Duke women projected to repeat as ACC champions; Hannah Hidalgo selected Preseason Player of Year

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Duke is projected to repeat as Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball champion, while Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo was selected as the preseason player of the year.

Duke, ranked No. 7 in The Associated Press Top 25, received 40 of the 70 first-place votes from a media panel.

North Carolina State, which lost to Duke in last year's ACC championship game, received 25 first-place votes and was projected to finish ahead of North Carolina, Louisville and Notre Dame. In all, five schools received at least one vote to win the conference.

Stanford is projected to finish sixth, followed by Virginia, Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, California, Syracuse, SMU, Georgia Tech, Pitt, Boston College and Wake Forest.

Hidalgo, who averaged 23.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.7 steals and 3.6 assists last season, hopes to take on a bigger leadership role with the Fighting Irish. She received 53 votes, beating out North Carolina State's Zoe Brooks, who finished second in the voting.

Selected to the 10-person preseason All-ACC team were Hidalgo, Virginia's Kymora Johnson, Duke's Toby Fournier and Ashlon Jackson, Louisville's Tajianna Roberts and Laura Ziegler, NC State's Brooks and Khamil Pierre, North Carolina's Reniya Kelly and Stanford's Nunu Agara.

The preseason All-Freshman team included Duke's Emilee Skinner, Stanford's Hailee Swain and Lara Somfai, North Carolina's Nyla Brooks, California's Aliyahna “Puff” Morris and Notre Dame's Leah Macy.

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