In a season defined by exceeding expectations, perhaps no player has reflected this theme during Duke’s eye-catching year more than junior transfer Lexie Brown.
After not being included on the preseason All-ACC team, Brown earned first-team All-ACC honors Tuesday along with redshirt junior Rebecca Greenwell, who was included on the preseason squad. The Blue Devils' two leading scorers, Brown and Greenwell led Duke to a 25-4 regular season, including a 13-3 mark in league play. Duke was picked to finish sixth in the conference at the start of the season, but tied for second in the league standings and will be the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament.
The league's 10 best players are included on the first team.
Brown is a candidate for ACC Player of the Year and Blue Devil head coach Joanne P. McCallie would seem to be a favorite for ACC Coach of the Year—those awards will be announced Wednesday.
A first-team All-Big Ten performer at Maryland in 2014-15 before sitting out as a transfer, Brown's dynamic playmaking and sweet shooting stroke gave McCallie's team a gear it lacked in missing the NCAA tournament a year ago. She leads Duke with 18.2 points per game—fourth-most in the ACC—and is third in the league in steals per game with 2.8 as a defensive menace who often sets the tone at the top of the Blue Devils' matchup zone.
Brown led Duke to six wins against ranked opponents during the regular season and a perfect 16-0 home record, shooting 49.6 percent from the field and 40.1 percent from 3-point range.
Despite a slow start to ACC play, Greenwell finished the season on fire to earn first-team all-conference accolades for the first time in her career. The Owensboro, Ky., managed to still set a career-high in 3-pointers with 74 despite a midseason slump and finished the campaign averaging 17.2 points per contest and also shooting better than 40 percent from long distance.
Greenwell has also enjoyed a much better all-around year, leading the team in rebounding with 6.4 boards per contest.
Freshman Leaonna Odom also earned accolades Tuesday, landing on the eight-player All-ACC freshman team after making 15 starts and averaging 7.7 points and 4.8 rebounds in 23.0 minutes per game. The versatile rookie has also made her mark on defense, with 29 blocks and 37 steals.
Duke will open the ACC tournament Friday at 8 p.m. at the HTC Center in Conway, S.C. The Blue Devils received a double bye into Friday’s quarterfinal round, where they will take on the winner of sixth-seeded Syracuse’s Thursday game against either No. 11 seed Pittsburgh or 14th-seeded North Carolina.
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