Duke dug itself out of an early hole with an injury-shortened roster to win another Atlantic Coast Conference title and get back into a Final Four game.
A little more depth could help the fourth-ranked Blue Devils take another step this time around.
Kara Lawson’s Blue Devils are the preseason favorites to win the ACC, seeding a No. 7 seed. LouisvilleNo. 12 North Carolina, No. 13 Notre Dame and No. 25 NC State.
Duke won its second straight ACC Tournament title and regular-season crown despite a 3-6 start against a brutal nonconference schedule and injuries that whittled the rotation down to seven players.
The Blue Devils (27-9) reached the Elite Eight before falling to eventual champion UCLA.
“Winning the league by seven, and winning the (ACC) tournament by seven and going to the Elite Eight by seven is a good learning experience for me,” Lawson said. “There’s no set number you have to have to be successful. You just have to find a group that’s willing to buy into each other and play hard.”
Toby Fournier, a preseason All-ACC selection, led Duke with 17.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game last season. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
Blue Devils return preseason all-ACC pick Toby Fournier (team highs of 17.3 points and 7.9 rebounds) along with fellow starters Delaney Thomas AND Riley Nelson.
The Cardinals (29-8) have been picked as the Blue Devils’ top challenger after losing to Duke in overtime in last year’s ACC title game. Preseason all-conference pick Tajianna Roberts (11.5 points, 3.1 assists) returns among five of the top seven players from a Sweet 16 team.
“They want to be pushed, they want to be great, and that’s what we try to give them,” coach Jeff Walz said. “We’ll be honest. Sometimes they like it, sometimes they don’t. But it’s a great group.”
The mission for the highest level of the league is to return the league to a Final Four. The ACC had three teams get there in 2022 (Louisville), 2023 (Virginia Tech) and 2024 (NC State), but have missed the last two years.
“There’s a handful of teams in our league that can make it to a final four, but you’ve got to do it, and that’s what we’re in,” he said. UNC coach Courtney Banghart, whose team has reached two straight Sweet 16s. “We’ve got to keep doing that, and I don’t think we’re far off.”
The best players
Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, a two-time ACC Player of the Year and a preseason AP All-American, enters her senior season as the league’s biggest star. (Photo by Aric Becker/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo is the ACC’s biggest name as she enters her senior season. Associated Press All-US has been the ACC Player of the Year the past two years and the league Defensive Player of the Year in all three of her collegiate seasons.
The 5-foot-7 guard ranked third nationally in scoring (25.3) and led the nation in steals (5.6) last year.
The league returns its top five scorers, including Virginia’s fourth-year guard Kymora Johnson (19.5) after she helped the Cavaliers become the first four-woman team to reach a Sweet 16 last year. That list includes Georgia Tech guard Talayah Walker (17.5) and NC State forward Khamil Pierre (16.7, league-best 11.9 rebounds).
Major Transfers
Former Texas guard Aaliyah Crump, one of three ESPN top-20 transfers to land in the ACC, gives Duke some of the depth it lacked last season, when the Blue Devils won the league with a seven-man rotation. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
The ACC added three transfers ranked among ESPN’s top 20 nationally, led by former Texas guard Aaliyah Crump’s transfer to Duke.
The list includes guards Zamareya Jones intra-league move from NC State to Louisville, while Notre Dame guard Madison St. Rose (Princeton) and UNC forward Achol Akot (Oklahoma State) are notable additions.
The first beginners
Point guard Autumn Fleary, a McDonald’s All-American, joins guard Bella Flemings in Duke’s freshman class. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
North Carolina made a recruiting splash when it landed the point guard Kate Harpringranked no. 1 nationally by 247Sports and the no. 4 by ESPN.
She is the top-ranked recruit among the six new McDonald’s All-Americans in the league, including Notre Dame forward Jacy Abii and the Duke duo of point guards. Fleary fall and guards Bella Flemings.
New coaches
Aaron Roussell takes over for Virginia after leading Richmond to three straight NCAA Tournaments. (Photo by Matt Kelley/Getty Images)
The hiring of Aaron Roussell from Virginia stands as the biggest of the three coaching changes in the league. The Cavaliers were coming off that surprise Sweet 16 trip when they suddenly fired Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, then hired Roussell from nearby. Richmond as he led the Spiders to three straight NCAA Tournaments.
Pittsburgh has hired Robin Harmony after her suspension at rib and the College of Charlestonbuilding teams that won regular season league championships at every stop and last year included the Cougars making it to the NCAAs. Harmony replaces Tory Verdi, who was fired after three missed seasons involving off-field concerns.
Boston College hired Kate Popovec-Goss, who led a Bradley team from a 4-28 record in 2022-23 to a 20-win season last year. She replaces fired coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee, who was unable to lead the Eagles to the NCAAs in eight seasons.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
