The Duke women’s basketball team won three games last week, including a pair of top-10 triumphs over the Kansas State Wildcats and Oklahoma Sooners at the Ball Dawgs Classic, and coaches around the country certainly think the Blue Devils are among the nation’s elite.
Duke rose four spots to ninth in the updated USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll on Tuesday, moving one spot ahead of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to lead all ACC teams in the ranking.
Senior guard [autotag]Reigan Richardson[/autotag] led the charge with a career-high 35 points against the Sooners, a game that earned her Associated Press national player of the week honors. She averaged 23.3 points and made 50.0% of her 3-point attempts for the week, dropping 16 against Kansas State and 19 against Columbia.
The UCLA Bruins, Connecticut Huskies, and Texas Longhorns took the top three spots. South Carolina, the defending national champions and Duke’s next opponent, followed at No. 4 ahead of its Thursday home game against the Blue Devils.
The North Carolina Tar Heels (7-1) followed at No. 15, the third-highest ACC team in the rankings.