With Chris Paul announcing that he was taking his skills to the NBA, I got to thinking about other ACC players who have gone pro after just one or two years. I don’t think any player can really be considered one of the conference’s all-time greats with just one or two years in the league. Instead, I think it’s useful to just compare them against each other.
There have been some incredible talents with short stays – Kenny Anderson, Joe Smith and Stephon Marbury quickly come to mind. To me, those two Georgia Tech guards were the most exciting of the short-timers, but Joe Smith probably had the best two years. Maybe he wasn’t quite as dynamic as Anderson or Marbury, but he was damn close. Elton Brand wasn’t quite so entertaining, but he was virtually unstoppable in his second year. Brand and Smith are the only two ACC sophomores to be named national player of the year and then leave (Ralph Sampson was also NPOY, but he stayed two more seasons).

Looking back at the players on my list (scroll down to see the whole thing), I’m reminded again at just how amazing the freshman of 1994 were. Three of those players – Joe Smith, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace – were 1st team All-Americans in their second season, with Smith being named ACC and national POY. If that’s not enough talent, you know who else was in that freshman class, but hadn’t received quite as much attention yet? A guy you may remember named Tim Duncan.
In the table below, I’ve listed all of the ACC players who left after their first or second year. I did not include JUCOs or transfers, so you won’t see Steve Francis or even Stephon DonDon.
Six players, including Paul, were named first-team All-American. Two others made it to the second or third team. Two of those players, Anderson and Smith made AA in both of their seasons.
Oddly enough, only half of the players were named ACC Freshman of the Year, although a couple of those lost out to other players on the list.
Six players made the leap without ever being named first-team All-ACC. Two of those players, Dion Glover and Corey Maggette, never made any of the top three ACC teams.
Without further ado, here is the list of players along with their year and what conference and national honors they earned:

 Player           School    Year     Class  All-ACC  All-American
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Skip Wise        CLEM      1975     Fr.    1
Chris Washburn   NCSU      1986     So.    -, 2
Jerrod Mustaf    MARY      1990     So.    -, 3
Kenny Anderson   GT        1991     So.    1+, 1    2, 1
Joe Smith        MARY      1995     So.    1+, 1*   3, 1*
Jerry Stackhouse UNC       1995     So.    -, 1     -, 1
Rasheed Wallace  UNC       1995     So.    -, 1     -, 2
Stephon Marbury  GT        1996     Fr.    1+       3
William Avery    Duke      1999     So.    -, 2
Elton Brand      Duke      1999     So.    -, 1*    -, 1*
Dion Glover      GT        1999     So.    -, -
Corey Maggette   Duke      1999     Fr.    -
Joseph Forte     UNC       2001     So.    2+, 1    -, 1
Chris Wilcox     MARY      2002     So.    -, 3
Chris Bosh       GT        2003     Fr.    2+
Luol Deng        Duke      2004     Fr.    3+
Chris Paul       WF        2005     So.    3+, 1    -, 1
* Player of the Year
+ Freshman of the Year

And now here is my purely-subjective ranking of those players:

 My rankings
-----------
1. Joe Smith
2. Kenny Anderson
3. Elton Brand
4. Stephon Marbury
5. Joe Forte
6. Chris Paul
7. Jerry Stackhouse
8. Rasheed Wallace
9. Skip Wise
10. Chris Bosh
11. Luol Deng
12. William Avery
13. Chris Wilcox
14. Corey Maggette
15. Chris Washburn
16. Dion Glover
17. Jerrod Mustaf