As the UNC women’s basketball team prepares for its third season under head coach Courtney Banghart, Atlantic Coast Conference head coaches have picked the Tar Heels to finish seventh in the conference.

The preseason poll, revealed on Wednesday morning, predicts Carolina will finish behind NC State, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Florida State and Notre Dame in the upcoming 2021-22 season. The Blue Ribbon Panel’s poll, crafted from media members and school personnel, also ranks the Tar Heels seventh in the ACC.

This year’s rating represents a change from the fourth and fifth place predictions by the two polls last season, with Banghart’s team ultimately finishing eighth with an 8-9 record in conference play. But the top-half ranking does reflect the young promise of this year’s roster despite losing some veteran players.

One of the players in Banghart’s incoming freshman class, listed as the No. 2 class in the country by ESPN, is wing Teonni Key. The 6-foot-3 Cary native earned recognition in the preseason lists announced Wednesday, with the Blue Ribbon Panel tabbing her on its Newcomer Watch List. Key arrives at UNC listed as the ninth best player in the county’s Class of 2021.

“This is an exciting recognition for Teonni,” Banghart said in a release on Wednesday. “She had a brilliant high school career and is respected as one of the best freshmen in the country.”

Key’s selection marks the second season in a row where the Carolina program has had a first-year player tabbed for the conference’s Newcomer Watch List. UNC sophomore Deja Kelly earned a spot in 2020 before going on to average 11 points per game and a spot on the ACC All-Freshman team.

Alongside Key on the 2021 watch list are NC State sophomore Diamond Johnson and three other freshman: Louisville’s Payton Verhulst, Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles and Notre Dame’s Sonia Citron.

UNC was not included in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll, which was released for women’s basketball on Tuesday. The Tar Heels are set to begin their season on Tuesday, November 9 against North Carolina A&T.

To read the full ACC polls for the 2021-22 preseason, visit the conference’s website.

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