One year after claiming the ACC tournament title, Duke women’s basketball is once again expected to finish atop the ACC.
The Blue Devils, in their sixth season under coach Kara Lawson, were selected to finish No. 1 in the ACC Preseason Poll predicted order of finish that was released on Tuesday, Oct. 14. They received 1,525 total votes and 40 for first place. Voting is made up of the conference’s 18 head coaches and ACC media members.
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Duke finished No. 1 above NC State at No. 2 with 25 first-place votes and North Carolina at No. 3 with one first-place vote.
Duke saw three players receive preseason honors, with sophomore Toby Fournier and senior Ashlon Jackson being named to the Preseason All-ACC Team, while freshman Emilee Skinner was named to the Preseason All-Freshman Team.
Fournier is coming off a freshman season that saw her be named ACC Rookie of the Year while Jackson started every game for Duke last season and finished second on the team with second on the team with 12.4 points per game. Skinner comes to Duke as the No. 4 player in the 2025 class per ESPN.
Duke returns four starters from last year’s team in Jackson, Jadyn Donovan, Taina Marr and Delaney Thomas. It welcomes freshmen Anna Wikstrom and Skinner along with Pepperdine transfer Hailey Johnson. Its coming off a 29-8 finish in 2024-25 with a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight.
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The Blue Devils open their 2025-26 season on Monday, Nov. 3 in Paris, France, against Baylor in the 2025 Oui-Play Paris and open play at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 9 vs. Holy Cross.
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Preseason Player of the Year
Hannah Hidalgo, Jr., G, Notre Dame
Preseason All-ACC Team
Hannah Hidalgo, Jr., G, Notre Dame 833 votes
Zoe Brooks, Jr., G, NC State 606 votes
Kymora Johnson, Jr., G, Virginia 577 votes
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Toby Fournier, So., F, Duke 535 votes
Ashlon Jackson, Sr., G, Duke 333 votes
Tajianna Roberts, So., G, Louisville 326 votes
Khamil Pierre, Jr., F, NC State 285 votes
Reniya Kelly, Sr., G, North Carolina 276 votes
Nunu Agara, Jr., F, Stanford 275 votes
Laura Ziegler, Sr., F, Louisville 78 votes
Preseason All-Freshman Team
Emilee Skinner, G, Duke 415 votes
Hailee Swain, G, Stanford 324 votes
Nyla Brooks, G, North Carolina 310 votes
Lara Somfai, F, Stanford 185 votes
Aliyahna “Puff” Morris, G, California 114 votes
Leah Macy, F, Notre Dame 79 votes
Predicted Order of Finish
First-place votes in parentheses
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NC State (25), 1487 votes
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North Carolina (1), 1374 votes
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Louisville (2), 1276 votes
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Notre Dame (2), 1255 votes
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Boston College, 211 votes
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.
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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke women’s basketball picked to finish No. 1 in ACC preseason poll
