The bolded part is flawed thinking, IMO. Niele Ivey isn't my choice for COY anymore (Wes is), but she did have a solid case until last week. In the preseason, there were legit concerns about Notre Dame's ability to (1) stay healthy, (2) navigate the ACC without a true big (people forget that Kylee Watson did not play a minute for them this season due to an ACL suffered during the 2024 ACC Tourney), and (3) integrate Olivia Miles back into the fold after she missed all of 2023-24 with an ACL injury suffered in February 2023. She was able to address these concerns and produce a successful season through her coaching (managing rotations, minutes, and expectations). No, it's not what it could have been and maybe not what it should have been. However, they were a double overtime loss from being the 1 seed (and her likely winning the award).
And we're not going to pretend that NC State is somehow bereft of talent. Let's not do that, please. Wes is a good coach that has exceptional talent. None of the teams that I cheer for in the conference have a Saniya Rivers/Aziaha James/Zoe Brooks trio on the perimeter.
No, not a chance. They (UNC) were picked to finish 6th in the conference and finished 5th. They are who we thought they'd be.
The two coaches who should warrant consideration (not necessarily win the award) along with Wes would be the coaches who led teams that had the highest differential from preseason prediction to actual production. Those coaches would be Charmin Smith (from preseason 14 to 7th place) and Megan Duffy (from preseason 12 to 8th place). Charmin's team was essentially an afterthought by ACC voters despite being senior/grad-laden (and their success in postseason last year) while Megan took "Kenny Brooks' leftovers" and turned Carleigh Wenzel (from 3 ppg in ACC play in 2024 to 16 ppg in ACC play in 2025) and Carys Baker (from 2 ppg in ACC play in 2024 to 15 ppg on 51/49/81 shooting splits in ACC play in 2025) into ACC stars.
