Duke women’s basketball will enter the 2025-26 season ranked as the No. 6 team in the country, per the USA Today Sports Preseason Women’s basketball coaches poll released on Thursday, Oct. 23.
The Blue Devils and sixth-year head coach Kara Lawson are coming off a 29-8 finish in 2024-25 with a trip to the Elite 8, finishing the season ranked No. 7 in the country. Duke returns four starters from last season while bringing in freshmen Emilee Skinner and Anna Wikstrom with some transfer portal additions.
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Duke is picked to finish first in the ACC, per the ACC Preseason Poll that was released on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
The Blue Devils open their 2025-26 season on Monday, Nov. 3 in Paris, France, against Baylor in the 2025 Oui-Play Paris.
USA Today Sports Preseason Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll
The USA TODAY Sports preseason Top 25 women’s basketball poll, with team’s RECORDS FROM LAST YEAR in parentheses, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last year’s final poll and first-place votes received.
|
Rank |
School (record) |
Points |
Last season’s final rank |
First-place votes |
|
1 |
Connecticut (37-3) |
772 |
1 |
28 |
|
2 |
South Carolina (35-4) |
741 |
2 |
3 |
|
3 |
Texas (35-4) |
688 |
4 |
0 |
|
4 |
UCLA (34-3) |
686 |
3 |
0 |
|
5 |
LSU (31-6) |
628 |
8 |
0 |
|
6 |
Duke (29-8) |
594 |
7 |
0 |
|
7 |
Oklahoma (27-8) |
559 |
11 |
0 |
|
8 |
North Carolina State (28-7) |
516 |
10 |
0 |
|
9 |
Tennessee (24-10) |
509 |
16 |
0 |
|
10 |
Maryland (25-8) |
487 |
14 |
0 |
|
11 |
North Carolina (29-8) |
431 |
12 |
0 |
|
12 |
TCU (34-4) |
390 |
6 |
0 |
|
13 |
Notre Dame (28-6) |
351 |
9 |
0 |
|
14 |
Mississippi (22-11) |
346 |
20 |
0 |
|
15 |
Michigan (23-11) |
322 |
NR |
0 |
|
16 |
Southern California (31-4) |
291 |
5 |
0 |
|
17 |
Iowa State (23-12) |
285 |
NR |
0 |
|
18 |
Baylor (28-8) |
282 |
18 |
0 |
|
19 |
Louisville (22-11) |
198 |
NR |
0 |
|
20 |
Kentucky (23-8) |
164 |
13 |
0 |
|
21 |
Vanderbilt (22-11) |
148 |
NR |
0 |
|
22 |
Oklahoma State (25-7) |
113 |
22 |
0 |
|
23 |
Iowa (23-11) |
91 |
NR |
0 |
|
24 |
Ohio State (26-7) |
82 |
17 |
0 |
|
25 |
Kansas State (28-8) |
76 |
15 |
0 |
Dropped out: No. 19 West Virginia (25-8); No. 21 Alabama (24-9); No. 23 South Dakota State (30-4); No. 24 Florida State (24-9); No. 25 Creighton (26-7). Others receiving votes: West Virginia (25-8) 72; Richmond (28-7) 67; Michigan State (22-10) 64; Alabama (24-9) 40; South Dakota State (30-4) 19; Florida State (24-9) 15; Creighton (26-7) 9; Princeton (21-8) 9; Washington (19-14) 8; Indiana (20-13) 7; James Madison (30-6) 4; Stanford (16-15) 4; Nebraska (21-12) 2; California (25-9) 1; Fairfield (28-5) 1; George Mason (27-6) 1; Minnesota (25-11) 1; South Florida (23-11) 1.
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The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 31 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The board for the 2025-26 season: Octavia Blue, Kennesaw State; Ashleen Bracey, Illinois-Chicago; Jen Brown, Queens; Dan Burt, Duquesne; Jeff Cammon, Saint Mary’s; Fred Chmiel, Bowling Green; Janell Crayton, Bethune-Cookman; Denise Dillon, Villanova; Carrie Eighmey, South Dakota; Dalila Eshe, Yale; Heather Ezell, Wyoming; Bill Fennelly, Iowa State; Aqua Franklin, Lamar; Ty Grace, Howard; Hana Haden, Georgia Southern; Corry Irvin, Chicago State; Renee Jimenez, UC-Santa Barbara; Chris Kielsmeier, Cleveland State; Mike Lane, NJIT; Amy Mallon, Drexel; Kristen Mattio, Northern Colorado; Mike McGuire, Radford; Kim McNeill, East Carolina; Dan Nielson, Utah Valley; Shawn Poppie, Clemson; Terry Primm, Siena; Samantha Quigley Smith, SIUE; Shea Ralph, Vanderbilt; Jonathan Tsipis, Western Carolina; Coquese Washington, Rutgers; Trevor Woodruff, Bucknell.
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke women’s basketball ranked No. 6 in USA TODAY Sports preseason coaches poll
