GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Louisville is the 2019-20 Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Basketball preseason favorite, according to separate polls of the league’s 15 head coaches and the Blue Ribbon Panel.
The Cardinals received 34 of 49 first-place votes from the Blue Ribbon Panel for a total of 713 points and 13 of 15 first-place votes from the head coaches to finish with 223 points to lead the voting. Louisville was chosen as the preseason favorite for the first time since joining the conference prior to the 2013-14 season.
NC State received the remaining two first-place votes in the head coaches’ poll and eight from the Blue Ribbon Panel to finish second in both with 201 and 637 points, respectively. It marked the highest preseason projection for the Wolfpack since 1999. Florida State was third in both polls, collecting three first-place votes from the Blue Ribbon Panel.
Notre Dame collected four first-place votes from the Blue Ribbon Panel to occupy fourth place, one spot ahead of Miami. The teams were flipped in the head coaches voting with the Hurricanes earning 185 points to the Fighting Irish’s 159.
Syracuse, Duke and Clemson were picked sixth, seventh and eighth in both polls, followed by North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Boston College, Pitt and Wake Forest in the head coaches poll. The Blue Ribbon Panel voted North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Pitt and Wake Forest to round out the poll.
Miami’s Beatrice Mompremier, an Associated Press and WBCA All-America Honorable Mention a season ago, was chosen as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year by the head coaches and Blue Ribbon Panel. The Miami native was a First-Team All-ACC selection last year and was also a finalist for the Lisa Leslie Award, given to the nation’s top center.
Mompremier averaged a double-double last season, contributing 16.7 points per game and 12.2 rebounds per game. She led the ACC in double-doubles with 25, including 20 in her last 24 games of the year.
Clemson’s Kobi Thornton, Duke’s Haley Gorecki, Florida State’s Nicki Ekhomu and Kiah Gillespie, Louisville’s Elizabeth Balogun, NC State’s Elissa Cunane, North Carolina’s Janelle Bailey and Virginia’s Jocelyn Willoughby joined Mompremier on both Preseason All-ACC Teams.
Louisville’s Dana Evans earned a spot on the Blue Ribbon Preseason All-ACC Team, and NC State’s Aislinn Konig secured preseason All-ACC from the head coaches.
The Newcomer Watch Lists were identical in both polls and included Florida State’s River Baldwin, Louisville’s Nyah Green, NC State’s Jakia Brown-Turner and Notre Dame’s Sam Brunelle and Anaya Peoples.
The 2019-20 ACC Women’s Basketball season tips off on Tuesday, Nov. 5, with 10 of the league’s teams in action. New for this year, the ACC will play an 18-game conference slate, which includes a pair of matchups in early December to open the league schedule.
All 135 ACC regular-season conference games will be available through the ESPN family of networks, including the new ACC Network and ACC Network Extra, or the conference’s Regional Sports Networks (RSN).
Sixty regular-season games, including 42 conference games, are set to be televised by ACC Network and an additional 12 games will air on other ESPN networks. A league-record 121 games will air on ACC Network Extra, spanning non-conference and conference action.
Head Coaches & Blue Ribbon Panel Preseason Player of the Year
Beatrice Mompremier, Sr., F, Miami
Head Coaches Preseason All-ACC Team
Kobi Thornton, Sr., F, Clemson
Haley Gorecki, Gr., G, Duke
Nicki Ekhomu, Sr., G, Florida State
Kiah Gillespie, Sr., F, Florida State
Elizabeth Balogun, So., G, Louisville
Beatrice Mompremier, Sr., F, Miami
Elissa Cunane, So., C, NC State
Aislinn Konig, Sr., G, NC State
Janelle Bailey, Jr., C, North Carolina
Jocelyn Willoughby, Sr., G, Virginia
Head Coaches Newcomer Watch List
River Baldwin, Fr., C, Florida State
Nyah Green, Fr., G, Louisville
Jakia Brown-Turner, Fr., G, NC State
Sam Brunelle, Fr., F, Notre Dame
Anaya Peoples, Fr., G, Notre Dame
Head Coaches Predicted Order of Finish
Louisville (13 first-place votes) - 223
NC State (2) - 201
Florida State - 190
Miami - 185
Notre Dame - 159
Syracuse - 150
Duke - 143
Clemson - 105
North Carolina - 92
Virginia Tech - 91
Georgia Tech - 70
Virginia - 67
Boston College - 58
Pitt - 41
Wake Forest - 25
Blue Ribbon Panel Preseason All-ACC Team
Kobi Thornton, Sr., F, Clemson
Haley Gorecki, Gr., G, Duke
Nicki Ekhomu, Sr., G, Florida State
Kiah Gillespie, Sr., F, Florida State
Dana Evans, Jr., G, Louisville
Elizabeth Balogun, So., G, Louisville
Beatrice Mompremier, Sr., F, Miami
Elissa Cunane, So., C, NC State
Janelle Bailey, Jr., C, North Carolina
Jocelyn Willoughby, Sr., G, Virginia
Blue Ribbon Panel Newcomer Watch List
River Baldwin, Fr., C, Florida State
Nyah Green, Fr., G, Louisville
Jakia Brown-Turner, Fr., G, NC State
Sam Brunelle, Fr., F, Notre Dame
Anaya Peoples, Fr., G, Notre Dame
Blue Ribbon Panel Predicted Order of Finish (49 voters)
Louisville (34 first-place votes) - 713
NC State (8) - 637
Florida State (3) - 623
Notre Dame (4) - 580
Miami - 578
Syracuse - 497
Duke - 432
Clemson - 353
North Carolina - 343
Virginia Tech - 291
Virginia - 229
Georgia Tech - 225
Boston College - 168
Pitt - 122
Wake Forest - 89