ACC basketball coaches and players make their World Series picks

Game 3 of the World Series is on tonight, and Operation Basketball—or ACC basketball media day—took place on Wednesday. Normally, these two things would be unrelated, but in an effort to get some off-court content that wasn’t related to the FBI trial, I asked some of the notable ACC players and coaches in attendance their pick for the World Series.

In this very scientific poll of a handful of players, the Boston Red Sox were clear favorites. Despite these folks being asked when the series was still only a 1-0 advantage for the Sox (which is now a 2-0 lead for Boston), only one person outright picked the Los Angeles Dodgers, and even that was a spite pick from a Yankees fan. One player—Kyle Guy from Virginia—stuck to his guns and picked his hometown Cincinnati Reds.

Terance Mann, a senior forward for the No. 17 Florida State Seminoles is all in on the Red Sox as a native of Lowell, Mass. “I just like how they’re exciting,” Mann said. “They’re very aggressive. The game last night (Game 1) they played real aggressive, they steal bases early, hit a lot of home runs, so it’s exciting to watch.”

Picking a favorite player was not hard for Mann. “Mookie,” he stated without hesitation. “Yeah, definitely.”

Unsurprisingly, he picked the Sox to take it all and is expecting a sweep.

For Tyus Battle, Syracuse’s star guard, rooting for Boston is a familial thing so picking the Sox to win wasn’t hard. The number of games the Series would go was tougher.

“My dad’s a huge Red Sox fan, so I’m gonna say it’ll go to [extremely I’m not sure voice] six? Maybe?”

Despite being in New York, there’s not a lot of baseball discussion within the locker room of the Orange as not that many players follow America’s pastime. “We don’t really talk about baseball too much,” Battle said. “I know I’m a Red Sox guy, I know my dad’s a Red Sox guy, so I think they’ll be good this year.”

Here’s how the rest of the players and coaches that were asked chose:

Jim Larrañaga, Head Coach, Miami Hurricanes - Red Sox.

“I was in Boston just before the playoffs at the end of the summer—it was Labor Day weekend—and Alex (Cora, manager of the Red Sox) is a University of Miami grad, so we were there to cheer them on and they ended up having a tremendous win.”

“I’m a Yankees fan, so I can’t pick Boston. I’m going to have to go with the Dodgers.”

“I have no choice, right? I have no choice. If I said the wrong thing and it got out, I wouldn’t be allowed back in. I’m from New York, so I’ll leave it at that. I’m a Yankees fan who does not hate the Red Sox. I’m a Celtics fan though!”

“It’s just different, like the environment. The fans of Boston show how much they love the sport...it’s unbelievable. Whether you lose or win, they still love you for it.”

“I’m a huge Yankees fan, so I’m not watching the World Series as much as I would be. I’m old. When I’m six years old, we get a TV. My family never had a TV and on Saturday afternoon the Yankees played. Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese were doing the game and I was hooked as a Yankees fan the rest of my life. I think Boston over the course of the season established that they are the best team. Usually, over a seven game series, the best team does win. I think Boston, over the course of the season that they were the best team winning 108 games, so I’d pick them to win.”

“Ooh, I’ve been to a Dodgers game before and watched them play the Mets, but one of my closest friends is a huge Red Sox fan, so I’m going to have to go Red Sox.”

“Because I’m an Orioles and an American League East guy, I’m going Sox.”