U of L women’s basketball tabbed No. 17 in AP poll; picked fourth in the ACC

The University of Louisville women’s basketball roster features eight freshmen and just five players back who contributed last season.

But that doesn’t matter to the preseason prognosticators.

The Cardinals were ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press preseason poll that was released on Tuesday, while the program was tabbed as the No. 4 pick in the ACC Preseason poll.

“We’re trying to get the consistency,” U of L coach Jeff Walz said last week at ACC media day. “The one thing I will say — and I say it in a positive way — the old saying, ignorance is bliss. I have freshmen out there that are playing as hard as they can, and it’s fantastic.

“Are we always doing the right thing? No. But they’re doing it hard. That’s one thing that we talk about and I always talk about. We can teach you and try to show you what to do, but when we’ve got to teach effort and coach effort, it’s not going to happen.”

In the AP poll, the Cardinals were the fifth-highest-ranked ACC team behind No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 9 NC State, No. 11 Duke, and No. 15 North Carolina. The top five of the overall poll includes South Carolina, UConn, USC, Texas, and UCLA.

In the ACC poll, the conference’s 18 head coaches and its Blue Ribbon Panel of 61 voters ranked U of L fourth behind Notre Dame, NC State, and Duke. The Cardinals are just ahead of Florida State, UNC, and Stanford.

U of L freshman Imari Berry was named to the ACC Newcomer Watch List.

Berry comes to the Cardinals as their highest-ranked recruit in the incoming class according to ESPN HoopGurlz. Berry was a five-star recruit ranked No. 19 overall and was one of four Louisville recruits ranked in the Top-100 overall. The Cardinals recruiting class as a whole was ranked No. 6 by ESPN, the highest-ranked class in the ACC.

This will be Louisville’s 11th season in the ACC and they have finished in the top-five of the league in each of their 10 seasons. They are the only team in the league to finish fifth or better in each of the last 10 seasons. 

U of L will open the season at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 4 in Paris against UCLA in the Aflac Oui-Play event.

Blue Ribbon Panel Preseason All-ACC Team (First-place votes – 79 voters)

Hannah Hidalgo So., G, Notre Dame 921 (62 first-place votes)

Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State 734 (9 first-place votes)

Saniya Rivers, NC State 527 (2 first-place votes)

Aziaha James, NC State 473 (1 first-place vote)

Olivia Miles, Notre Dame 457 (4 first-place votes)

Sonia Citron, Notre Dame 331

Makayla Timpson, Florida State 315

Alyssa Ustby, North Carolina 308

Reigan Richardson, Duke 202

Kymora Johnson, Virginia 193 (1 first-place vote)

Newcomer Watch List

Toby Fournier, Duke 222

Imari Berry, Louisville 180

Kate Koval, Notre Dame 177

Zamareya Jones, NC State 116

Liza Karlen, Notre Dame 109

Blue Ribbon Panel Predicted Order of Finish (79 voters)

1. Notre Dame (70), 1726
2. NC State (8), 1617
3. Duke, 1446
4. Louisville, 1370
5. Florida State, 1335
6. North Carolina, 1279
7. Stanford (1), 1214
8. Miami, 883
9. Virginia, 877
10. Georgia Tech, 855
11. Syracuse, 801
12. Virginia Tech, 786
13. Clemson, 553
14. California, 546
15. Boston College, 533
16. SMU, 274
17. Wake Forest, 259
18. Pitt, 233