The ACC has five teams ranked in the Top 25, including four in the Top 13. Notre Dame is the highest ranked ACC team at No. 3, while Duke is ranked No. 7, Louisville No. 11, North Carolina No. 13 and Syracuse No. 25. ACC Teams receiving votes include Florida State and NC State.
Two ACC student-athletes are among the five selected to the Associated Press Preseason All-America Team in Notre Dame junior Jewell Loyd and Duke senior Elizabeth Williams.
Loyd, the ACC’s Preseason Player of the Year as selected by Blue Ribbon Panel and the league’s head coaches, is back for her junior season following a successful sophomore campaign. A Wade Trophy and Wooden Award finalist as a sophomore and the MVP of last season’s ACC Tournament, Loyd averaged a team-high 18.6 points, plus 6.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and team-high 1.6 steals per game. The Lincolnwood, Ill., native scored in double figures in every game (including 13 games of 20 points or more) and earned spots on the Associated Press, USBWA, WBCA, espnW and Full Court Press All-America teams.
Williams enters her final year at Duke after becoming the first Blue Devil in school history to be named Associated Press All-America in each of her first three years. The three-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Williams averaged 13.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.1 blocks, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals as a junior.
The 6-3 forward/center needs 104 blocks to break the Duke and ACC career blocks record held by Alison Bales (434). She also is 24 blocks away from 25th on the NCAA career blocks list (331). Williams currently ranks third on the ACC’s all-time blocks list.
The 2014-15 women’s basketball season tips off on Friday, Nov. 14 with 12 ACC teams in action.
For more information on ACC women’s basketball, visit theACC.com and be sure to follow on Twitter: @accwbb.
Last week’s First-place
Rank School (record) Points rank votes
1. Connecticut (40-0 800 1 32
2. South Carolina (29-5) 739 9 0
3. Notre Dame (37-1) 736 2 0
4. Tennessee (29-6) 683 8 0
5. Texas A&M (27-9) 630 10 0
6. Stanford (33-4) 608 3 0
7. Duke (28-7) 566 13 0
8. Maryland (28-7) 543 4 0
9. Baylor (32-5) 531 6 0
10. Kentucky (26-9) 484 11 0
11. Louisville (33-5) 474 5 0
12. Texas (22-12) 458 NR 0
13. North Carolina (27-10) 407 7 0
14. California (22-10) 366 20 0
15. Michigan State (23-10) 343 23 0
16. Nebraska (26-7) 305 17 0
17. West Virginia (30-5) 274 12 0
18. DePaul (29-7) 246 16 0
19. Iowa (27-9) 217 NR 0
20. Oklahoma State (25-9) 164 15 0
21. Oregon State (24-11) 123 25 0
22. Dayton (23-8 117 NR 0
23. UCLA (13-18) 116 NR 0
24. LSU (21-13) 65 24 0
25. Syracuse (23-10) 55 NR 0
Others receiving votes: Penn State (24-8) 50; Rutgers (28-9) 45; Purdue (22-9) 37; Georgia (20-12) 29; Vanderbilt (18-13) 24; Gonzaga (29-5) 17; Brigham Young (28-7) 16; Florida State (21-12) 16; St. John‘s (23-11) 16; North Carolina State (25-8) 14; Iowa State (20-11) 12; South Florida (23-13) 11; Ohio State (17-18) 10; Arkansas (19-11) 9; Oklahoma (18-15) 8; Oregon (16-16) 8; Middle Tennessee (29-5) 7; Southern California (22-13) 7; Western Kentucky (24-9) 5; James Madison (29-6) 3; Arizona State (23-10) 2; Albany (28-5) 1; Arkansas State (22-12) 1; Cal State Northridge (18-15) 1; Marist (27-7) 1.