ACC Women's Basketball Media Day
GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) –Four-time defending champion Notre Dame is again the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Basketball preseason favorite, according to separate polls of the league’s Blue Ribbon Panel and its 15 head coaches.
This marks the fifth consecutive season that the Fighting Irish have been rated the ACC preseason favorite since joining the conference prior to the 2013-14 season.
Notre Dame received 35 of a possible 60 first-place votes from Blue Ribbon panel members and led the overall voting with 858 total points. Louisville received five first-place votes and placed second overall with 809 points. Duke (10 first-place votes, 799 points) and Florida State (10 first-place votes, 752 points) were picked third and fourth, respectively.
Miami placed fifth in the voting, followed by Virginia, Syracuse, NC State and Georgia Tech. North Carolina was tabbed for a 10th-place finish, followed by Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. Pitt (13th), Clemson (14th) and Boston College (15th) rounded out the voting.
The top four spots in the ACC Coaches’ balloting mirrored that of the Blue Ribbon panel in predicted order of finish. But Virginia placed fifth in the coaches’ vote, followed by Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Miami and North Carolina.
The coaches picked NC State 10th and Wake Forest 11th, followed by Virginia Tech, Clemson, Pitt and Boston College.
Notre Dame received eight coaches’ first-place votes, while Louisville picked up one, and Duke and Florida State each received three.
Duke redshirt senior guard Lexie Brown was voted the ACC Preseason Player of the Year by the Blue Ribbon Panel, while Louisville junior guard Asia Durr received the nod from the head coaches.
A product of Suwanee, Georgia, Brown is coming off an All-America season where she averaged 18.3 points and dished a team-best 131 assists. She also drained 73 three-pointers and shot 92.8 percent from the charity stripe. Brown was rewarded with Associated Press All-America accolades along with first-team All-ACC honors for the 2016-17 season.
Last season saw Durr become Louisville’s 28th 1,000-point scorer. The Douglasville, Georgia, native broke the program's single-season record with 119 three-pointers while extending her school record for consecutive games with a trey to 39 contests. She played in 36 games – all starts – and averaged 19.2 points to rank fourth in school history. Durr also averaged 3.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals, while shooting 42 percent from the floor and 41 percent from 3-point range. She was named WBCA honorable mention All-American and first-team All-ACC for the 2016-17 season.
Brown and Durr are joined on both the 2017-18 Blue Ribbon Panel and the Coaches’ Preseason All-ACC teams by Duke’s Rebecca Greenwell, Florida State’s Shakayla Thomas, Louisville’s Myisha Hines-Allen, North Carolina’s Paris Kea, and Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey.
The Blue Ribbon Panel also voted North Carolina’s Stephanie Watts and Virginia Tech’s Chanette Hicks to its Preseason All-ACC team, while the coaches selected 2017 ACC Freshman of the Year Francesca Pan of Georgia Tech and Wake Forest’s Elisa Penna.
The Blue Ribbon Panel’s and ACC Coaches’ Newcomer Watch Lists features Duke’s Mikayla Boykin, Louisville’s Dana Evans, North Carolina’s Janelle Bailey and Notre Dame’s Lili Thompson. The Blue Ribbon Panel also named Duke’s Bego Faz Davalos to its watch list, while the ACC coaches selected Georgia Tech freshman Lorela Cubaj.
2017 Preseason ACC Honors as selected by the Blue Ribbon Panel
Predicted Order of Finish
1. Notre Dame (858 points, 35 first-place votes)
2. Louisville (809 points, 5 first-place votes)
3. Duke (799 points, 10 first-place votes)
4. Florida State (752 points, 10 first-place votes)
5. Miami (515 points)
6. Virginia (505 points)
7. Syracuse (497 points)
8. NC State (463 points)
9. Georgia Tech (456 points)
10. North Carolina (434 points)
11. Virginia Tech (334 points)
12. Wake Forest (316 points)
13. Pittsburgh (193 points)
14. Clemson (164 points)
15. Boston College (86 points)
Preseason ACC Player of the Year: Lexie Brown, R-Sr., G, Duke
Preseason All-ACC Team
Lexie Brown, R-Sr., G, Duke
Rebecca Greenwell, R-Sr., G, Duke
Shakayla Thomas, Sr., F, Florida State
Asia Durr, Jr., G, Louisville
Myisha Hines-Allen, Sr., F, Louisville
Stephanie Watts, Jr., G, North Carolina
Paris Kea, R-Jr., G, North Carolina
Arike Ogunbowale, Jr., G, Notre Dame
Marina Mabrey, Jr., G, Notre Dame
Chanette Hicks, Jr., G, Virginia Tech
Newcomer Watch List
Mikayla Boykin, Fr., G, Duke
Bego Faz Davalos, R-Sr., C, Duke
Dana Evans, Fr., G, Louisville
Janelle Bailey, Fr., C, North Carolina
Lili Thompson, GS, G, Notre Dame
Preseason ACC Honors as selected by the Head Coaches
Predicted Order of Finish
1. Notre Dame (212 points, 8 first-place votes)
2. Louisville (205 points, 1 first-place vote)
3. Duke (200 points, 3 first-place votes)
4. Florida State (188 points, 3 first place votes)
5. Virginia (148 points)
6. Georgia Tech (141 points)
7. Syracuse (122 points)
8. Miami (113 points)
9. North Carolina (103 points)
10. NC State (97 points)
11. Wake Forest (90 points)
12. Virginia Tech (82 points)
13. Clemson (43 points)
14. Pittsburgh (37 points)
15. Boston College (19 points)
Preseason Player of the Year: Asia Durr, Jr., G, Louisville
Preseason All-ACC Team
Lexie Brown, R-Sr., G, Duke
Rebecca Greenwell, R-Sr., G, Duke
Shakayla Thomas, Sr., F, Florida State
Francesca Pan, So., G, Georgia Tech
Asia Durr, Jr., G, Louisville
Myisha Hines-Allen, Sr., F, Louisville
Paris Kea, R-Jr., G, North Carolina
Arike Ogunbowale, Jr., G, Notre Dame
Marina Mabrey, Jr., G, Notre Dame
Elisa Penna, So., G, Wake Forest
Newcomer Watch List
Mikayla Boykin, Fr., G, Duke
Lorela Cubaj, Fr., F, Georgia Tech
Dana Evans, Fr., G, Louisville
Janelle Bailey, Fr., C, North Carolina
Lili Thompson, GS, G, Notre Dame