Duke, UNC chasing Notre Dame in preseason ACC women’s basketball polls
The Duke and North Carolina women’s basketball teams found themselves in unusual positions at the ACC women’s basketball media day Wednesday at Grandover Resort.
But that may say a lot more about the conference than the Blue Devils and Tar Heels lower-than-normal preseason rankings.
Two-time defending champion Notre Dame was chosen for a repeat title, while Duke was fourth, UNC seventh and N.C. State ninth.
Florida State was picked to finish second and Louisville third in polls from the coaches and the “Blue Ribbon Panel,” and both rankings had all 15 teams picked in the same order.
Notre Dame sophomore forward Briana Turner was named preseason player of the year by both coaches and panel, made up primarily of active media members.
“We’re a long way from where we want to be and we have to work hard to get there,” said ninth-year Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie, whose teams have advanced to the Sweet 16 six times and the Final Four four times.
She named seven Duke players who can play at least three positions.
“Being picked fourth is not going to excite us,” McCallie said. “We’re very excited about the season, and we’ll just go with the last poll.”
Duke, with the nation’s top recruiting class, had four players honored on the 10-player preseason all-conference team or on the freshman newcomer watch list.
UNC has two players on the newcomer list with nobody on the all-conference team.
“We have five experienced seniors and three McDonald’s All-Americans,” said embattled UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell, who has had five players from the former-No. 1 recruiting class transfer before reaching junior status this season. “We have Xylina McDaniel back and she’ll be our leader. I’ve won three national championships (two at Francis Marion and one at UNC) and on one of those I had eight scholarship players.”
UNC opens at home Nov. 13 against Gardner-Webb, while the Wolfpack will tip off the same day at 5 p.m. at PNC Arena. All of the Wolfpack’s conference games will be played at Broughton High’s Holliday Gymnasium.
“I hope we’re better than we’re picked,” said N.C. State coach Wes Moore. “I know a couple of years ago we were picked 10th in the ACC, and we won 25 games and were 10th in the country at one point. I hope we can do that again. We have six freshmen, so we’ve got a young team.”
Duke sophomores Rebecca Greenwell and Azura Stevens are the only Triangle representatives on the all-conference team.
The newcomer watch lists of the panel and the coaches both included Duke’s Angela Salvadores and UNC’s Destinee Walker. Duke guard Kyra Lambert and UNC guard Stephanie Watts were selected to the coaches’ newcomer team.
PANEL PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Notre Dame, 753 points (41 first-place votes)
2. Florida State, 695 (8)
3. Louisville, 649 (2)
4. Duke, 638
5. Syracuse, 544
6. Miami, 477
7. North Carolina, 435
8. Virginia, 364
9. N.C. State, 336
10. Pittsburgh, 329
11. Georgia Tech, 328
12. Boston College, 204
13. Virginia Tech, 148
14. Wake Forest, 139
15. Clemson, 81
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Brianna Turner, So., F, Notre Dame
ALL-ACC
Brianna Turner, So., F, Notre Dame
Rebecca Greenwell, R-So., G, Duke
Azura Stevens, So., F/G, Duke
Adut Bulgak, Sr., C, Florida State
Leticia Romero, Jr., G, Florida State
Mariya Moore, So., G, Louisville
Adrienne Motley, Jr., G, Miami
Lindsay Allen, Jr., G, Notre Dame
Alexis Peterson, Jr., G, Syracuse
Faith Randolph, Sr., G, Virginia
NEWCOMER WATCH LIST
Angela Salvadores, Fr, G, Duke
Asia Durr, Fr, G, Louisville
Destinee Walker, Fr., G, North Carolina
Marina Mabrey, Fr., G, Notre Dame
c-Kyra Lambert, Fr, G, Duke
c-Stephanie Watts, Fr., G, North Carolina
b-Arike Ogunbowale, Fr., G, Notre Dame
NOTE: b-coaches only, c--panel only.
This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Duke, UNC chasing Notre Dame in preseason ACC women’s basketball polls."