ACC 2025-26 women’s basketball preview: Duke looks elite, Notre Dame seems down

While the conference has experienced woes in recent years with sending teams to the men’s NCAA Tournament, that hasn’t been the case for the ACC on the women’s side. The ACC has sent at least eight teams to March Madness in each of the last seven seasons, the most among all leagues during that span. Indeed, in women’s hoops, the ACC remains one of the sport’s elite conferences.

The offseason for the ACC brought change when it comes to roster makeup and star-power. Heading into last season, the league was returning 14 of its 20 all-conference selections. This year, just eight of 25 all-conference selections are back. Some of that is due to bonus eligibility years drying up from the NCAA’s COVID-era ruling, and some of that is also due to transfers. Five of last season’s All-ACC selections are now playing for other teams in Power 4 leagues. Among them, Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles at TCU and Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson at South Carolina. That doesn’t include other standouts, like ACC Tournament MVP Oluchi Okananwa going from Duke to Maryland.

Still, the ACC remains a women’s basketball conference full of supremely talented players and exceptional coaches. Nine of ESPN’s top 30 2025 recruits will join the conference this year. So do two new coaches undertaking rebuilding projects, with Karen Blair succeeding Nell Fortner at Georgia Tech and Adia Barnes taking the reins at SMU.

Let’s dive into the ACC and the players, coaches and storylines that will shape the season.

The Big Question: Does ACC supremacy run through the Triangle again?

There was a time not that long ago when two former members of the Big East — Notre Dame and Louisville — dictated power in the ACC. From 2014 to 2024, at least one of either the Irish or the Cardinals played for nine of the 11 ACC Tournament titles in that span. Notre Dame won six of them and Louisville grabbed a title in 2018. Those two teams also combined for six trips to the Final Four in that stretch, with Muffet McGraw taking the Irish to four and Jeff Walz guiding the Cardinals to two.

Beginning in 2020, that axis of power started to shift back toward the league’s original footprint. N.C. State rattled off three consecutive ACC titles, Virginia Tech won one and went to the Final Four in 2023, and then the Wolfpack played for the title in each of the past two seasons. While that was going on, Courtney Banghart and Kara Lawson were building their teams back into contending status on Tobacco Road. Those ascents at Duke and North Carolina — paired with N.C. State’s sustained success under Wes Moore — culminated last March when, for the first time since 1998, all three programs in North Carolina’s Research Triangle hosted opening weekend games in March Madness as top 16 seeds. All three then made the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2007.

Duke, N.C. State and North Carolina are also the top three teams in the ACC’s preseason poll, the first time that’s happened since 2001. While the Wolfpack and Tar Heels have some questions as they replace key contributors — two first-round WNBA Draft picks for State, and the program’s all-time leading rebounder for Carolina — Duke returns four starters from a team that won the ACC Tournament and went to the Elite Eight, a group that doesn’t include ACC Rookie of the Year Toby Fournier and three former high school McDonald’s All-Americans. The Blue Devils are the preseason favorites in the ACC and the league’s highest-ranked team in the AP Top 25 Poll at No. 7.

While this season’s results ultimately remain to be seen, the standard in the ACC seems to reside in the Triangle. The other 15 teams in the league are chasing the Blue Devils, Wolfpack and Tar Heels.

Feeling Good About: Miami

The Hurricanes first season under Tricia Cullop was a rough one. Miami went 14-15 overall, 4-14 in league play, and failed to make the NCAA Tournament.

But Cullop, to her credit, didn’t rest. She combed the portal and assembled what is, on-paper anyways, one of the top transfer classes of the offseason. It’s a group headlined by Gal Raviv, who averaged 17.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 44.8 percent from the floor and 31.1 percent from 3-point land last season as a freshman at Quinnipiac. The dynamic 5-foot-9 guard also impressed this summer for Israel at the FIBA U19 World Cup, breaking the tournament’s scoring record with 26.3 points per game.

Miami also added 6-foot-6 center Ra Shaya Kyle, who posted 16 double-doubles for Florida last season. SMU transfer Jessica Peterson, who was fourth nationally in rebounding last season with 12 boards per game, also bolsters the front court. USF transfer Vittoria Blasigh should bring more playmaking to the backcourt, and four incoming freshmen who were ranked in ESPN’s top 100 2025 recruits should help too.

Not Feeling Good About: Notre Dame

The good news is that the Fighting Irish still have Hannah Hidalgo, the reigning ACC Player of the Year and a First Team All-American.

The bad news? Not much else returns from last year’s squad that had so much promise before Notre Dame’s late season collapse. Olivia Miles transferred to TCU, Kate Koval went down to LSU, and Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld and Liatu King all turned pro.

Notre Dame isn’t the only women’s basketball program to deal with this sort of turnover in 2025, but the Irish seemingly didn’t do enough to replace the level of talent and production they enjoyed last season. Who will be the Robin to Hidalgo’s Batman? Who will do the dirty work in the paint that King did? Who will do everything that Citron did?

Niele Ivey brought in transfers from Loyola Maryland, Holy Cross, Vanderbilt, Duke and Kansas State, but none of those players have been all-conference talents like the players they lost.

Hidalgo’s play and Ivey’s coaching will prevent Notre Dame from missing March Madness, but it’s difficult to imagine this roster being one capable of securing a top 16 seed or advancing to the second weekend. Hidalgo will aim to prove naysayers wrong.

Must-Watch Freshman: Emilee Skinner, Duke

Skinner might be the best point guard Kara Lawson has ever had since becoming the head coach at Duke, and the head coach of the Blue Devils has expressed excitement about her in a handful of preseason media availabilities over the past several weeks. Skinner comes to Durham after being named a McDonald’s and Jordan Brand All-American, and she helped Team USA win gold at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup this summer. A 6-foot-1 native of Utah, Skinner possesses superb court vision, quickness and creativity as a ball-handler and shot-maker, and is a solid rebounder for her size and position. She chose Duke over offers from Iowa, TCU, Notre Dame and UCLA.

Under The Radar Impact Transfer: Laila Phelia, Syracuse

Phelia was a three-time All-Big-Ten selection at Michigan and helped the Wolverines make the Elite Eight in 2022. In the 2024 offseason, she was one of the most sought-after transfer targets and wound up at Texas. She struggled to find a consistent role in the Longhorns’ rotation early in the year, and in January an eye injury ended her season. She’s now at Syracuse for her final season of college eligibility and is expected to play a key role for the Orange as they seek to get back into the NCAA Tournament. In her best season at Michigan, Phelia averaged 16.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 41.7 percent from 3-point land.

Most Interesting Player: Laura Ziegler, Louisville

A finalist last season for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year as she was starring at St. Joe’s, Ziegler was wanted in the portal by every would-be title contender with a need in the frontcourt. Louisville was the winner of her services, giving Jeff Walz a talented and versatile anchor in the post.

As a junior for St. Joe’s, Ziegler averaged 17.5 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. Her defensive rebounds per game, 8.9, were third nationally. The 6-foot-2 forward from Denmark was also the only player in the country last season to average at least 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists per game.

Ziegler was voted to the preseason All-ACC team and big things are expected from her. If Louisville returns to contending status this season, Ziegler will likely be a big reason why.

Coach On The Hot Seat: Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, Virginia

It would’ve been easy to put Megan Gebbia here, but it seems that the women’s basketball team at Wake Forest is just meant to simply exist.

That’s not the case at Virginia, which has a deep and storied history in the sport. And this isn’t to say that Coach Mox is going to be fired at the end of this season, but if the Cavaliers fail to make the NCAA Tournament this spring, her seat will likely be uncomfortably warm as she enters the 2026-27 campaign.

In her three seasons at Virginia, Mox has returned Virginia women’s basketball back to competence and respectability following the dreadful four-year tenure of Tina Thompson in Charlottesville. Ticket sales are up, fans are back in John Paul Jones Arena, and money is flowing into the program in an era where that is more important than ever. Last December, Reddit co-founder and Virginia alum Alex Ohanian pledged a “multi-year transformational” donation to the program.

But the results on the court haven’t quite matched the renewed investment. Mox is 48-46 overall at Virginia and 19-35 in ACC play. She has a talented roster this season, led by All-ACC guard Kymora Johnson and bolstered by transfers like LSU’s Sa’myah Smith and USF’s Romi Levy.

Making the NCAA Tournament would be celebrated in Charlottesville and likely garner Mox an extension. Anything short would be a disappointment.

Three Must-Watch Games

LSU at Duke: Dec. 4, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN

Is Duke a legitimate title contender this season? How they perform under the bright lights against one of the top teams in the SEC could be an indicator.

North Carolina at N.C. State: Feb. 2, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN

Arguably the best and most-contentious rivalry in ACC women’s basketball, this game is always a must-watch, even more so now that the Tar Heels and Wolfpack only meet once in the regular season under the league’s new scheduling model. This game is also N.C. State’s annual Play4Kay game, which is always a meaningful and emotional night in Reynolds Coliseum.

Clemson at Stanford: March 1, 2 p.m. ET, The CW

A rematch of a game in last season’s ACC Tournament — one that was a signature victory for the Tigers and one for the Cardinal that sealed its NCAA Tournament fate — this is the final regular season game for both teams before the conference’s postseason tournament gets underway in Georgia. Both Clemson and Stanford made upgrades to their rosters this offseason and should be in positions to play in March Madness in 2026. This game could determine seeding in a consequential ACC Tournament.

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