All-ACC Teams

[23UNC]

2025-26 All-ACC Women’s Basketball Team (as voted on by the league’s Blue Ribbon Panel)
Player of the Year: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
Defensive Player of the Year: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
Rookie of the Year: Uche Izoje, Syracuse
Coach of the Year: Kara Lawson, Duke
Sixth Player of the Year: Imari Berry, Louisville
Most Improved Player: Cassandre Prosper, Notre Dame

All-ACC First Team
Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame 1,147
Toby Fournier, Duke 1,085
Kymora Johnson, Virginia 956
Khamil Pierre, NC State 923
Zoe Brooks, NC State 758
Uche Izoje, Syracuse 739
Laura Ziegler, Louisville 562
Taina Mair, Duke 481
Ra Shaya Kyle, Miami 469
Talayah Walker, Georgia Tech 435

All-ACC Second Team
Nyla Harris, North Carolina 411
Lulu Twidale, California 392
Ashlon Jackson, Duke 371
Tajianna Roberts, Louisville 336
Nunu Agara, Stanford 329
Carleigh Wenzel, Virginia Tech 326
Mia Moore, Clemson 289
Indya Nivar, North Carolina 287
Cassandre Prosper, Notre Dame 269
Imari Berry, Louisville 234

All-Defensive Team
Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame 326
Toby Fournier, Duke 215
Uche Izoje, Syracuse 197
Indya Nivar, North Carolina 121
Taina Mair, Duke 103
Brianna Turnage, Georgia Tech 83

All-Freshman Team
Uche Izoje, Syracuse 340
Lara Somfai, Stanford 239
Arianna Roberson, Duke 169
Nyla Brooks, North Carolina 142
Theresa Hagans, Pitt 97
Milan Brown, Wake Forest 84

Coach of the Year
Kara Lawson, Duke 193
Jeff Walz, Louisville 97
Felisha Legette-Jack, Syracuse 75

Sixth Player of the Year
Imari Berry, Louisville 223
Arianna Roberson, Duke 95
Nyla Brooks, North Carolina 68

Most Improved Player
Cassandre Prosper, Notre Dame 86
Brianna Turnage, Georgia Tech 74
Elif Istanbulluoglu, Louisville 69

2025-26 All-ACC Team (as voted on by the league’s head coaches)
Player of the Year: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
Defensive Player of the Year: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
Rookie of the Year: Uche Izoje, Syracuse
Coach of the Year: Kara Lawson, Duke
Sixth Player of the Year: Imari Berry, Louisville
Most Improved Player: Cassandre Prosper, Notre Dame

All-ACC First Team
Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame 334
Toby Fournier, Duke 320
Kymora Johnson, Virginia 299
Khamil Pierre, NC State 274
Zoe Brooks, NC State 250
Uche Izoje, Syracuse 212
Laura Ziegler, Louisville 181
Nyla Harris, North Carolina 163
Tajianna Roberts, Louisville 150
Ashlon Jackson, Duke 147

All-ACC Second Team
Taina Mair, Duke 137
Ra Shaya Kyle, Miami 127
Mia Moore, Clemson 114
Lulu Twidale, California 112
Carleigh Wenzel, Virginia Tech 110
Carys Baker, Virginia Tech 99
Nunu Agara, Stanford 90
Talayah Walker, Georgia Tech 89
Indya Nivar, North Carolina 87
Laila Phelia, Syracuse 84

All-Defensive Team
Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame 102
Toby Fournier, Duke 60
Uche Izoje, Syracuse 55
Indya Nivar, North Carolina 53
Taina Mair, Duke 30
Brianna Turnage, Georgia Tech 19

All-Freshman Team
Uche Izoje, Syracuse 96
Arianna Roberson, Duke 62
Lara Somfai, Stanford 57
Nyla Brooks, North Carolina 47
Hailee Swain, Stanford 34
Theresa Hagans, Pitt 25

Coach of the Year
Kara Lawson, Duke 66
Jeff Walz, Louisville 41
Felisha Legette-Jack, Syracuse 21

Sixth Player of the Year
Imari Berry, Louisville 75
Arianna Roberson, Duke 32
Chloe Clardy, Stanford 24

Most Improved Player
Cassandre Prosper, Notre Dame 60
Elif Istanbulluoglu, Louisville 30
Zamareya Jones, NC State 22

 

[Jriv23]

Congratulations two all three young ladies. Go Heels!

 

[tarboy]

Congratulations to the Lady Tar Heels honored.

 

[6string]

okay all you Heels who got slighted, get mad and prove them wrong.

 

[3397char]

I just posted this on another thread, not realizing the awards had come out:



It won’t happen but Banghart deserves ACC Coach of the Year. It is a LOT harder to win with no stars, team balance/depth and defense than what other top ACC teams did.

Watch: we will get maybe one player at the bottom of the 15 player All-ACC team, the least result of all the top teams. Yet she will be 3rd at best in ACC coach voting.

(I obviouly did not realize they rebalanced the 1st team depth this year, but I was right about the top 15)

 

[tarboy]

I hope next season she goes undefeated and there is no way she can be overlooked.

The only dissenting vote will be Muffet McGraw on the ACC Network. Lol.

She will vote for the ND coach or Kara

 

[Jriv23]

We just cannot get any love. This is happening in all of our sports. I guess we will have to keep the receipts. Go Heels!

 

[unc80]

I just posted this on another thread, not realizing the awards had come out:



It won’t happen but Banghart deserves ACC Coach of the Year. It is a LOT harder to win with no stars, team balance/depth and defense than what other top ACC teams did.

Watch: we will get maybe one player at the bottom of the 15 player All-ACC team, the least result of all the top teams. Yet she will be 3rd at best in ACC coach voting.

(I obviouly did not realize they rebalanced the 1st team depth this year, but I was right about the top 15)

Good point about CB. Based on the all-star voting results, you would expect to us around 6th or 7th in the league standings.

 

[akillesheel17]

Harris making the coaches' All-ACC first team but not the media's makes a ton of sense, lol.

Biggest UNC snub for me might be Toomey not getting even third-place voting for MIP

 

[kjcooper]

Believe that Duke was the pre-season favorite to win the conference, that does not justify Lawson being coach of the year. What's going to be the excuse when Duke loses in the ACCT, and being a second round early exit in the NCAAT. Still do not understand the love for T.F. at Duke, from the media and the coaches.

 

[Bucwild88]

Good point about CB. Based on the all-star voting results, you would expect to us around 6th or 7th in the league standings.

ACC preseason rankings. Carolina and Dook finished were they were projected to finish to at. Syracuse had the best turnaround on preseason projections. It came down to the Dook's 17 game winning streak after losing six out of nine. being valued over what every other ACC team did.

 

[3397char]

ACC preseason rankings. Carolina and Dook finished were they were projected to finish to at. Syracuse had the best turnaround on preseason projections. It came down to the Dook's 17 game winning streak after losing six out of nine. being valued over what every other ACC team did.

one caveat: those rankings were largely based on returning players who had post-season accolades from last year. Here were the only returning players in the ACC with their post season voting ranking:

1. dook: Fournier (#13, ROY), Jackson (#18), Donovan (All Def team)
2. ND: Hidalgo (#1, POY, DPOY)
3. NCSU: Brooks (#11, Most improved)
4. UNC: Kelly (#22), Grant (Fresh Team)
5. Stanford: Agara (#23)
6. Louisville: Roberts (All Def Team)

So dook was far and away the best choice to lead the ACC. ND would have been higher, but they had a massive exodus of players out of the program. UNC and NCSU both lost 3 seniors with all-conference accolades in their past.

There were almost no notable transfers into the ACC, but many notable transfers out of the ACC. And no ACC team had a top recruiting class. Stan, dook and Louisville each had one top 15 recruit, UNC had two top 25 recruits. So nobody looked to rebuild as much as mature from within and just patch holes with recruits and transfers.

So my caveat is, a lot of UNC's 3rd pace voting was based on Kelly leading the team. There was so little else that looked great in the ACC it really was based on what few stars returned, mixed with how well you did last season. Yet if any of these voters knew that Kelly would be merely either a rotational player or completely out for 90% of the season, no way we would have been 3rd. We were the 7th youngest team in the country and even younger with Kelly unable to play.

It is totally fine to vote for the clear regular season champ. I understand the voting for Louisville, a pretty strong rebuilding job. Cuse for not sucking their way to 7th place and getting on the NCAA bubble? OK I guess, but not ever a vote I would make.

But this makes 5 of 5 years that Banghart did not make top 3 in COY votes. (They only announce the top 3 vote getters the last 5 years and only the champ before that.) No she did not earn a top 3 all of those years. Definitely not. But never? No love. This year was the biggest slight, in my opinion.

 

[Jriv23]

As I stated before, all of our teams get slighted by the analyst, media, etc. We saw this in Lacrosse all last year. The analyst did not saw or mentioned that in 2024 the majority of the starters were hurt for the year and that was why they had a down year. But as soon as one of BC's or NW's main players got hurt and could not play, they make blank sure that mentioned it before the game started. They have their favorite coaches and teams for sure, but that is okay, the best way to shut them up and to just keep on wining and win the whole thing.

 

[tarboy]

Win Tar Heels Win !

I for one would not trade Coach CB for any coach in the ACC. I love how this team is playing.

 

[kjcooper]

Next year this team will be a force, not only in the ACC but the National level as well. CB as has been mentioned does a great job of retaining players with the help of the GM for women's basketball. If a player decides to depart it's due to playing time, and CB does a good job of rotating players in and out depending on the opponent.

 

[JOB1937]

Believe that Duke was the pre-season favorite to win the conference, that does not justify Lawson being coach of the year. What's going to be the excuse when Duke loses in the ACCT, and being a second round early exit in the NCAAT. Still do not understand the love for T.F. at Duke, from the media and the coaches.

Yeah, every time I watch Fournier, I come away unimpressed.

 

[Viking131]

Yeah, every time I watch Fournier, I come away unimpressed.

Agree. She's good, but not as good the way they be hyping her up to be.

 

[3397char]

Yeah, every time I watch Fournier, I come away unimpressed.

In fairness, she performs a lot better against teams not wearing light blue

 

[tarboy]

JMO but I think Lanie Grant should have made All ACC 2nd team and Ciera Toomey should have been
in the conversation for most improved.

 

[UNC76]

We were 0-4 shooting FTs in the 4th quarter vs Louisville, including 2 crucial ones with 5 seconds left. If we make just 1 of them, and the refs don't completely swallow their whistles in Durham, we are the outright regular season champs. I'm still not convinced that would have been enough for Courtney to win COY. There is just too much dook love and anti-UNC bias out there.

 

[tarboy]

UNC78 you are absolutely correct. As the saying goes "to the victor goes the spoils" I guess
I have to agree with.

The botched inbounds play and the missed free throws vs Louisville and the missed late game layup with
the lead late in the game vs Stanford saddly was on the players.

Coach CB did what a good coach has to do which is put her team in position to win the game.

I think we have a good chance to win the ACC Tournament if we come in with our minds right and our
shots zeroed in.

Go Tar Heel WBB.

 

[Bucwild88]

one caveat: those rankings were largely based on returning players who had post-season accolades from last year. Here were the only returning players in the ACC with their post season voting ranking:

1. dook: Fournier (#13, ROY), Jackson (#18), Donovan (All Def team)
2. ND: Hidalgo (#1, POY, DPOY)
3. NCSU: Brooks (#11, Most improved)
4. UNC: Kelly (#22), Grant (Fresh Team)
5. Stanford: Agara (#23)
6. Louisville: Roberts (All Def Team)

So dook was far and away the best choice to lead the ACC. ND would have been higher, but they had a massive exodus of players out of the program. UNC and NCSU both lost 3 seniors with all-conference accolades in their past.

There were almost no notable transfers into the ACC, but many notable transfers out of the ACC. And no ACC team had a top recruiting class. Stan, dook and Louisville each had one top 15 recruit, UNC had two top 25 recruits. So nobody looked to rebuild as much as mature from within and just patch holes with recruits and transfers.

So my caveat is, a lot of UNC's 3rd pace voting was based on Kelly leading the team. There was so little else that looked great in the ACC it really was based on what few stars returned, mixed with how well you did last season. Yet if any of these voters knew that Kelly would be merely either a rotational player or completely out for 90% of the season, no way we would have been 3rd. We were the 7th youngest team in the country and even younger with Kelly unable to play.

It is totally fine to vote for the clear regular season champ. I understand the voting for Louisville, a pretty strong rebuilding job. Cuse for not sucking their way to 7th place and getting on the NCAA bubble? OK I guess, but not ever a vote I would make.

But this makes 5 of 5 years that Banghart did not make top 3 in COY votes. (They only announce the top 3 vote getters the last 5 years and only the champ before that.) No she did not earn a top 3 all of those years. Definitely not. But never? No love. This year was the biggest slight, in opinion

The ACC had three teams in the top 10 of 2025 recruiting class rankings. Stanford was third, Carolina was fifth, and Miami was tenth. The ACC in general has an issue retaining players due to the NIL.

2025 NCAA women's basketball recruiting: Top 25 class rankings

With four top-40 recruits, the Tigers retain the top spot in the latest edition of our top 25.

www.espn.com

 

[uman1]

If Duke wins today, it solidifies that Kara was the correct choice as ACC COY imo.

 

[tarboy]

She earned the honor, just most of us hate it.

With all the media love she might have gotten the award and not had a good team.Lol

 

[Jriv23]

Yeah, Kara deserves the COY award for the ACC. You cannot argue and hate what she and her team has done this year. They are back to back ACCT champions as well as regular season champs. That is hard to do in this day and age. Congrats to her and Duke.

 

[Mtns2Sea]

The only dissenting vote will be Muffet McGraw on the ACC Network. Lol.

She will vote for the ND coach or Kara

We were at the ACC WBB tourney. It was somewhat humorous to watch how painful it was for Muffet to have to participate in Lanie's interview after we beat VaTech. She is in the "ABC" camp for sure!

 

[Mtns2Sea]

Just an observation on my part - I have noticed that Duke seems to do a better job promoting their WBB team in a couple of different ways than we do. I've seen a number of 30 second Duke WBB ads on Spectrum Channel 14 and I think I also saw a billboard earlier this season off of I-40 between Greensboro and the Hwy 54 exit. I don't recall seeing any UNC WBB TV ads but maybe I'm just not watching the channels they've been shown on. We do have a consistently updated presence on FB, Instagram and "X," all of which are great.