The defending conference tournament champion is staring straight into the possibility of a last-place finish. The league's most exciting player stars for a team that has never finished in the top three in the conference. And the defending national runner-up is picked to finish fourth in the preseason.
Women's basketball in the ACC has turned topsy-turvy and become about as predictable as the PowerBall Lottery.
But standing firm against the changing landscape of the ACC is head coach Sylvia Hatchell and her North Carolina squad. The Tar Heels have finished among the top three teams in the ACC five of the last seven seasons and appear to have all the elements to continue that trend this season.
A glittering triumvirate of preseason All-America candidates, guards Nikki Teasley and Juana Brown and forward LaQuanda Barksdale, spearhead arguably the most athletic team in the conference. The junior trio combined for close to 60 percent of Carolina's scoring in ACC play and nearly all of its swagger last season.
"They've all played a lot and have proven what they can do basketball-wise," Hatchell said. "Now they've got to be leaders."
Strangely, the brash trio are the elder stateswomen on a North Carolina team with no seniors on the roster. But what the Tar Heels lack in experience, they make up for in raw talent. Freshman guard Coretta Brown (No. 18 Blue Star), forward Jennifer Thomas (No. 32 Blue Star) and junior transfer Jasmyn Huntington headline a group of newcomers that has the Carmichael faithful talking championship for the first time since 1994.
If the folks in Chapel Hill are excited about their freshmen, then N.C. State's followers are absolutely boiling over in anticipation of the debut of their freshmen. The Wolfpack brought in the third-ranked recruiting class in the country, anchored by 6-foot-3 forward Kaayla Chones. A gifted scorer and rebounder, Chones joins returning ACC player of the year Summer Erb and forward Monica Bates to form the most potent frontline in the ACC.
"Summer is definitely a key player for us and our go-to person in the post," N.C. State coach Kay Yow said. "As Summer's endurance level increases, her game will continue to improve."
But who will get the ball to Erb may be the biggest question Yow faces. Preseason All-ACC pick Tynesha Lewis is the Wolfpack's only proven player in the backcourt, while freshman Terah James (No. 29 Blue Star) replaces the reliable but unspectacular Kristen Gillespie at the point. James' poise and ability to handle the rigors of ACC play as a freshman could prove crucial to N.C. State's chances of living up to its expectations.
Georgia Tech, however, has no worries about its point guard situation. Sophomore Niesha Butler returns to handle the point after earning a spot on the freshman All-America team last season. An enigma out of high school because of her less-than-stellar competition in the New York private school leagues, Butler truly emerged last season from a purely raw talent to perhaps the best point guard in the ACC.
"Niesha Butler is awesome," coach Agnus Beranato said. "She's an awesome player, and awesome person.... When she first got here, she didn't know about things like passing. She's had to learn all that."
Butler also learned a tough lesson in NCAA regulations this summer. Renowned director Spike Lee offered Butler $300,000 and the lead female role in Lee's upcoming film, Love and Basketball, this summer. But to retain her eligibility, Butler turned down the offer and returned to Atlanta for a chance to lead the Yellow Jackets to only their second-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
Whether or not the Jackets get there, however, will depend more on Butler's teammates. Vastly improved forward Regina Tate and Danielle Donehew, Georgia Tech's homecoming queen who's never met a three-pointer she didn't like, will serve as Beranato's second and third options on offense.
But as far as one-two-three punches go, it doesn't get much better in the ACC than Florida State's Latavia Coleman, Brooke Wyckoff and April Traylor.
Coleman began last year's ACC campaign hotter than a firecracker, blistering UNC for 38 points before suffering a season-ending torn ACL in practice the day after Christmas. Wyckoff and Traylor, who showed themselves to be prolific scorers in Coleman's absence, should benefit tremendously from the forward's return.
FSU's NCAA hopes are also boosted by freshman guard Shinikki Whiting (No. 12 Blue Star) and junior college transfer Levys Torres, who averaged nearly 19 rebounds per game at Chipola Junior College.
In a year when every ACC team seems to boast of at least one outstanding freshman, Virginia and Debbie Ryan can claim one of its own in D.C. product Schuyle (pronounced Sky) LaRue (No. 18 Blue Star). The 6-foot-3 LaRue has wowed Ryan in preseason workouts and has the coach thinking big after losing perennial All-ACC forward DeMya Walker to graduation.
"It could be a rebuilding year," Ryan said. "But I would venture a guess that if some people came to play, then it won't be."
Preseason All-ACC selection Erin Stovall leads a list of returnees that could certainly give the top half of the conference a run for its money. Six-10 Elena Kravchenko and Svetlana Volnaya, teammates on the Belorussian national team, and seniors Lisa Hosac and Renee Robinson form a solid veteran backbone for the Cavaliers.
Veteran leadership is something Chris Weller and Maryland desperately need. For the second consecutive year, Weller fields a team of predominantly underclassmen (eight to be exact). But instead of bemoaning her team's inexperience, Weller preaches on the possibilities.
"I really like our young players and I think they will make us more exciting," Weller said. "We should control tempo a little better, and overall we should become a much more mobile team."
Having spent the entire decade among the bottom three teams in the ACC, Wake Forest may actually have the tools to bust out of the cellar of the conference this season.
Guard Janae Whiteside finished last season on a tear, shooting 56 percent from three-point range in the last seven games of the year. LaChina Robinson and Olivia Dardy anchor a front line that could compete with the rest of the conference.
Although it's only been eight months since Clemson took the ACC tournament crown in Charlotte, it may seem like ages to head coach Jim Davis. All-ACC guards Amy Geren and Itoro Umoh and key contributors Natasha Anderson and Nikki Blassingame all departed, leaving Davis a team long on question marks and short on talent.
And in a year promising the unexpected, a first-to-worst turnaround seems almost fitting.
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