The ACC released its preseason women’s basketball poll on Tuesday, and voters think the Blue Devils will finish third in the conference this season.
Duke finished the 2023-24 season with a 22-12 record and an 11-7 mark against ACC opponents, good enough for a tie for seventh in the conference. The best results came toward the end of the season, however, with a top-10 victory over NC State in late February before an upset of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
In an era of college sports defined by roster turnover and the transfer portal, Blue Devils head coach [autotag]Kara Lawson[/autotag] kept a remarkable amount of 2023-24 production. Six of the team’s seven leading scorers from last season return to Durham, most notably Reigan Richardson (team-high 12.4 points per game) and ACC Sixth Person of the Year Oluchi Okananwa (9.7 points and 6.1 rebounds in 21.4 minutes).
Lawson also pulled in three five-star recruits on the trail with freshman forwards Toby Fournier and Arianna Roberson (the latter of whom will unfortunately miss the season with a knee injury) and Maryland transfer Riley Nelson.
It all adds up to a team that starts the year 11th in the Associated Press rankings.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, led by last year’s freshman sensation Hannah Hidalgo, ran away with the voting after receiving 70 of the 79 first-place votes. The Wolfpack finished second with eight of the other votes, and the North Carolina Tar Heels were picked to finish sixth.