Blake Wesley among three Notre Dame players to earn All-ACC recognition

Notre Dame players and coaches readily admit freshman Blake Wesley changed the Irish’s ceiling. They could foresee his impact from the moment they started summer workouts.

Wesley delivered accordingly.

The 6-5 guard was in the opening-night rotation, stepped into the starting lineup in early December and leads the team in scoring (14.8 points per game). There are several factors behind Notre Dame’s jump from 11-15 last season to 22-9 and 15-5 in this ACC this year, but Wesley is toward the top, if not at it.

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“He’s always had such a confidence and belief in himself,” head coach Mike Brey said last month. “I didn’t know all that when we signed him that he’d belong and belong right away.”

The ACC postseason awards recognized as much.

Wesley was named a second-team All-ACC selection and earned a spot on the league’s All-Rookie team, the conference announced Monday. He finished second in ACC Freshman of the Year voting behind Paolo Banchero of Duke, earning four of the 78 first-place votes.

Two other Notre Dame players earned All-ACC recognition. Irish senior guard Dane Goodwin was a third-team all-conference selection, and graduate student forward Paul Atkinson Jr. earned honorable mention. Goodwin was fifth in ACC Most Improved Player voting. Brey was third in coach of the year polling.

Wesley was Notre Dame’s first All-Rookie honoree since 2011-12, when Jerian Grant made the Big East All-Rookie team. He averaged 15.7 points in conference games and is shooting 41.5 percent from the floor and 32.1 percent on three-pointers. His 2.5 assists are second on the team, and his 1.3 steals are a team high.

Goodwin averages 14.0 points per game and is shooting 49.8 percent overall, 44.8 percent from beyond the arc and 85.5 percent on free throws. The latter two lead the team. Atkinson is Notre Dame’s third-leading scorer (12.6 points per game) and ranks second in the ACC in field goal percentage (58.3). He is also the Irish’s leading rebounder, at 7.1 per game. He transferred to Notre Dame from Yale in January 2021.

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2021-22 All-ACC Team

First Team

Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 380 points

Alondes Williams, Wake Forest, 373

Paolo Banchero, Duke, 372

Kameron McGusty, Miami, 315

Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 241

Second Team

Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 192

Dereon Seabron, NC State, 166

Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 161

Blake Wesley, Notre Dame, 148

Jake LaRavia, Wake Forest, 147

Third Team

Dane Goodwin, Notre Dame, 131

Mark Williams, Duke, 119

Isaiah Wong, Miami, 119

Jayden Gardner, Virginia, 106

Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 105

Honorable Mention

Caleb Love, North Carolina, 84

PJ Hall, Clemson, 72

John Hugley, Pitt, 54

Charlie Moore, Miami, 42

Brady Manek, North Carolina, 38

Kihei Clark, Virginia, 22

AJ Griffin, Duke, 22

Paul Atkinson Jr., Notre Dame, 20

Terquavion Smith, NC State, 15

Reece Beekman, Virginia, 15

All-ACC Team points are determined on a 5-3-1 system (five points for first team, three points for second team, one point for third team).

ACC Player of the Year

Alondes Williams, Wake Forest, 41 votes

Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 31

Paolo Banchero, Duke, 6

ACC Freshman of the Year

Paolo Banchero, Duke, 72 votes

Blake Wesley, Notre Dame, 4

Terquavion Smith, NC State, 1

Trevor Keels, Duke, 1

All-Rookie Team

Paolo Banchero, Duke, 77 votes

Terquavion Smith, NC State, 73

Blake Wesley, Notre Dame, 72

AJ Griffin, Duke, 66

Trevor Keels, Duke, 50

ACC Most Improved Player

Dereon Seabron, NC State, 33 votes

PJ Hall, Clemson, 28

Mark Williams, Duke, 4

John Hugley, Pitt, 4

Dane Goodwin, Notre Dame, 3

Jesse Edwards, Syracuse, 2

Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 2

James Karnik, Boston College, 1

RJ Davis, North Carolina, 1

ACC Coach of the Year

Steve Forbes, Wake Forest, 40 votes

Mike Krzyzewski, Duke, 19

Mike Brey, Notre Dame, 13

Jim Larrañaga, Miami, 3

Mike Young, Virginia Tech, 1

Hubert Davis, North Carolina, 1

Tony Bennett, Virginia, 1