Duke Stole ACC Player of the Year From Their Own Guy So Tre Jones Could Win

Duke point guard Tre Jones spent the 2018-19 season as the orchestrator and fourth banana on a three-headed monster of a Blue Devils team.

While Zion Williamson (duh), RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish all leapt to the league, Jones chose to stay back in Durham, betting on his own ability to lead a less star-studded crew.

It worked! Jones out-dueled Cole Anthony twice, piloted a top-10 Duke team, and took home ACC Player of the Year on Monday.

BREAKING: Tre Jones (@Tre3Jones) has been awarded the ACC Player of the Year! ? pic.twitter.com/fPn4f89UmC
— Duke Digest (@DukeDigest) March 9, 2020

Excellent season for the kid, by any measure.

Only one problem with the honor, though: he actually came in second.

Jones lost the popular vote to his own teammate, freshman Vernon Carey, but took home the PoTY award anyway because...Duke officially nominated Jones and not Carey, taking the big man out of the running.

Vernon Carey was the leading vote recipient for All-ACC finishing with 367 points to Tre Jones 348 but Jones wins POY because Duke didn't nominate Carey.
— Brian Barbour (@briancbarbour) March 9, 2020

That...that shouldn't really happen.

The 20-year-old guard is averaging 16.2 points and 6.4 assists per game this season, and also owned the optics battle over Carey, starring at the end of regulation and OT against UNC at the Dean Dome in the season's most iconic game. None of this should outshine the fact that the writers gave Carey the award, but he'll never get his hands on the hardware thanks to strange Duke politics and a weird voting structure.

More divisive stuff from The Brotherhood for sure, any way you slice it.