Jahlil Okafor Becomes First Freshman to be Named ACC Player of the Year

After averaging 17.6 points and 9.2 rebounds this season, Duke’s Jahlil Okafor is the first freshman in ACC history to be named Player of the Year.

Okafor joins a prestigious list of former ACC stars like Michael Jordan, Grant Hill, Tim Duncan, Christian Laettner, Antawn Jamison, Elton Brand – who have all won the award.

Congrats to @BigJah15. First freshman ever to be named ACC Player of the Year! #jahzilla pic.twitter.com/GYgTDayBBB

— Duke Basketball (@dukeblueplanet) March 8, 2015

For the second year in a row, Virginia’s Tony Bennett was named ACC Coach of the year.

Duke has the most ACC Player of the Year winners in league history with 15 recipients. UNC is second with 14 and Wake Forest is 3rd with 10.

In addition to Player of the Year, the league also announced their All-ACC teams.

First Team All-ACC
Jahlil Okafor, Fr., Duke (64)                    320
Jerian Grant, Sr., Notre Dame (64)          320
Rakeem Christmas, Gr. Syracuse (51)       294
Malcolm Brogdon, Jr., Virginia (53)          293
Olivier Hanlan, Jr., Boston College (29)    246

Second Team All-ACC
Montrezl Harrell, Jr., Louisville (21)         220
Quinn Cook, Sr., Duke (23)                     219
Terry Rozier, So., Louisville (2)                154
Trevor Lacey, Jr., NC State (2)                123
Justin Anderson, Jr., Virginia (5)             106

Third Team All-ACC
Marcus Paige, Jr., North Carolina (4)         97
Tyus Jones, Fr., Duke (2)                          89
Pat Connaughton, Sr., Notre Dame            45
Anthony Gill, Jr., Virginia                         42
Brice Johnson, Jr., North Carolina             40

Honorable Mention
Jamel Artis, So., Pittsburgh                      33
Tonye Jekiri, Jr., Miami                            32
London Perrantes, So., Virginia                 31
Sheldon McClellan, Jr., Miami                    31
Justise Winslow, Fr., Duke                        29
Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Fr., Florida State      24
Michael Young, So., Pittsburgh                  14
Angel Rodriguez, Jr., Miami                      13
Codi Miller-McIntyre, Jr., Wake Forest        12
Kennedy Meeks, So.,North Carolina           10

The New York Life ACC Tournament will tip-off next Tuesday in Greensboro, NC.