Tag: Toby Fournier

Duke women’s basketball narrowly misses top 10 of preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

USA TODAY Sports released its preseason women’s basketball coaches poll on Thursday. Check out where the Blue Devils ended up here.

USA TODAY Sports released the preseason women’s basketball coaches poll on Thursday, and the Duke Blue Devils ended up in the exact same spot as they did in the Associated Press rankings.

The Blue Devils came in 11th in the poll, finishing just eight points behind the Oklahoma Sooners for a spot in the top 10.

The South Carolina Gamecocks, the defending national champions after last season’s undefeated campaign, finished with all but four of the first-place votes to start the year in the top spot.

Looking at the ACC, only the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and NC State Wolfpack finished with more points than the Blue Devils. Those same two teams were the only two above Duke in the ACC’s preseason poll as head coach Kara Lawson and her team were picked to finish third in the conference.

After last year’s Sweet 16 run included a regular-season win over the Wolfpack and a second-round upset of the Ohio State Buckeyes, each of Duke’s top four scorers return for the 2024-25 season. Reigan Richardson, who led the roster with 12.4 points per game, was named to the Preseason All-ACC Team, and five-star freshman Toby Fournier led the Newcomer of the Year Watch List voting.

Check out the complete Coaches Poll below.

Rank School (Last Year’s Record) Points First Place Votes
1 South Carolina (38-0) 770 27
2 Connecticut (33-6) 734 3
3 Southern California (29-6) 716 1
4 Texas (33-5) 670 –
5 Notre Dame (28-7) 629 –
6 UCLA (27-7) 612 –
7 LSU (31-6) 567 –
8 North Carolina State (31-7) 533 –
9 Iowa State (21-12) 487 –
10 Oklahoma (23-10) 457 –
11 Duke (22-12) 449 –
12 Baylor (26-8) 434 –
13 Kansas State (26-8) 407 –
14 Ohio State (26-6) 405 –
15 West Virginia (25-8) 285 –
16 North Carolina (20-13) 263 –
17 Louisville (24-10) 261 –
18 Maryland (19-14) 254 –
19 Florida State (23-11) 177 –
20 Creighton (26-6) 150 –
21 Mississippi (24-9) 135 –
22 Kentucky (12-20) 106 –
23 Nebraska (23-12) 92 –
24 Indiana (26-6) 75 –
25 Alabama (24-10) 57 –

Receiving Votes

Gonzaga 49; TCU 37; Tennessee 32; Stanford 32; Iowa 28; Utah 25; South Dakota State 22; Oregon State 21; Princeton 18; Colorado 15; Virginia Tech 10; Illinois 9; Middle Tennessee 8; Fairfield 7; Richmond 6; California 6; Auburn 5; UNLV 4; Miami (FL) 4; FGCU 4; South Florida 3; George Mason 2; Saint Joseph’s 1; Michigan 1; Cleveland State 1

Five-star Duke women’s basketball freshman leads ACC Newcomer Watch List

Duke women’s basketball freshman Toby Fournier, a top-10 prospect in the Class of 2024, led the ACC’s Newcomer Watch List.

The ACC released its preseason women’s basketball voting results on Tuesday, and Duke freshman Toby Fournier finished atop the Newcomer Watch List.

Fournier, a five-star talent from the Class of 2024, finished 10th on the 2024 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings from espnW. A 6-foot-2 forward from Canada, the Blue Devils already posted a video of her dunking in practice ahead of her debut season.

Duke head coach [autotag]Kara Lawson[/autotag] brought back her four leading scorers from the 2023-24 season, but all of them play in the backcourt. Senior center Kennedy Brown, who averaged 8.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, won’t be back, so there’s a clear role for Fournier to fill on the court.

Lawson brought her and fellow five-star forward Arianna Roberson to add an interior presence to her roster, but Roberson will miss her entire freshman season with a knee injury. It’s easy to picture a world in which Fournier leads the team in rebounds this season, and on a team picked to finish third in the conference, that could be enough for some hardware.

Fournier finished with 222 points in the newcomer voting, 42 more than any other freshman (Louisville’s Imari Berry got 180 points).

Duke women’s basketball starts 11th in preseason AP Poll

The Associated Press revealed its preseason women’s basketball rankings on Tuesday, and the Blue Devils start just outside the top 10.

The Associated Press released its preseason women’s basketball rankings on Tuesday, and the Blue Devils nearly cracked the top 10.

Duke starts the year at No. 11 in the rankings with 439 points, just two behind the Oklahoma Sooners for the 10th spot.

The Blue Devils reached the Sweet 16 for the first time under head coach Kara Lawson last season, taking down the No. 2-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes in the second round. That win came just weeks after a top-10 upset of the NC State Wildcats at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and Duke finished the season with a 22-12 record.

Five of Duke’s six leading scorers return to Durham, including Reigan Richardson (12.4 points per game), Taina Mair (9.8 points), and ACC Sixth Person of the Year Oluchi Okananwa (9.7 points). Lawson pulled in five-star freshman forward Toby Fournier and Maryland transfer Riley Nelson, a five-star recruit from the Class of 2023, to supplement the roster.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, led by star sophomore Hannah Hidalgo, start the year as the highest-ranked ACC team at No. 6. The Wolfpack (No. 9), North Carolina Tar Heels (No. 15), Louisville Cardinals (No. 17), and Florida State Seminoles (No. 19) all made the top 25 as well.

Duke gets the 2024-25 season underway against Radford on November 4.

Duke women’s basketball releases complete 2024-25 schedule

The Duke women’s basketball team looks poised for a big 2024-25 season. Check out the Blue Devils’ schedule here.

The Duke women’s basketball team released its complete schedule for the 2024-25 season on Tuesday, setting dates for the most important games of the year.

Duke plays the North Carolina Tar Heels twice, as they always do. The Blue Devils travel to Chapel Hill on January 9 before hosting UNC for the final home game of the year on February 27.

Defending ACC regular-season champion Virginia Tech comes to Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 8, and NC State, whom Duke stunned in Durham for a top-10 upset last season, now gets to play the Blue Devils in front of a home crowd on February 3

The Blue Devils already knew they would play South Carolina, the defending national champions who went undefeated last season, on the road on December 5 as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge.

The Blue Devils made the Sweet 16 last season after upsetting 2-seed Ohio State in the second round, and head coach Kara Lawson kept her four leading scorers from that roster. Add in five-star freshman Toby Fournier (who dunked in practice already) and former five-star prospect Riley Nelson from the transfer portal, and Lawson seems poised for her best season yet.

The men’s and women’s team make their debut for fans at the Countdown to Craziness on October 4 before the season-opener against Radford on November 4.

Duke women’s basketball posts video of five-star freshman dunking in practice

Toby Fournier, a five-star freshman on the Duke women’s basketball team, dunked in a practice highlight posted by the team on Friday.

The Duke women’s basketball team enters the 2024-25 season with some of the most impressive victories of the [autotag]Kara Lawson[/autotag] era fresh on the mind, and now, the Blue Devils add one of the best freshmen in the country to that mix.

On Friday, the Blue Devils posted a social media clip of senior guard Vanessa de Jesus lofting an alley-oop off the backboard before freshman Toby Fournier grabbed the rebound and dunked.

Fourner, a 6-foot-2 Canadian, was the 10th-ranked player in the Class of 2024 on espnW’s HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings. She was one of two five-star commitments in the cycle, although fellow 6-foot forward Arianna Roberson will miss her freshman season with a knee injury.

Lawson also landed Maryland’s Riley Nelson, a former five-star prospect from the Class of 2023, out of the transfer portal while retaining six of the team’s seven leading scorers from last season.

After Duke defeated a top-10 NC State team at home late last season before beating the 2-seed Ohio State Buckeyes in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Sweet 16, expectations seem to keep climbing in Durham.

https://twitter.com/DukeWBB/status/1834626201349923208

When and how to watch Duke commit Toby Fournier at the Jordan Brand Classic

Check out how to watch five-star Duke commit Toby Fournier in Sunday’s Jordan Brand Classic.

Duke basketball fans have gotten their fill of five-star commits dominating exhibitions through the spring with Cooper Flagg, but the women’s basketball team has its share of stellar future freshmen, too.

Blue Devils commit Toby Fournier, who ranks as the No. 10 prospect on espnW’s Class of 2024 rankings, will play in the Jordan Brand Classic on Sunday.

The women’s game, played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, tips off at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Duke fans can watch their future star on the NBA app or through the NBA YouTube channel.

The 6-foot-2 Canadian already impressed during the Nike Hoop Summit when she scored 11 points (the second-most on the World Select team) and pulled down seven rebounds.

Fournier is one of two five-star Duke commits in the 2024 class. Arianna Roberson, espnW’s No. 17 player in the class, will join her in Durham next season. Roberson, a 6-foot-4 forward, hails from Clark High School in Texas.

Watch: 4-star girls forward Toby Fournier adds another dunk to highlight reel

Watch four-star forward Toby Fournier throw down a two-handed dunk on a fast break.

Dunking in a dunk contest is one thing – doing it in a live game is another. Crestwood Secondary (Toronto) forward Toby Fournier can do both. She won top prize in April at the BioSteel All-Canadian Dunk Contest. And now, Fournier is continuing to rise above the rim during games.

Watch her throw down a two-handed dunk on this fast break.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck6IHSXOEeo/

Fournier is ranked No. 23 in the class of 2024 according to ESPN.

She has yet to commit to a school. However, last month, she narrowed the possible choices down to eight finalists: UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, Michigan, Stanford and Arizona.

Basketball Rewind: Watch Tony Fournier throw it down in BioSteel Slam Dunk Contest

Fournier put on a show!

Crestwood Secondary’s (Canada) Tony Fournier not only dunks, but the 6-foot-2 basketball standout makes it look easy—smooth, effortless, and not just on standard dunks.

Fournier put her skills up against some tough competition back in April during the BioSteel All Canadian Dunk Contest, where she faced some of the best basketball stars in the country … from boys teams.

Safe to say, she held her own.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CioIPoxgttD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

And the results were historical, with the contest crowning two winners—Mambourou Mara and Fournier.