Donald Hand Jr. Named 2024-25 ACC Most Improved Player

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- After an outstanding sophomore season, Donald Hand Jr. was recognized as the 2024-25 Most Improved Player in the Atlantic Coast Conference, it was announced this evening on ACC Network's "ACC PM" show.

Throughout the 2024-25 season, Hand Jr. established himself as one of the top players in the league. He ranked third among all ACC players in scoring average increase, at nearly +11.0 points per game, year-over-year, and using the metric PAR (points+assists+rebounds), he has seen over a +16.0 jump, finishing this season with a 23.1 mark. Hand Jr. was one of only four players to rank among the top 20 in the league in both scoring (15.8, 15th) and rebounding (6.1, 19th) and was one of only three players in the ACC to record at least 20 points and five rebounds in at least nine games this season.

He becomes the second Boston College player to earn the ACC's Most Improved Player award. Quinten Post - now of the Golden State Warriors in the NBA - also earned the prestigious honor from the conference during the 2022-23 season. Hand Jr. earned 25 of the 81 votes among 10 different players who were nominated.

Hand Jr. also received 2024-25 All-ACC accolades, earning a spot on the league's honorable mention team. He is the fifth Eagle to receive All-ACC honorable mention recognition, joining Post (2022-23), Steffon Mitchell (2019-20), Ky Bowman (2017-18), and Jerome Robinson (2016-17). Teammate Chad Venning earned two votes for the league's Defensive Player of the Year award.

His performances, week-in and week-out, made Boston College and ACC history this season. Hand Jr. earned ACC Player of the Week honors on three occasions, on Dec. 30, Feb. 3, and Feb. 24. In doing so, Hand Jr. and his father - Donald Hand Sr. - became the first father-son duo to each earn ACC Player of the Week honors in their respective careers. Hand Sr. was the ACC Player of the Week on Jan. 31, 2000 while starring at Virginia. Hand Jr. joins Jared Dudley as the only other BC player to garner ACC weekly conference honors three times in the same year. In 2006-07, Dudley earned the top weekly player award on three occasions en route to being named ACC Player of the Year.

For over nearly a month (Jan. 25-Feb. 22), Hand Jr. put forth one of the best scoring stretches in recent BC history, tallying 179 points (22.4 ppg average) over an eight-game span. Included in those eight games was a career-high 31 points in a comeback win over Florida State. Over the last 25 years, only seven Boston College players have scored that many points over an eight-game span.
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2024-25 ACC AWARDS
Player of the Year – Cooper Flagg, Fr., G/F, Duke
Defensive Player of the Year – Chucky Hepburn, Sr., G, Louisville
Rookie of the Year – Cooper Flagg, G/F, Duke
Most Improved Player – Donald Hand Jr., So., Boston College
Sixth Man of the Year – Jeremiah Wilkinson, Fr., G, California
Coach of the Year – Pat Kelsey, Louisville

2024-25 ALL-ACC TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Name, School, Points
Cooper Flagg, Duke, 400
Maxime Raynaud, Stanford, 392
Chucky Hepburn, Louisville, 364
Chase Hunter, Clemson, 328
Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest, 257

SECOND TEAM
RJ Davis, North Carolina, 241
Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 238
Ian Schieffelin, Clemson, 225
Kon Knueppel, Duke, 208
Jamir Watkins, Florida State, 150

THIRD TEAM
Terrence Edwards Jr., Louisville, 125
Tyrese Proctor, Duke, 72
Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 72
Boopie Miller, SMU, 71
Jaland Lowe, Pitt, 62

HONORABLE MENTION
Matthew Cleveland, Miami, 49
Andrej Stojakovic, California, 48
Naithan George, Georgia Tech, 40
Isaac McKneely, Virginia, 38
J.J. Starling, Syracuse, 32
Donald Hand Jr., Boston College, 29
Cameron Hildreth, Wake Forest, 26
Khaman Maluach, Duke, 23
Viktor Lakhin, Clemson, 20
Eddie Lampkin, Syracuse, 19
Note: 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)

Donald Hand Jr. Named 2024-25 ACC Most Improved Player

Players Mentioned

Donald Hand Jr.

Quinten Post

Chad Venning

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