Thoughts/Analysis on the ACC heading into 2025-26

[Jumper33]

Another excellent analysis. Thanks again.

This particular remark really stands out for me. It’s not so much Miles, but Risch. She put in her time at ND and was poised to play a significant role in whatever they achieve. And yet she left. Unlike Miles, she’s not high on any GM’s eventual draft list. Her departure suggests she didn’t like it at ND and was willing to leave for what is likely to be a less prominent role at a lower profile school. This is not a good sign for Niele.

On the other hand, though I think you’re right that they may lose a lot of games, they are likely to be a tough out for any opponent. Irish pride is real and the kids who stayed will pass it on to the new arrivals.

I believe Risch didn’t get much playing time when she was healthy which wasn’t often, definitely in need of a fresh start.

It’ll be interesting, I think ND could potentially be really bad. I still think Ivey seems like a class act person but this whole situation has gone really off the rails for her.

Hidalgo narrowly averaged more field goal attempts per game this past season than the previous one, despite being surrounded by Miles, Westbeld, King, and the newly minted Mystics rookie scoring record holder. She didn’t even wanna pass to players of that caliber, so how many shots is she going to take now? She became visibly frustrated on court with teammates of that caliber, so how frustrated will she be now?

Ok, that may be harsh, needless to say I’m not the biggest fan of Hidalgo’s playstyle. With all due respect of course because objectively she is one of the most talented players in the country. We’ll see what Ivey does with this roster.

 

[Rooster C.]

they are likely to be a tough out for any opponent.

I agree. Which is exactly why I referred to their likely being very similar to last years' FSU. FSU was in the Top 25 rankings most of the year (and in fact one of the only teams to defeat ND at home last season) and entered the NCAA tournament as a 6 - seed only to be destroyed by LSU in the 2nd round by 30. And Latson had 2 key teammates who had been playing with her for several years including Timpson who is now in the WNBA. I don't think Hidalgo has any players of that caliber on her team at the moment. Still they could finish as high as 5th in the conference - or as low as 10th.

 

[Rooster C.]

Louisville is the next team up.

Louisville's season concluded with a loss in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament by 20+ points to TCU. Louisville was a 7 - seed coming in so I don't think much more was expected from a very up-and-down year. They entered the season with a #17 ranking and ended it with a #26 ranking which was about right. Jeff Walz has been an ACC HC longer than any other person in the conference having finished his 18th season. He's not only the longest tenured in the conference he's also the best with a .769 win pct. Like so many other coaches I've discussed to this point the coming season will prove to be a challenge just to maintain their 5th place finish in the ACC and make an appearance in the NCAA tournament.

What was lost: 4 out of the 5 starters - one to the portal and the other 3 to graduation. J.Curry (14.4 ppg), O. Cochran (10.4ppg), and J.Williams (6.7ppg) are gone and N.Harris (8.6ppg) opted to play her senior year at NC. Reserves M.Russell (4.4ppg) and E. Imafidon (to Providence) are also gone as is sophomore to be (#88 ranked freshman) I. Arenas to KSU.

Remaining: The only returning starter is #24 ranked freshman (now soph) T. Roberts (5'10" G 12.8ppg - 2nd on the team), #19 ranked freshman (now soph) I. Berry (5'10" G 4.9ppg), #23 ranked M. Randolph (so. 6'0" F 3.6ppg), E. Istanbulloglu from Turkey (jr. 6'3" F 4.9ppg), I. Juffermans from Australia (so. 6'4" F 2.3ppg), A. Hardy (so. 6'3" F 0.9ppg) and returning from injury are R. Bender (so. 5'10" G) and R. Graves (rs fr. 5'6" G).

Transfers coming in: S. Jones (jr. 6'0" G/F 10.7 ppg from Arizona), R. Scott (sr. 5'10" G 4.8ppg from Oklahoma), and L. Ziegler (sr. 6'2" F 17.5ppg from St. Joseph's).

Incoming freshmen: #78 G. Mbugua (6'4" F), Y. Putra (from Ukraine 6'3" F) and P. Bradley (5'9" G)

Walz has his work cut out for him. He has put together transfers to make a team in the past so that experience will certainly be beneficial for this coming year. Experienced Guards Curry and Williams are gone so he'll need some mixture of transfers Jones and Scott along with returnees Berry, Randolph, Bender, and Graves to fill in alongside Roberts. Aside from Roberts there are certainly a lot of questions surrounding how well these players came come together to form a cohesive unit that can put enough points on the board.

As for the front court I'm sure he's hoping Ziegler (originally from Denmark) can help with the scoring inside and be a replacement for the departing Harris and incoming freshman Mbugua along with Istanbulloglu, Juffermans, and Hardy to do their best to help out with the loss of Cochran. Ziegler had 20 dbl-dbls last season (yes 20) and that was no outlier either as she has been nearly that good for several years. The asterisk is that came at St. Joseph's so can it translate at this level ? As I have stated before, many of the ACC teams this year will be using a 2 - post player starting 5 and matching up against strong experienced duos every game or two can be a real challenge. Istanbulloglu had herself a pretty good Eurobasket tournament this summer both in points and rebounds. But again, Eurobasket dominance is not the same as playing in a major conference in the NCAA . Still, Walz is a smart experienced coach and I'm not going to sell that short.

I believe he can put it together enough to finish in the top 5 through 8 teams in the ACC but with last year's freshman class and the addition of Mbugua this year I see the foundation for the future with the portal acting as a stop gap measure for this year and possibly next. ND has only one returning starter also, NC and NC State both have only 2, and many of the ACC teams that finished behind Louisville last year are in a similar situation. So once you get past the top 3 or 4 teams there's going to be a real battle for spots 5 through 10. It's going to be interesting to see who wins those battles but Walz has shown over the years that he has the inside track.

 

[Bone Dog]

Excellent analysis! I was more pessimistic about Louisville before I’d read your inventory of who’s returning. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do. Of all the departures, I’ll miss Olivia Cochrane most. She’s been one of my favorite players to watch over the past few years.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Could be Kate Harpring, who arrives next season.

I'm not sure..but maybe.

I don't think she made much of an impression with National team, but I like her highlights and game.

 

[Reypl21]

I'm not sure..but maybe.

I don't think she made much of an impression with National team, but I like her highlights and game.

That could be the case for a lot of players. I remember Cameron Brink and Sarah Strong both had lackluster team USA runs the summer before they started college. Harpring was one the younger players too, she'll be alright.

 

[Rooster C.]

Florida State.....

FSU did not finish their season on a high note losing in the 2nd round by 30 points at LSU. Over her 4 seasons as the HC (one interim) at FSU, Booke Wyckoff has managed to maintain the 4th best record in the ACC with a .657 win pct. (.672 overall). With the loss of the #1 scoring talent in the country to the portal along with the graduation of #2 and #3 scoring options it's very close to being a total rebuild for the 'Noles. I look for her lofty winning in the ACC to slide this year. Last season FSU began the year ranked #19 and finished it ranked #22 but getting ranked at all this year will require some heavy lifting.

What was lost: Well.......A LOT. T. Latson, (25.2ppg) the nation's leading scorer for starters. She will finish her illustrious career at S.Carolina before moving on to the WNBA. Speaking of which that is where the #2 scorer on the team M. Timpson (17.5ppg) is now at. The #3 scorer O. Gordon (15.9ppg) and the other starter M. Williams (4.4ppg) both graduated. They also lost most of their reserves to the portal : M. Valenzuela (6'2" F 3.5ppg) to S. Hall, T. Viegas 5'9" G 6.0ppg) to rival Pitt, R. Dias dos Santos (5'9" G 2.6ppg) to rival Va., B. Turnage (6'1" G 1.7ppg) to rival GT, and M. Chavez (6'1" F ) to Fresno St. That's a total of 4 starters and 5 reserves lost.

Remaining: The lone starter S. Bowles (Sr. 6'0" G 10.6ppg) is back to "steady the ship" along with A. Bonner (Sr. 6'0" G 3.4ppg) who is ready to move up to a starting spot. Also back is reserve A. Threadwell (Jr. 6'3" F 2.8ppg). That's not much to be honest.

Incoming Transfers : J. Shavers (Sr. 5'8" G 14.9ppg) from Tx. Tech, E. Risch (6'1" G 5.7ppg) from rival ND, A. Kubeck (Gr. 6'2" F 9.1ppg) from MD, S. Williams (So. 5'9" G 7.6ppg) from Tx. A&M, T. Greene (So. 6'3" G 4.4ppg) from rival BC, and P. Davis (Jr. 6'6" C 15.0ppg) from NM JCC.

Incoming Freshman: M. Gerton (5'7" G ) who was once ranked in the the Top 100 but fell out when it was updated.

So what has Wyckoff got here ? A total of 10 players with only 3 returning players and 1 starter. I doubt the freshman will figure prominently so that leaves 9 usable players 6 of whom are transfers who have to learn a new system. It's going to be impossible to replace a player like Latson period. Not to mention the combined 63 points of offense that left with the departing starters. Even with them last year was up-and-down with losses they shouldn't have had. The transfers will make or break this team. Shavers is a bucket but she is also a volume shooter and that can be problematic. Kubek is solid but is no Timpson. Risch and Williams are also solid players but Gordon scored as much as the two of them combined. Greene should be a solid bench player. And then there's Davis who I'll discuss in a minute.

The back court is going to be Bowles, Shavers, Risch, Bonner, and Williams probably with different line ups until Wyckoff figures out what combination works best as a starting rotation but I expect the remaining 2 will see plenty of action in rotation.

The front court will be Kubeck and probably Davis. Davis is an interesting pick up - an Australian, ranked #1 player coming out of Junior College. Being 6'6" will definitely help as I still believe most teams will be using a more traditional C/PF duo this year. You have to be able to match up when push comes to shove 😉 Can Davis step up at the next level or become a player relegated to the bench like Sakima Walker was at SC last year ? Of course Dawn had more choices. The only other player of size (who is not a guard) is returning Jr. forward Threadwell at 6'3".

Any way you slice it this is a difficult task. FSU and Wyckoff are in a similar boat to Ivey and N. Dame. The main difference being Ivey has Hidalgo. Wyckoff does have the pieces to make a competetive team but like Ivey hasn't done a stellar job of recruiting. In fact she hasn't been able to sign a Top 100 player since she took over unless you want to count 2021 and 2022 which I don't. Even with that core group - who just left - she was never able to get past the 2nd round of the NCAA even with Latson. Wyckoff is a fighter. She has missed very few games even while battling cancer. She will continue to persevere in spite of the odds. But let's be honest - it's a steep climb. She's going to lose another 4 players minimum at the end of the season. Until she starts recruiting better this year is likely to be what FSU's future will look like. Can her system of all -offense, no -defense succeed going forward? Unless you have the horses I don't think so. Look for FSU to be middle of the pack between 7th and 12th.

 

[GoChips20]

Notre Dame could be bad this year anyway but almost certainly would be without Moore transferring from Vanderbilt which gives them another backcourt scorer.

They’re gonna have to ride on chemistry and creativity because the roster is thin in numbers and also kind of weirdly constructed although ND really didn’t have a choice about that.

They’ll be good at guard, competent at wing, and poor in the frontcourt which could turn to disastrous if Cowles misses any time.

I think making the second round of the tournament would be a good outcome for ND this year, and to be fair, also feels achievable.

 

[Bone Dog]

Florida State.....

FSU did not finish their season on a high note losing in the 2nd round by 30 points at LSU. Over her 4 seasons as the HC (one interim) at FSU, Booke Wyckoff has managed to maintain the 4th best record in the ACC with a .657 win pct. (.672 overall). With the loss of the #1 scoring talent in the country to the portal along with the graduation of #2 and #3 scoring options it's very close to being a total rebuild for the 'Noles. I look for her lofty winning in the ACC to slide this year. Last season FSU began the year ranked #19 and finished it ranked #22 but getting ranked at all this year will require some heavy lifting.

What was lost: Well.......A LOT. T. Latson, (25.2ppg) the nation's leading scorer for starters. She will finish her illustrious career at S.Carolina before moving on to the WNBA. Speaking of which that is where the #2 scorer on the team M. Timpson (17.5ppg) is now at. The #3 scorer O. Gordon (15.9ppg) and the other starter M. Williams (4.4ppg) both graduated. They also lost most of their reserves to the portal : M. Valenzuela (6'2" F 3.5ppg) to S. Hall, T. Viegas 5'9" G 6.0ppg) to rival Pitt, R. Dias dos Santos (5'9" G 2.6ppg) to rival Va., B. Turnage (6'1" G 1.7ppg) to rival GT, and M. Chavez (6'1" F ) to Fresno St. That's a total of 4 starters and 5 reserves lost.

Remaining: The lone starter S. Bowles (Sr. 6'0" G 10.6ppg) is back to "steady the ship" along with A. Bonner (Sr. 6'0" G 3.4ppg) who is ready to move up to a starting spot. Also back is reserve A. Threadwell (Jr. 6'3" F 2.8ppg). That's not much to be honest.

Incoming Transfers : J. Shavers (Sr. 5'8" G 14.9ppg) from Tx. Tech, E. Risch (6'1" G 5.7ppg) from rival ND, A. Kubeck (Gr. 6'2" F 9.1ppg) from MD, S. Williams (So. 5'9" G 7.6ppg) from Tx. A&M, T. Greene (So. 6'3" G 4.4ppg) from rival BC, and P. Davis (Jr. 6'6" C 15.0ppg) from NM JCC.

Incoming Freshman: M. Gerton (5'7" G ) who was once ranked in the the Top 100 but fell out when it was updated.

So what has Wyckoff got here ? A total of 10 players with only 3 returning players and 1 starter. I doubt the freshman will figure prominently so that leaves 9 usable players 6 of whom are transfers who have to learn a new system. It's going to be impossible to replace a player like Latson period. Not to mention the combined 63 points of offense that left with the departing starters. Even with them last year was up-and-down with losses they shouldn't have had. The transfers will make or break this team. Shavers is a bucket but she is also a volume shooter and that can be problematic. Kubek is solid but is no Timpson. Risch and Williams are also solid players but Gordon scored as much as the two of them combined. Greene should be a solid bench player. And then there's Davis who I'll discuss in a minute.

The back court is going to be Bowles, Shavers, Risch, Bonner, and Williams probably with different line ups until Wyckoff figures out what combination works best as a starting rotation but I expect the remaining 2 will see plenty of action in rotation.

The front court will be Kubeck and probably Davis. Davis is an interesting pick up - an Australian, ranked #1 player coming out of Junior College. Being 6'6" will definitely help as I still believe most teams will be using a more traditional C/PF duo this year. You have to be able to match up when push comes to shove 😉 Can Davis step up at the next level or become a player relegated to the bench like Sakima Walker was at SC last year ? Of course Dawn had more choices. The only other player of size (who is not a guard) is returning Jr. forward Threadwell at 6'3".

Any way you slice it this is a difficult task. FSU and Wyckoff are in a similar boat to Ivey and N. Dame. The main difference being Ivey has Hidalgo. Wyckoff does have the pieces to make a competetive team but like Ivey hasn't done a stellar job of recruiting. In fact she hasn't been able to sign a Top 100 player since she took over unless you want to count 2021 and 2022 which I don't. Even with that core group - who just left - she was never able to get past the 2nd round of the NCAA even with Latson. Wyckoff is a fighter. She has missed very few games even while battling cancer. She will continue to persevere in spite of the odds. But let's be honest - it's a steep climb. She's going to lose another 4 players minimum at the end of the season. Until she starts recruiting better this year is likely to be what FSU's future will look like. Can her system of all -offense, no -defense succeed going forward? Unless you have the horses I don't think so. Look for FSU to be middle of the pack between 7th and 12th.

Thanks for another excellent analysis! It looks like scorched earth at FSU. I have a suspicion Risch will show us all something next season. But it may not be enough to make much of a difference given what the rest of the team looks like.

 

[YKCornelius]

Notre Dame could be bad this year anyway but almost certainly would be without Moore transferring from Vanderbilt which gives them another backcourt scorer.

They’re gonna have to ride on chemistry and creativity because the roster is thin in numbers and also kind of weirdly constructed although ND really didn’t have a choice about that.

They’ll be good at guard, competent at wing, and poor in the frontcourt which could turn to disastrous if Cowles misses any time.

I think making the second round of the tournament would be a good outcome for ND this year, and to be fair, also feels achievable.

GoChips20, I agree that making the second round of the NCAA tournament would be a good outcome for the Irish.

That said, there are only two paths to the second round: (1) via hosting as a Top 16ish team and getting the benefit of playing a 13-16th seeded team at home; or (2) via being a visiting team playing another visiting team on a neutral court.

Hosting as a Top 16 seeded team (Path #1) would be a significant achievement in itself, and no doubt be one of the top WCBB stories of all-time if that were to happen. We would probably see a surge in newborns named Hannah born in northern Indiana nine months later.

Given the NCAA tournament challenges the Irish have had winning away from Purcell Pavillion during Coach Ivey's tenure, Path #2 is challenging as well, and would be largely dependent on which 5th-12th seed they are playing. A mid-major conference winner, or a non-ACC team finishing in the top half of their P4 conference would likely be their first round opponent on Path #2.

Is getting to the second round achievable? With a strong showing in the ACC to get to the Big Dance, plus a wee bit of Luck o' the Irish as it comes to seeding, maybe. Either path is not easy, and is more akin to a Yellow Brick Road filled with lions, and tigers and bears - oh my!

 

[triaddukefan]

Banghart can recruit, no question.

Yes she can recruit.

Coaching? She and my neighbors pet English Bulldog have the same number of ACC championships. In six ACC tournaments she has three wins. 2023 vs Clemson. 2025 vs Boston College and Florida State. That's only 3 wins more than another neighbor's Black Labrador.

Yes.. Leo season is officially over.... I've been waiting all week to post this

 

[Rooster C.]

Yes she can recruit.

NC on 2026 known finalists lists and chances of landing those players and competitors:

#3 : (14.3%) UConn, SC, LSU, TX, KY, OH. ST.
#13: (6.66%) 14 other teams listed inc. Duke, ND, Lou., Stan.
#14: (25%) Duke, LSU, UCLA
#16: (20%?) Unofficial list: Mia, ND, MD, Ole Miss
#19: (20%) ND, IA, Ore., TCU
#22: (6.66%) 14 other teams listed inc. Duke, ND, Lou., Stan.
#24: (6.25%) 15 others listed inc. NC St., Lou., SMU, GT
#35: (8.33%) 11 others listed inc. Lou., Clem., GT
#36: (8.33%) 11 others inc. NC St., Lou.
#49: (12.5%) 7 others inc.ND
#53: (14.3%) Duke, Mia, FSU, LSU. Ole Miss, AL
#61: (20%) Lou., OK, Mich., Neb.
#77: (10%) 9 others inc. VT
UR : J.I. Etute(Fl.) (14.3%) Lou., VT, Cal, Tx, UCLA, Ind.

 

[Rooster C.]

California is up next:

Cal had a fairly successful year one in the ACC finishing at 12 -6 (25 - 9 overall) and a 7th place finish in the conference. Heading in to this year Charmin Smith will be challenged to keep up that level of success. Her overall record as HC at Cal is a .476 win pct. with a .299 conference win pct (Pac-12/ACC). Last year Cal began the season and ended it unranked although it was a pretty decent team and they reached the NCAA as an 8 - seed but fell in the first round by 13 to Miss. St.

A large part of Cal's success last year was due to players who are now gone. What was lost:
#1 scorer/starter I. Krimili (5'10" G 14.1ppg),#4 scorer/starter U. Onyiah (6'3" F 12.4ppg/ 12 dbl-dbls), #5 scorer/starter K. Williams (5'7" G 11.1ppg) along with reserves J. Noble and N. Ackerman to graduation. The #3 scorer/starter M. Suarez (6'3" F 12.9ppg) left via the portal to TCU, along with BOTH of last year's new ranked recruits #56 K. Mafua (6'1" G/F) to Utah and #76 Z. King (5'10" G) to conference rival SMU.

What remains: The #2 scorer and starter L. Twidale (Jr. 5'10" G 13.2ppg), along with 4 reserves who saw action a year ago in L. Donez (So. 5'11" G), G. Abigor (So. 6'3" C ), G. Maul (Jr. 5'11" G), and A. Drojouni (Jr. 5'11" G). Additionally returning bench players C. Langarita (Gr. 6'4" F) and walk -on S. Bowes (So. 5'10" G). It's not a lot. Transfers and incoming freshmen will play a larger role on this team than most.

Incoming transfers: M. Sheppard (Jr. 5'10" G 3.9ppg last year from LSU), S. Walker (Gr. 6'5" C 2.0ppg last year with SC), and N. Ojukwu (So. 6'1" F 17.1ppg last year from Morgan St.).

Incoming freshmen: #22 ranked A. "Puff" Morris (5'5" PG), #73 ranked T. Barnes (6'0" F), I. Johnson-Musa (5'10" G), and G. McCallop (5'10" G).

I would expect the backcourt will consist of Twidale, Donez or Maul, Sheppard, and probably Morris the freshman. Reserves will be Donez or Maul (whichever doesn't start), Drojouni, Barnes, and possibly Ojukwu. The other 2 freshman will likely not see much action along with the walk on Bowes.
In the front court it's going to be a rotation of Walker and Abigor with Langarita in reserve. The front court is looking thin and with any amount of foul trouble (which is likely) Coach Smith will have to resort to "Small Ball".

I would expect a pretty steep decline with Cal this year outside of a miracle of some sort. They can compete but there just isn't enough playing/starting experience on this squad. This is a team that will take its lumps this year and hopefully gain enough experience for a better showing next year. Everyone can return next year outside of Walker and Langarita at the post. The question is will they ? After a bad season players tend to leave - especially the better ones who want to play for a contender. Of course we still haven't seen who Smith recruits for 2026 but even with some ranked players coming in she'll have to hope to land some better players through the portal at the end of this year. I would expect Cal to finish near the bottom of the conference around 14th - 18th.

 

[triaddukefan]

NC on 2026 known finalists lists and chances of landing those players and competitors:

#3 : (14.3%) UConn, SC, LSU, TX, KY, OH. ST.
#13: (6.66%) 14 other teams listed inc. Duke, ND, Lou., Stan.
#14: (25%) Duke, LSU, UCLA
#16: (20%?) Unofficial list: Mia, ND, MD, Ole Miss
#19: (20%) ND, IA, Ore., TCU
#22: (6.66%) 14 other teams listed inc. Duke, ND, Lou., Stan.
#24: (6.25%) 15 others listed inc. NC St., Lou., SMU, GT
#35: (8.33%) 11 others listed inc. Lou., Clem., GT
#36: (8.33%) 11 others inc. NC St., Lou.
#49: (12.5%) 7 others inc.ND
#53: (14.3%) Duke, Mia, FSU, LSU. Ole Miss, AL
#61: (20%) Lou., OK, Mich., Neb.
#77: (10%) 9 others inc. VT
UR : J.I. Etute(Fl.) (14.3%) Lou., VT, Cal, Tx, UCLA, Ind.

Cut that out man. You making me start out the week grumpy.

 

[FanInNC]

Cut that out man. You making me start out the week grumpy.

She's always recruited well.

I don't even pay attention to who they bring in. For the last couple of years when State and UNC play I always feel State has more talent on the court yet the recruiting services say otherwise. I suppose that goes back to player development, roster construction and X's and O's.

Banghart can recruit.

(I'm trying to dwell on the positives and not be negative so we won't discuss anything beyond recruiting for Banghart)

 

[Rooster C.]

Georgia Tech it's your turn.

Georgia Tech had a solid performance last year overall finishing at 9 - 9 in the ACC and 22 - 11 overall. They also went to the NCAA tournament as a 9 - seed and that's when everything started to go badly for them. They lost in the first round to Richmond by 25 points. Then late in the summer Nell Fortner unexpectedly retired. That left little time for the school to find themselves a new coach - most of the players entered the portal - and left the incoming coach scrambling to hire a staff, recruit from the remaining players in the portal, and start recruiting hs players asap.

The new hire is a first time HC (at any level) BUT Karen Blair has 25 years of coaching experience and is well known and respected in the community. Her last stint was as an assistant to Brenda Frese at Maryland for the past 7 years. There is another former assistant of Brenda's who also took a HC job at an ACC school some 17 years ago - and we all know how well that went. Karen Blair also brought in as her main assistant someone with as much experience as herself - and her name may sound familiar - Marsha Frese. So I'd say this looks to be a pretty solid hire as Fortner's replacement and between Blair and Frese I'm certain they'll recruit well.

Having said that - the first year will be a difficult one for Blair as her late hiring put her in the same unfortunate situation as it did Miami's new HC a year ago. ALL of the starters from last year's team are gone - 2 to graduation and 3 to the portal. In fact a total of 7 players went in to the portal so 9 players in total departed.

What was lost : Let's start with the starters. Z. Smith (6'1" F 7.4ppg) and K. Blackshear (6'1" F 6.0ppg) graduated. T. Morgan (Sr. 5'9" G 13.7ppg), K. Dunn (Sr. '11" G 15.5ppg), D. Carnegie (So. 5'9" G 12.9ppg) and C. Wright (So. 5'4" G 7.2ppg) all left via the portal. Morgan to KY, Dunn to USC, Carnegie to GA, and Wright to IA. Those 4 were all Top 100 ranked coming out of hs. Also entering the portal were critical reserves T. Thompson (So. 5'10" G 4.0ppg), R. Augustinaite (Jr. 6'0" G 5.2ppg), and G. Grooms (So. 5'9" G 2.1ppg).

What remains: Only 3 players but with a decent amount of playing experience. A. Termis (Jr. 6'6" C 4.0ppg) from Spain, I. Noguerro (Sr. 5'11" G 4.5 ppg) also from Spain, and D. Thomas-Harris (Jr. 6'2" G/F 1.8ppg). Not a lot but not nothing.

Incoming transfers: B. Turnage (Sr. 6'1" G 1.7ppg from FSU), S. Samuel (Gr. 6'1" G 6.3ppg from BC), D. Mukeba (So. 6'5" C 1.7ppg from BC/Belgium), T. Walker (So. 5'10" G 5.6ppg from PSU), E. Moon (rs So. 5'6" G 1.5ppg from Tx A&M), C. Alben (Sr. 5'7" G 16.6ppg from Charleston Southern), L. Foster (Jr. 5'10" G 11.9ppg from Austin Peay), J. Crawshaw (Jr. 6'0" F 10.4ppg from Long Beach St./Australia).

Incoming Freshmen: L. Urdiain (5'11" G) from Spain and M. Taylor (6'1" C).

So the backcourt looks like it's pretty wide open outside of Noguerro with a combination of transfers who were starters and double digit scorers at smaller schools and experienced reserves who were lower single digit scorers at P5 schools. There's about 8 total so I'm sure many different combinations will be tried (especially in the pre-season) but chances are good they'll know who their starting backcourt will be from observing the players in practice before the first game is played. As for the front court A. Termis should get the nod with Mukeba as back up and Thomas-Harris or Crawshaw if they decide to go with a smaller line up.

The results with this roster probably won't differ too much from how Miami fared last year - which was not great. It's likely we'll see a lot of turnover at year's end. Blair will hit the portal hard I'm sure and already seems to be making some inroads with recruiting 2026 Top 100 players for next year to start the process of building a program. Even if this were one of the top existing coaches in the conference I don't think they would win too many games with the talent pool available here. They may even struggle against weaker small-school opponents in the non-conference games that are usually just glorified practices for most schools.I think seeing how this team fares against their non-conference schedule will be a decent indicator of what to expect once the "real" games start. I would not anticipate GT doing much better than the lower tier group finishing around 14th to 18th.

 

[TheFarmFan]

California is up next:

Cal had a fairly successful year one in the ACC finishing at 12 -6 (25 - 9 overall) and a 7th place finish in the conference. Heading in to this year Charmin Smith will be challenged to keep up that level of success. Her overall record as HC at Cal is a .476 win pct. with a .299 conference win pct (Pac-12/ACC). Last year Cal began the season and ended it unranked although it was a pretty decent team and they reached the NCAA as an 8 - seed but fell in the first round by 13 to Miss. St.

A large part of Cal's success last year was due to players who are now gone. What was lost:
#1 scorer/starter I. Krimili (5'10" G 14.1ppg),#4 scorer/starter U. Onyiah (6'3" F 12.4ppg/ 12 dbl-dbls), #5 scorer/starter K. Williams (5'7" G 11.1ppg) along with reserves J. Noble and N. Ackerman to graduation. The #3 scorer/starter M. Suarez (6'3" F 12.9ppg) left via the portal to TCU, along with BOTH of last year's new ranked recruits #56 K. Mafua (6'1" G/F) to Utah and #76 Z. King (5'10" G) to conference rival SMU.

What remains: The #2 scorer and starter L. Twidale (Jr. 5'10" G 13.2ppg), along with 4 reserves who saw action a year ago in L. Donez (So. 5'11" G), G. Abigor (So. 6'3" C ), G. Maul (Jr. 5'11" G), and A. Drojouni (Jr. 5'11" G). Additionally returning bench players C. Langarita (Gr. 6'4" F) and walk -on S. Bowes (So. 5'10" G). It's not a lot. Transfers and incoming freshmen will play a larger role on this team than most.

Incoming transfers: M. Sheppard (Jr. 5'10" G 3.9ppg last year from LSU), S. Walker (Gr. 6'5" C 2.0ppg last year with SC), and N. Ojukwu (So. 6'1" F 17.1ppg last year from Morgan St.).

Incoming freshmen: #22 ranked A. "Puff" Morris (5'5" PG), #73 ranked T. Barnes (6'0" F), I. Johnson-Musa (5'10" G), and G. McCallop (5'10" G).

I would expect the backcourt will consist of Twidale, Donez or Maul, Sheppard, and probably Morris the freshman. Reserves will be Donez or Maul (whichever doesn't start), Drojouni, Barnes, and possibly Ojukwu. The other 2 freshman will likely not see much action along with the walk on Bowes.
In the front court it's going to be a rotation of Walker and Abigor with Langarita in reserve. The front court is looking thin and with any amount of foul trouble (which is likely) Coach Smith will have to resort to "Small Ball".

I would expect a pretty steep decline with Cal this year outside of a miracle of some sort. They can compete but there just isn't enough playing/starting experience on this squad. This is a team that will take its lumps this year and hopefully gain enough experience for a better showing next year. Everyone can return next year outside of Walker and Langarita at the post. The question is will they ? After a bad season players tend to leave - especially the better ones who want to play for a contender. Of course we still haven't seen who Smith recruits for 2026 but even with some ranked players coming in she'll have to hope to land some better players through the portal at the end of this year. I would expect Cal to finish near the bottom of the conference around 14th - 18th.

These are so great, thanks so much for doing them. Cal was something of a local darling last season, at the same time Stanford was going through its worst season in modern times. Charm is a wonderful human being and it was nice to see her succeed even if a little bittersweet while we were struggling side by side.

Really excited for your neutral observer's take on Stanford's prospects for bouncing back this coming season. I have my own thoughts, but mine can't help but be viewed through Cardinal-red-colored glasses, so I'll be eager to get your more measured take!

 

[jdote33]

 

[Rooster C.]

Virginia Tech is next.....now things start to get interesting.

Of the first year coaches in the ACC (VT, Stan., Clem. and Mia.) Megan Duffy had the best record both overall (19 - 13) and in the conference (9 - 9). Although Cal and SMU were in the ACC for their first year they did not have first year coaches. This is also the last team (9th place) that did not have a losing conference record. It was also the first team that did not make it in to the NCAA tournament. They did however get an invite to the WBIT where they won one game before losing at home in round two to Texas Tech by 10. Like several of the teams below them the season was uneven and one of missed opportunities.

So Duffy finished with a .500 conference win pct. and .594 pct. overall. Not a bad start. They were "on the bubble" for much of the later part of the season but came up a little short. So what's in store for next season is the question.

What was lost: Three of the five starters R. Micheaux (6'2" F 12.2ppg - #3 scorer), M. Ekh (6'0" G 11.9ppg - #4 scorer) to graduation and L. White (Sr. 5'11" G 9.6ppg ) who left to finish her career back at Utah. Also lost to the portal were their two tallest post players R. White (So. 6'5" C 1.4ppg) to KSU and M. Hazelton (So. 6'4" F 0.8ppg) to Rice. Not a lot of point production from White/Hazelton but I think their size will be missed this coming year.

What remains: The top two scorers return in C. Baker (Jr. 6'2" F 12.6ppg) and C. Wenzel (rs Jr. 6'0" G 14.0ppg). Also returning are 4 key reserve players: K. Petersen (So. 6'0" F 4.2ppg), M. Nelson (rs So. 5'8" G 6.0ppg), S. Suffren (Jr. 5'8" G 8.1ppg) and L. Wells (So. 5'9" G 2.0ppg). All the returning players other than Wells were ranked in the Top 100 coming out of hs.

Incoming transfers: M. Daley from NW (Gr. 5'11" G 11.7ppg), S. Swanson from Purdue (Jr. 5'10" G 8.9ppg), and K. Freelon from Tx. Tech (Sr. 6'1" F 4.6ppg).

Incoming freshmen: #74 A. Jenkins (6'3" F), #82 K. Sears(5'9" G) and nearly ranked A. Trent (6'3" F). Also came the important late signing of Slovenian S. Brecelj (6'2" G/F) who has playing experience in 6 - yes 6 - European championship tournaments.

It's very clear that Duffy is ready to coach at this level. She convinced key players to remain and that led to much of her first year success. Amoore and Strack left for KY with coach Brooks but she was able to get most to stay. As a result she didn't need much from the portal and only brought in L. White. This coming year will be different of course and the 3 players she added from the portal plus Breceli show she knows what she's doing. The 3 freshmen coming in also shows she can recruit.

So how do things look heading in to this year ? In the backcourt VT has starter Wenzel returning, with transfer Daley and either returner Suffren or transfer Swanson as probable starters. Nelson and Wells along with whoever doesn't start between Suffren/Swanson will see plenty of action in the non conference schedule until it's determined who the first player off the bench will be. As for the front court last year Duffy ran with two 6'2" starters in Baker and Micheaux. With the departure of Micheaux look for incoming "freshmen" Brecelz to take that starting position so Duffy would once again have two 6'2" players in the starting rotation. Petersen and transfer Freelon add depth off the bench.

The starters last year had a lot of experience and were accustomed to playing together. This year looks solid with 2 returning starters and 3 incoming transfers with lots of experience as well as the Slovenian Brecelz. There is good depth returning from the bench as well. The biggest challenge I see is the departure of the two post players of any real size. She addressed that to a degree with the two incoming 6'3" freshmen but they are Freshmen.

Can VT be better than last year ? It's possible but probably not by much. The top 5 teams of a year ago will probably remain at the top (with the exception of ND) but from there down those 5 through 10 spots are going to be very competitive as several teams will be much improved this year. Last year VT had some decent challenges in their non conference schedule including Iowa, Michigan, and Georgia. This year the schedule looks a bit light with the only challenges being Florida and either Vandy or Oregon State. Also last year VT was erratic : winning at GT (in dbl ot) - losing at home to VA then beating Louisville at home - losing at home to Syracuse - winning (by a lot) at VA - losing a close game at NC then losing (by 1) to Stanford at home - beating Cal at home and losing to BC on the road - just beating Clemson on the road.......and finishing the season with a trouncing by GT of 15 pts( in the 1st round of the ACC tourney) and losing to Tx Tech on their home court (2nd round of WBIT) by 10. So home court was not an advantage in their conference going 4 - 5 on the season. They did have one 3 game winning streak but their season was pretty much win 1, lose 1. So the bigger concern here is consistency and overall progression over the course of the season which was not in evidence. I would look for VT to be on the bubble again this year and a handful of games will determine where they end up.

 

[Rooster C.]

Virginia is next.

Overall Virginia had some slight improvement over the previous year. They were unranked going in to the season and finished it unranked as well. Their season came to an end in the ACC tournament where they defeated Pitt and then lost to Cal in the next round by 17. Amaka Aguagua-Hamilton has done a fairly good job at Virginia so far especially considering where they were when she took over. Her overall win pct is .667 and .352 in conference. That doesn't sound great for an in conference record but she has improved each year of the 3 years she's been there from (15 - 15/ 4 -14) year one to (16 -16/ 7 - 11) year two to (17 - 15/ 8 - 10) last year. Where do they go this year ? Is more improvement in conference play possible ? Perhaps.

What was lost : The biggest loss is obviously the 2 starters L. Lattimore (Gr. 6'4" F 14.3ppg) to Ole Miss and E. Noyan from Sweden (Jr. 6'3" F 5.7ppg) to Indiana. Also lost was reserves T. Lauterbach (6'7" C 2.7ppg) to graduation and C. Valenti-Paea from Australia (Gr. 5'9" G) to the portal (Grand Canyon) as well as P. Dunbar (So. 5'11" G) transferred to Providence.

What returns: Coach Aguagua-Hamilton is in good shape with her 3 returning starters : Leading scorer K. Johnson( Jr. 5'7" G 17.9ppg), P. Clark (Sr. 5'8" G 10.3ppg), and O. McGhee (Jr. 6'2" G 7.7ppg). Also back is first player off the bench B. Hurd (So. 6'2" F 9.4ppg). And that's it - 4 returning players.

Incoming transfers : 8 players. They are R. Dias Dos Santos (rs Sr. 5'9" G 2.6ppg) from rival FSU via Brazil, J. Brown (Gr. 5'11" G 5.7ppg) from NW, C. Weimar (Gr. 6'4" F 18.7ppg) from NC ST(sort of), R. Levy (Gr. 6'3" G/F 7.1ppg) from S.Fla./Israel, D. Arigabu (Gr. 6'4" F 3.0ppg) from W.V./Germany, T. Amanze (Sr. 6'4" F 6.0ppg) from Princeton/Nigeria, S. Smith (rs Jr. 6'2" F 6.6ppg) from LSU, and A. Ring (So. 6'5" F 3.7ppg) from UCF/Australia. Quite the TALL international group !

Incoming freshmen: #94 G. White (5'10" G).

Clearly Aguagua-Hamilton's best recruiting year was her first with two ranked players/starters in #24 K. Johnson and #45 O. McGhee. Adding #21 ranked P. Clark to the roster 2 years ago from AZ and #38 L.Lattimore from the portal last year from Miami. Last year's recruit #99 B. Hurd has been an important addition. Unfortunately as she's continued to improve her record slightly each year her recruiting has gone the other direction. Two players ranked #24 and #45 to one player ranked #99 to this year also with one player ranked #94. If she can't reverse that trend in 2026 - and all signs point to it being unlikely - she will have to live and die with the portal.

And speaking of the portal I confess I don't understand what she's going after this year - 6 players that play the power forward/center position ?! And 6 players who will not be returning after the season ends?! While she'll probably be okay this year with a solid core of 4 players/3 starters returning and maybe even next year if everything goes just right - after that she'll start to run in to trouble. It's difficult enough combining 8 incoming players but when they're from 6 different cultures and 6 of them will be fighting for minutes at essentially the same position? A LOT can go wrong over the course of a season.

My best guess is we'll see returning starters K. Johnson and P. Clark in the back court along with J. Brown from NW. Dos Santos will come in off the bench along with Hurd seeing extensive minutes again as "6th man" but they are one injury away from being in serious trouble in the back court. Last year Virginia ran with 2 front court players in Lattimore and Noyan with Lauterbach off the bench. With those 3 gone I'd expect a similar line up this year. Most likely it will be some combo of Amanze/Levy/Smith with Arigbadu and Ring seeing limited minutes.

If this team gels early enough they could improve once again. The returning core is solid and experienced and K. Johnson is a special talent. Smith has a lot of untapped upside and Levy and Amanze are decent players with lots of experience. I didn't mention Weimar because her best year was 2 years ago at Boston U. She has been injured since then and hasn't played against this level of competition yet so she's a complete unknown/wild card. But unless she's THE dominant big early on I can't see where she gets any playing time. I think fewer bigs and more guards/wings would have been more helpful and also more players who weren't just one year rentals. I think that would have added more stability to the program. They will be competitive this year no doubt but it's difficult to see them making any kind of a leap forward when at best they will have pretty much the same team as last year. As with many ACC teams this coming year a handful of games will decide their fate. Consistency and progression will be key. I would expect a similar finish to last season somewhere between 8th and 12th.

 

[Rooster C.]

We've looked at 10 teams up to this point - only 8 more to go !! Lol

Stanford is up next.

 

[cancontent]

Virginia is next.

Overall Virginia had some slight improvement over the previous year. They were unranked going in to the season and finished it unranked as well. Their season came to an end in the ACC tournament where they defeated Pitt and then lost to Cal in the next round by 17. Amaka Aguagua-Hamilton has done a fairly good job at Virginia so far especially considering where they were when she took over. Her overall win pct is .667 and .352 in conference. That doesn't sound great for an in conference record but she has improved each year of the 3 years she's been there from (15 - 15/ 4 -14) year one to (16 -16/ 7 - 11) year two to (17 - 15/ 8 - 10) last year. Where do they go this year ? Is more improvement in conference play possible ? Perhaps.

What was lost : The biggest loss is obviously the 2 starters L. Lattimore (Gr. 6'4" F 14.3ppg) to Ole Miss and E. Noyan from Sweden (Jr. 6'3" F 5.7ppg) to Indiana. Also lost was reserves T. Lauterbach (6'7" C 2.7ppg) to graduation and C. Valenti-Paea from Australia (Gr. 5'9" G) to the portal (Grand Canyon) as well as P. Dunbar (So. 5'11" G) transferred to Providence.

What returns: Coach Aguagua-Hamilton is in good shape with her 3 returning starters : Leading scorer K. Johnson( Jr. 5'7" G 17.9ppg), P. Clark (Sr. 5'8" G 10.3ppg), and O. McGhee (Jr. 6'2" G 7.7ppg). Also back is first player off the bench B. Hurd (So. 6'2" F 9.4ppg). And that's it - 4 returning players.

Incoming transfers : 8 players. They are R. Dias Dos Santos (rs Sr. 5'9" G 2.6ppg) from rival FSU via Brazil, J. Brown (Gr. 5'11" G 5.7ppg) from NW, C. Weimar (Gr. 6'4" F 18.7ppg) from NC ST(sort of), R. Levy (Gr. 6'3" G/F 7.1ppg) from S.Fla./Israel, D. Arigabu (Gr. 6'4" F 3.0ppg) from W.V./Germany, T. Amanze (Sr. 6'4" F 6.0ppg) from Princeton/Nigeria, S. Smith (rs Jr. 6'2" F 6.6ppg) from LSU, and A. Ring (So. 6'5" F 3.7ppg) from UCF/Australia. Quite the TALL international group !

Incoming freshmen: #94 G. White (5'10" G).

Clearly Aguagua-Hamilton's best recruiting year was her first with two ranked players/starters in #24 K. Johnson and #45 O. McGhee. Adding #21 ranked P. Clark to the roster 2 years ago from AZ and #38 L.Lattimore from the portal last year from Miami. Last year's recruit #99 B. Hurd has been an important addition. Unfortunately as she's continued to improve her record slightly each year her recruiting has gone the other direction. Two players ranked #24 and #45 to one player ranked #99 to this year also with one player ranked #94. If she can't reverse that trend in 2026 - and all signs point to it being unlikely - she will have to live and die with the portal.

And speaking of the portal I confess I don't understand what she's going after this year - 6 players that play the power forward/center position ?! And 6 players who will not be returning after the season ends?! While she'll probably be okay this year with a solid core of 4 players/3 starters returning and maybe even next year if everything goes just right - after that she'll start to run in to trouble. It's difficult enough combining 8 incoming players but when they're from 6 different cultures and 6 of them will be fighting for minutes at essentially the same position? A LOT can go wrong over the course of a season.

My best guess is we'll see returning starters K. Johnson and P. Clark in the back court along with J. Brown from NW. Dos Santos will come in off the bench along with Hurd seeing extensive minutes again as "6th man" but they are one injury away from being in serious trouble in the back court. Last year Virginia ran with 2 front court players in Lattimore and Noyan with Lauterbach off the bench. With those 3 gone I'd expect a similar line up this year. Most likely it will be some combo of Amanze/Levy/Smith with Arigbadu and Ring seeing limited minutes.

If this team gels early enough they could improve once again. The returning core is solid and experienced and K. Johnson is a special talent. Smith has a lot of untapped upside and Levy and Amanze are decent players with lots of experience. I didn't mention Weimar because her best year was 2 years ago at Boston U. She has been injured since then and hasn't played against this level of competition yet so she's a complete unknown/wild card. But unless she's THE dominant big early on I can't see where she gets any playing time. I think fewer bigs and more guards/wings would have been more helpful and also more players who weren't just one year rentals. I think that would have added more stability to the program. They will be competitive this year no doubt but it's difficult to see them making any kind of a leap forward when at best they will have pretty much the same team as last year. As with many ACC teams this coming year a handful of games will decide their fate. Consistency and progression will be key. I would expect a similar finish to last season somewhere between 8th and 12th.

Regarding Lattimore, after seeing her play during the recent GloblJam event, I'll be studying her performance at Ole Miss more closely. Her play last season was the closest to the potential that was seen in her during her high school days. Hopefully it translates well in the SEC this season.

 

[cancontent]

We've looked at 10 teams up to this point - only 8 more to go !! Lol

Stanford is up next.

And we appreciate the effort and detail you've put into every one!!!

 

[YKCornelius]

Virginia is next.

Overall Virginia had some slight improvement over the previous year. They were unranked going in to the season and finished it unranked as well. Their season came to an end in the ACC tournament where they defeated Pitt and then lost to Cal in the next round by 17. Amaka Aguagua-Hamilton has done a fairly good job at Virginia so far especially considering where they were when she took over. Her overall win pct is .667 and .352 in conference. That doesn't sound great for an in conference record but she has improved each year of the 3 years she's been there from (15 - 15/ 4 -14) year one to (16 -16/ 7 - 11) year two to (17 - 15/ 8 - 10) last year. Where do they go this year ? Is more improvement in conference play possible ? Perhaps.

What was lost : The biggest loss is obviously the 2 starters L. Lattimore (Gr. 6'4" F 14.3ppg) to Ole Miss and E. Noyan from Sweden (Jr. 6'3" F 5.7ppg) to Indiana. Also lost was reserves T. Lauterbach (6'7" C 2.7ppg) to graduation and C. Valenti-Paea from Australia (Gr. 5'9" G) to the portal (Grand Canyon) as well as P. Dunbar (So. 5'11" G) transferred to Providence.

What returns: Coach Aguagua-Hamilton is in good shape with her 3 returning starters : Leading scorer K. Johnson( Jr. 5'7" G 17.9ppg), P. Clark (Sr. 5'8" G 10.3ppg), and O. McGhee (Jr. 6'2" G 7.7ppg). Also back is first player off the bench B. Hurd (So. 6'2" F 9.4ppg). And that's it - 4 returning players.

Incoming transfers : 8 players. They are R. Dias Dos Santos (rs Sr. 5'9" G 2.6ppg) from rival FSU via Brazil, J. Brown (Gr. 5'11" G 5.7ppg) from NW, C. Weimar (Gr. 6'4" F 18.7ppg) from NC ST(sort of), R. Levy (Gr. 6'3" G/F 7.1ppg) from S.Fla./Israel, D. Arigabu (Gr. 6'4" F 3.0ppg) from W.V./Germany, T. Amanze (Sr. 6'4" F 6.0ppg) from Princeton/Nigeria, S. Smith (rs Jr. 6'2" F 6.6ppg) from LSU, and A. Ring (So. 6'5" F 3.7ppg) from UCF/Australia. Quite the TALL international group !

Incoming freshmen: #94 G. White (5'10" G).

Clearly Aguagua-Hamilton's best recruiting year was her first with two ranked players/starters in #24 K. Johnson and #45 O. McGhee. Adding #21 ranked P. Clark to the roster 2 years ago from AZ and #38 L.Lattimore from the portal last year from Miami. Last year's recruit #99 B. Hurd has been an important addition. Unfortunately as she's continued to improve her record slightly each year her recruiting has gone the other direction. Two players ranked #24 and #45 to one player ranked #99 to this year also with one player ranked #94. If she can't reverse that trend in 2026 - and all signs point to it being unlikely - she will have to live and die with the portal.

And speaking of the portal I confess I don't understand what she's going after this year - 6 players that play the power forward/center position ?! And 6 players who will not be returning after the season ends?! While she'll probably be okay this year with a solid core of 4 players/3 starters returning and maybe even next year if everything goes just right - after that she'll start to run in to trouble. It's difficult enough combining 8 incoming players but when they're from 6 different cultures and 6 of them will be fighting for minutes at essentially the same position? A LOT can go wrong over the course of a season.

My best guess is we'll see returning starters K. Johnson and P. Clark in the back court along with J. Brown from NW. Dos Santos will come in off the bench along with Hurd seeing extensive minutes again as "6th man" but they are one injury away from being in serious trouble in the back court. Last year Virginia ran with 2 front court players in Lattimore and Noyan with Lauterbach off the bench. With those 3 gone I'd expect a similar line up this year. Most likely it will be some combo of Amanze/Levy/Smith with Arigbadu and Ring seeing limited minutes.

If this team gels early enough they could improve once again. The returning core is solid and experienced and K. Johnson is a special talent. Smith has a lot of untapped upside and Levy and Amanze are decent players with lots of experience. I didn't mention Weimar because her best year was 2 years ago at Boston U. She has been injured since then and hasn't played against this level of competition yet so she's a complete unknown/wild card. But unless she's THE dominant big early on I can't see where she gets any playing time. I think fewer bigs and more guards/wings would have been more helpful and also more players who weren't just one year rentals. I think that would have added more stability to the program. They will be competitive this year no doubt but it's difficult to see them making any kind of a leap forward when at best they will have pretty much the same team as last year. As with many ACC teams this coming year a handful of games will decide their fate. Consistency and progression will be key. I would expect a similar finish to last season somewhere between 8th and 12th.

Rooster, great analysis once again. Thanks for doing this. I agree Virginia will be interesting to watch develop (or not). My thought as to why Coach Aguagua-Hamilton brought in the six "bigs" is because of the questions/concerns that each of them have. Said differently, each is an insurance package against the others. A risky gambit for sure.

If Weimer can somehow bounce back from hip surgery (a huge "if"), I think she will be sharing the post duties with Amanze and to a lesser degree Smith. Right after Weimer, Ring is the next biggest wild card in the post. If she can make a sophomore leap, watch out. At 6-5, she is the future so I suspect she will get a lot of minutes.

Interesting that in Amanze, Weimer, Smith and Arigbadu are all back-to-the-basket players. Between the four of them they only attempted four threes in 270 games. With a guard oriented offense, one would reasonably expect that to continue.

Romi Levy is not a post player by any stretch of the imagination. Although tall, she is extremely thin (think Dewanna Bonner) and shied away from contact her two years at USF. She is a slasher who likes to shoot jump shots and the three when open. A very, streaky player who didn't shoot well the entirety of last season.

You are right that there is a LOT to gel in Charlottesville. If everything falls into place, a .500 record in conference could happen - and would certainly be impressive.

 

[Bone Dog]

I doubt Weimar will see significant playing time. But if she does it will be a pleasant surprise.

I’m also very curious about Romi. She’s quick for 6’3” and if she can sustain her energy level she can change games.

 

[Rooster C.]

Regarding Lattimore, after seeing her play during the recent GloblJam event, I'll be studying her performance at Ole Miss more closely. Her play last season was the closest to the potential that was seen in her during her high school days. Hopefully it translates well in the SEC this season.

I recall a year ago when someone on here was asking for some insight on Lattimore and I sang her praises mentioning her ability to block shots, run the floor, score and rebound inside, and was developing a nice 3 pt shot. It put that person's mind at ease a bit but someone else on here responded by stating that she had never lived up to her hs ranking and was a very average player. Well I think we found out as she was in heavy demand when she hit the portal with her 14.3ppg and 8.2 boards/game. She was ranked in the top 20 players in the portal according to espn.

 

[TheFarmFan]

We've looked at 10 teams up to this point - only 8 more to go !! Lol

Stanford is up next.

 

[Rooster C.]

Rooster, great analysis once again. Thanks for doing this. I agree Virginia will be interesting to watch develop (or not). My thought as to why Coach Aguagua-Hamilton brought in the six "bigs" is because of the questions/concerns that each of them have. Said differently, each is an insurance package against the others. A risky gambit for sure.

If Weimer can somehow bounce back from hip surgery (a huge "if"), I think she will be sharing the post duties with Amanze and to a lesser degree Smith. Right after Weimer, Ring is the next biggest wild card in the post. If she can make a sophomore leap, watch out. At 6-5, she is the future so I suspect she will get a lot of minutes.

Interesting that in Amanze, Weimer, Smith and Arigbadu are all back-to-the-basket players. Between the four of them they only attempted four threes in 270 games. With a guard oriented offense, one would reasonably expect that to continue.

Romi Levy is not a post player by any stretch of the imagination. Although tall, she is extremely thin (think Dewanna Bonner) and shied away from contact her two years at USF. She is a slasher who likes to shoot jump shots and the three when open. A very, streaky player who didn't shoot well the entirety of last season.

You are right that there is a LOT to gel in Charlottesville. If everything falls into place, a .500 record in conference could happen - and would certainly be impressive.

Very nice assessment of all their post players. While I agree Levy (at 6'3") is not "really" a post player that's also true of many of the 6'2" forwards in wbb at the college level - and quite a few that ARE true post players. There's something to be said for having a player of her size who can stretch the floor/ shoot over smaller defenders, especially when paired with another post player who is handling that task. Last season Virginia went with two (Lattimore/Noyan) and I believe she'll go with two again. I'm not sure with so many possible combinations she has the time to figure out who those 2 players are until later in the season. Playing "russian roulette" usually doesn't result with anybody being happy. I still think she has too many post players.

 

[cancontent]

I recall a year ago when someone on here was asking for some insight on Lattimore and I sang her praises mentioning her ability to block shots, run the floor, score and rebound inside, and was developing a nice 3 pt shot. It put that person's mind at ease a bit but someone else on here responded by stating that she had never lived up to her hs ranking and was a very average player. Well I think we found out as she was in heavy demand when she hit the portal with her 14.3ppg and 8.2 boards/game. She was ranked in the top 20 players in the portal according to espn.

All this is true, however she has also attended 3 different programs until it started to click like it did last season. Demand in the portal for her is one thing, however we've also seen these moves fail to work out as a player may hope. Her friend Day-Wilson's time at LSU is a good example.

The concern is that she'll regress in her final season when there's chatter about her being a potential late draft pick in 2026. I've seen Lattimore come up the ranks and the hype machine her team created for her and Day-Wilson. She has an opportunity to establish herself further if things go well.

She finally had a season that showed her potential consistently throughout a season. If things fail to work out at Ole Miss after making the progress she has, it would be disappointing.

 

[Rooster C.]

All this is true, however she has also attended 3 different programs until it started to click like it did last season. Demand in the portal for her is one thing, however we've also seen these moves fail to work out as a player may hope. Her friend Day-Wilson's time at LSU is a good example.

The concern is that she'll regress in her final season when there's chatter about her being a potential late draft pick in 2026. I've seen Lattimore come up the ranks and the hype machine her team created for her and Day-Wilson. She has an opportunity to establish herself further if things go well.

She finally had a season that showed her potential consistently throughout a season. If things fail to work out at Ole Miss after making the progress she has, it would be disappointing.

I mostly agree. If not for things blowing up at Syracuse just before arriving there with Day-Wilson things would probably have gone very differently. That team was loaded. Her freshman year at Texas was mediocre but most freshmen really struggle and with the unexpected situation happening at Syracuse I'll give her a pass although I am surprised her choice would be the school where the former Syracuse coach is now located. Her first year at Miami as a sophomore was progressing by leaps and bounds and when paired with Z. Spearman (now at TN) they were a powerful tandem. Sadly she tore her ACL early in the season and that was the end of that. When she returned the next year she slowly worked her way back in to playing ahape and was really coming on strong at the end - the tandem with Spearman was working again. I think Miami was expected to be in the tournament (C.Creme had them in and not as a play-in either) but I think there were some forces working against them and they were snubbed (although winning a couple more games down the stretch would certainly have helped). I think Lattimore would have shown her skills in the tournament but that opportunity never came. With Meier's retirement (which is tied in to being snubbed by the committee) She left along with most everybody else. I think she would have stayed along with most of the team had Meier remained. So why she left after a year at Virginia I can only speculate that she wanted more national attention and so a chance to improve her WNBA stock along with it. A 6'4" player isn't what it used to be and you see more and more players her height not sticking on WNBA teams unless they are really special. Leauge expansion will help but she'll have to be far more dominant than she's shown. She will definitely help Ole Miss this year but beyond that .....there's always Europe!