Ball Durham
Fansided

Women’s Basketball ACC Tournament Preview

By Chris Brown

facebooktwitterreddit

The 2015 Women’s ACC Basketball Tournament kicks off today in Greensboro, NC, with the 10th-15th ranked teams in the conference facing off against each other in the first round. The Duke Blue Devils finished 20-9 overall and 11-5 in the ACC for the regular season, with a very young team that had to overcome a lot of obstacles throughout the year and play a very difficult schedule this season.

Duke is the #4 seed in the tournament behind Notre Dame, Florida State, and Louisville, and will receive a double-bye thanks to their close victory against UNC Sunday to push them ahead of the Tar Heels and keep the tie-breaker over Syracuse in the conference standings. Syracuse plays the winner of today’s matchup between #12 Boston College and #13 Wake Forest tomorrow, and Duke will play the winner of that second round game Friday in the quarterfinals.

Despite this, Duke has been able to dominate in the paint and in rebounds all year. However, they have struggled a lot with turnovers, bench points, and defending/making three pointers this season, all of which have plauged them in all of their losses and increased in games on the road away from Cameron in the regular season.

More from Duke Basketball

Duke will need to at least win their first game in the quarterfinals in order to finish ranked in the top 16 and be able to host the First and Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in Durham and possibly even upset the #1 seed Notre Dame in the semifinals to play in Durham (Duke is currently #16). ESPN also currently projects the Blue Devils to be a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament Bracket for March Madness.

Notre Dame, the preseason favorite, will be the top seed in the tournament who Duke will face in the semifinals if they win on Friday. The Fighting Irish are 28-2, their only losses coming to UConn and Miami. Duke played Notre Dame well in their only match-up this season, but the Fighting Irish and preseason ACC Player of the Year Jewell Loyd were able to pull in the 2nd half to win the game.

A win against #2 Notre Dame to go to the ACC Championship Game help the Blue Devils in the NCAA Tournament not only for their seeding in the tournament and hosting on campus, but it will also greatly increase their confidence as they move forward in the post season.

More from Ball Durham

A surprise team is Florida State, who was picked in the preseason to finish 5th in the conference and unranked but are 2nd in the conference and #7 in the nation finishing 27-3 and 14-2 in the conference, only losing in the ACC at Notre Dame and at UNC. FSU upset Duke in Tallahassee earlier this season 74-58. The Louisville Cardinals will also be making their ACC Tournament debut this season as the #3 seed and ranked 8th in the NCAA. The Blue Devils were able to upset against then-#8 Louisville in Cameron Indoor Stadium in early February, winning 66-58.

Additionally, the 2014-2015 Blue Ribbon Media All-ACC Women’s Basketball Teams have been released and two Blue Devils were honored this year. Senior center Elizabeth Williams was named to the All-ACC First Team for the 4th straight year, becoming the second player in ACC history to make the all-conference first team four years in a row joining Duke alum Alana Beard (2001-2004).

Freshman forward Azurá Stevens was also honored by the conference, being named to the All-ACC Freshman Team and the All-ACC Second Team after averaging 14.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and a field goal percentage of 52.7% in her first season with the Blue Devils. Stevens was also named ACC Freshman of the Week four times this year in the regular season. As a side note, redshirt freshman Rebecca Greenwell was ineligible for the All-ACC Freshmen Team because it’s reserved true freshmen only.

Home/Duke Basketball