No. 7 Duke, No. 9 N.C. State, No. 11 North Carolina are neighboring favorites in ACC women’s race

Kara Lawson’s push to build a championship program at Duke reached her goal in Year 5 while the Blue Devils got within a game of the Final Four, too. The Blue Devils’ neighbors in the 919 area code — N.C. State and North Carolina — weren’t far behind.

Now, for the first time in more than two decades, the instate schools from the “Triangle” region of Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill are picked to finish 1-2-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The seventh-ranked Blue Devils are preseason favorites after winning their first ACC Tournament since 2013. The ninth-ranked Wolfpack, who lost to the Blue Devils in the title game, are picked second and the 11th-ranked Tar Heels are third in a race that also features No. 15 Notre Dame and No. 20 Louisville.

“Carolina and Duke both have big brands,” said N.C. State coach Wes Moore, whose team has finished in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 poll in six of seven years to go with winning ACC titles from 2020-22. “I think that helps. … And then N.C. State, we’ve fortunately had success. It’s fun, it’s a fun rivalry. You’re 30 minutes apart and I think all three programs right now are thriving.”

In league records dating to the 1991-92 season, the only other time the Triangle trio were picked to finish 1-2-3 atop the ACC came in 2001-02.

This is the first time Duke has been ACC favorite since the 2013-14 season, coming after pushing to the NCAA Elite Eight before falling to South Carolina.

“It’s good for (the Blue Devils) to have a tangible thing to say, ‘Yes, playing like that, doing that, working together, won us this,’” said Lawson, who last month was named the U.S. women’s national team coach for the next four years. “I think those are important for players because if they’re not getting something tangible out of it, it’s going to be hard to continue to convince them to do the things that you need to do to win.”

Last year saw the Blue Devils, Wolfpack and Tar Heels all crack the AP top 10 while also having each host opening-weekend games in the NCAA Tournament together for the first time since 1998. All three reached the second weekend, with Duke beating UNC in the Sweet 16 while N.C. State fell to LSU in that same round a year after its Final Four trip.

“You can’t make it up any better than that,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. “We proved it, we all three got to the Sweet 16. It wasn’t that we all three had a favorable rating. It’s that we hosted, then we all went and did it. And had we now drawn Duke, maybe we have two teams in the Elite Eight. Who knows?”

Top players

Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo is the headliner after being named an Associated Press first-team all-American in each of her first two seasons. The preseason AP all-American has averaged 23.1 points and 4.2 steals for her career, twice being named ACC defensive player of the year.

Eleven of 15 players who made last year’s all-ACC first team are gone. N.C. State’s Zoe Brooks, Duke’s Toby Fournier and Virginia’s Kymora Johnson join Hidalgo as the first-team returnees.

Top transfers

N.C. State got a standout late addition with Vanderbilt’s Khamil Pierre (20.4 points, 9.6 rebounds last year) while Louisville added forward Laura Ziegler as a reliable double-double producer at St. Joseph’s.

The list of notable transfers includes Syracuse’s Laila Phelia (with previous stops at Michigan and Texas); Miami’s Gal Raviv (Quinnipiac) and Ra Shaya Kyle (Florida); Clemson’s Rachael Rose (Wofford) and Virginia’s Sa’Myah Smith (LSU).

Top freshmen

Six incoming freshmen were McDonald’s all-Americans, headlined by Duke guard Emilee Skinner, Stanford guard Hailee Swain and UNC wing Nyla Brooks. The Cardinal added ESPN’s No. 3-ranked class, featuring McDonald’s all-American forwards Lara Somfai and Alexandra Eschmeyer.

New coaches

Georgia Tech’s Karen Blair and SMU’s Adia Barnes are this year’s new coaches.

Blair had spent the past seven seasons as an assistant to Brenda Frese at Maryland, serving as associate head coach the past five. Blair replaces Nell Fortner, who retired last season.

Barnes arrives at SMU after nine seasons leading Arizona, including a run to the 2021 NCAA championship game. She replaces Toyelle Wilson, who was fired after four seasons that included last year’s 2-16 debut ACC run.

Preseason picks

Champion: Duke; 2) N.C. State; 3) UNC; 4) Louisville; 5) Notre Dame; 6) Stanford; 7) Virginia; 8) Miami; 9) Florida State; 10) Virginia Tech; 11) Clemson; 12) California; 13) Syracuse; 14) SMU; 15) Georgia Tech; 16) Pittsburgh; 17) Boston College: 18) Wake Forest.

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