Tag: Duke

CHARLOTTE

ACC women’s basketball teams descended on Uptown Charlotte to discuss the upcoming season at the conference’s annual media event. While there are always new players and coaches, this year felt like an overhaul.

Georgia Tech and SMU each hired a new head coach and 13 players at the event are in their first season at their respective institutions. Meanwhile, only four All-ACC first team selections from 2024-25 remain in the league, with six graduating or playing professionally and five transferring to schools in a different conference.

Duke, N.C. State and North Carolina are not immune to that feeling of change, even as the Blue Devils and Wolfpack return most of their players. N.C. State sent two players to the WNBA, while one of Duke’s key leaders graduated. UNC lost three starters.

Between the changes in the league and their teams, a lot of uncertainty surrounds the conference.

“On the way up for this today, we were questioning and challenging ourselves, could we name every school and the two players they brought?” North Carolina head coach Courtney Banghart said. “Last year, we would have gotten all of them. This year we didn’t even get all the teams right.

“There’s a lot of teams that have a lot of opportunities being given to them because of the graduation of so much talent, and we’re working hard to make sure that our guys realize that opportunity.”

NC State boasts youthful lineup

Seven of N.C. State’s players this season have been part of the team for multiple seasons — it only added four newcomers — but the program does not have a senior or graduate student for the first time in head coach Wes Moore’s tenure.

The roster features six underclassmen and five juniors, including transfers Quadence Samuels (Connecticut) and Khamil Pierre (Vanderbilt), after losing Saniya Rivers, Aziaha James and Madison Hayes to graduation. Rivers and James were significant contributors during their rookie WNBA seasons, while Hayes signed a pro contract overseas.

“When you lose two first round draft picks, as well as Madison Hayes, who’s playing in Italy right now, you’ve got a lot of shoes to fill,” Moore said Monday. “We’ve got to have some players step up in a hurry.”

Moore said it’s preferable to have seniors who have been part of the program for multiple years, but that’s not the case this time. The Pack, however, has Zoe Brooks, Mallory Collier and Maddie Cox who were part of the 2023-24 Final Four squad. Those three are expected to maintain the standard and explain the process required to meet the expectations.

Brooks, in particular, has been charged with being a leader and “keep the legacy going.”

“Yeah, it is a lot of pressure. Now, I see how they felt they were a little older,” Brooks admits, referencing Rivers and James. “Coming up in this young position, I guess I shouldn’t be very shocked. When I was a freshman, I was thrown to the fire, playing young and playing against people who are in the league now.”

Despite the lack of veterans, Brooks and sophomore Zamareya Jones are excited about the roster. All seven returners have played in at least one NCAA Tournament, while Pierre played in the SEC and Samuels was part of a title-winning UConn program. Freshmen Adelaide Jernigan and Ky’She Lunan were both four-star recruits ranked in the Top 70 of the ESPN HoopGurlz rankings.

“We have a young team, but I feel like we are some ‘dawgs,’” Jones said. “We’re not coming to lose, even though we’re a young team. People are maybe doubting us, like we have no experience on the team, but, at the end of the day, we’re coming to play.”

Duke looks to replace two key defenders

The Blue Devils experienced minimal attrition in the offseason and feature the most veteran roster among the Triangle programs.

Duke returns four of five returners — Ashlon Jackson, Taina Mair, Delaney Thomas and Jadyn Donovan — and 2025 ACC Rookie of the Year Toby Fournier. It also features seven upperclassmen.

However, it lost guards Reigan Richardson to graduation and Oluchi Okananwa to the transfer portal. Both were among the team’s best defenders. Okananwa led the team last season with 65 steals, while Richardson was disruptive on the perimeter by limiting opponent scoring opportunities. Richardson started 97 games in her Duke career.

“Our group of guards, we’ve got to have players step up and make plays,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said. “Our upperclassmen, who you would expect — Mair, Jackson, Donovan — they’re playing at a high level defensively. They’re all going to be counted upon to really be consistent forces for us on that end, as we bring our young players along defensively.”

It’s unclear who will step into that starting spot and the sixth-man role Okananwa often occupied, or if that will be a “by committee” situation. Duke has three new-to-the-team guards, while Riley Nelson comes back after missing last season with an injury.

Freshman Emilee Skinner was the No. 4 player in the Class of 2025, according to ESPN, and was a McDonald’s All-American. She also played in the 2024 FIBA World Cup as a Team USA U17 member, averaging 6.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists across six games.

Nelson was a top 20 recruit in the Class of 2023 and played one season at Maryland before transferring to Duke.

Duke is confident it has the pieces to play at a high level, but it needs consistency on both ends. Two weeks into practice, the Blue Devils aren’t there yet and still have a lot of work before they open the season against Baylor in Paris.

“Nothing is good. Let me say that right now. Nothing is good,” Lawson said. “The offense is a little less bad than maybe I thought it would be. The defense is more bad than I thought it would be. … We’ve got to get ready to play a game, and we probably can’t beat anybody right now,”

She isn’t stressed about the current state of the program, but the staff is approaching it with urgency. Lawson also emphasized the importance of patience, saying this is a normal period teams go through. In the last two seasons, specifically, her groups have peaked when it matters most.

“We’ve improved a lot through the year, so I do hold onto that on the days that we’re really bad,” Lawson said, “There’s gonna be growth through the season, and we’re gonna be able to keep getting better.”

Harris takes on Ustby-like role for Tar Heels

Like the other two teams in the Triangle, North Carolina is also replacing multiple major contributors from last season but on a larger scale.

The Tar Heels lost 60% of their 2024-25 production after Alyssa Ustby, Maria Gakdeng, Lexi Donarski and Grace Townsend exhausted their eligibility, but Banghart said she’s more worried about rebounding. Ustby left the program as the school’s all-time leading rebounder and led UNC last year with 312 rebounds. Gakdeng was second on the team last season with 252 boards and Townsend added 78.

“I worry less about scoring with this team than I did last year’s team, but we’re going to have to make sure that we’re as tough defensively and that we find a way to rebound,” Banghart said.

Banghart acknowledges there are a lot of unknowns with her team. Eight players returned but six are new to the program, and reliability remains in development.

UNC does think it found someone to at least provide a similar skill set to Ustby with the addition of Nyla Harris.

Harris transferred from Louisville and shares many qualities with Ustby, Banghart and Reniya Kelly said.

“She’s Alyssa Ustby-like in her mobility and versatility,” Banghart said. “It’s hard to be Alyssa, but she’s got a lot of the same attributes. She was on that first page of the scouting report every year. I’m so happy that she’s not going to be on the Louisville scouting report, that she’ll be on ours.”

Kelly wasn’t surprised to see Harris step into the role Ustby left behind. She recalled watching film of Harris and seeing similarities between the two players — scoring at three levels, defending, rebounding and toughness.

The senior played in 33 games for Louisville last season, leading the team with a .540 field goal percentage, and averaged 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. She added two double-doubles and had a season-high 11 rebounds against Syracuse.

Harris’ addition to the Tar Heels is a “perfect fit,” Kelly said, and told reporters Harris has approached her new role with intentionality.

“She actually looks up to Alyssa. She loves Alyssa,” Kelly said of Harris. “The fact that they have a similar vibe, I knew she would be perfect.”