 steals

G Omari Witherspoon, Pitt (#108) — 26 mpg, 8 ppg, 3 rpg, 53/50 ATO, 15 steals, 18 blocks

G Akai Fleming, Georgia Tech (#122) — 24 mpg, 9 ppg, 3 rpg, 33% threes, 79% FT, 12 steals

G Matt Able, NC State (#26) — 21 mpg, 8 ppg, 4 rpg, 34% threes, 82% FT, 30 steals

G Derek Dixon, UNC (#44) — 20 mpg, 6 ppg, 2 rpg, 41% threes, 56/24 ATO

G Dante Allen, Miami (#59) — 23 mpg, 7 ppg, 3 rpg, 32% threes, 42/17 ATO, 21 steals

G Zac Foster, Clemson (#65) — 19 mpg, 7 ppg, 3 rpg, 82% FT, 30/15 ATO

G Kiyan Anthony, Syracuse (#34) — 19 mpg, 9 ppg, 2 rpg, 42% FG