UNC Women's Basketball Picked 3rd in ACC; Kate Harpring Receives Preseason Honor

UNC was picked to finish third in the ACC in the league’s preseason poll Tuesday. The Tar Heels received one of 76 first-place votes.

Duke, which is coming off consecutive conference titles, sits at No. 1 in the preseason poll with 49 first-place votes. No. 2 Louisville (22 votes) is next, followed by UNC and No. 4 Notre Dame. Ironically, the Fighting Irish received four first-place votes, but still came in just behind the Tar Heels. NC State rounds out the top five.

UNC did not have any representatives on the ten-woman preseason All-ACC team, though freshman Kate Harpring was the leading vote-getter on the ACC’s preseason All-Freshman team. Harpring is a five-star recruit, one of the highest-rated prospects in UNC program history and the reigning 2026 Naismith Girls’ High School Player of the Year. Harpring led Marist Academy in Atlanta to two consecutive Georgia state titles and ended her high school career as the state’s all-time leading scorer. 247 Sports ranked Harpring as the No. 1 overall player in her class.

To view the full preseason standings and awards voting results, click here.

Harpring joins a UNC team which is coming off back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 as a top four seed. Carolina is a combined 57-16 overall and 27-9 in ACC play in the last two seasons, both of which ended with the Tar Heels ranked in the top 15 of the year-end AP Poll. Carolina is still seeking several firsts under head coach Courtney Banghart, though: the Tar Heels have not advanced to the ACC Tournament championship since 2013, have not won the tournament since 2008 and have not advanced past the Sweet 16 since 2014.

“I get excited that we’ve built the foundation the right way,” Banghart said in September. “I get excited that we’re able to attract the talent that we’ve attracted, both in the portal and in our freshman recruiting. People that we think can help us get to that next step.”

Fans will get their first chance to see the Tar Heels in action Sunday when UNC hosts Davidson in a preseason exhibition at Carmichael Arena at 1 p.m. Carolina plays another exhibition at Maryland Saturday, Oct. 24 before officially beginning the season Monday, Nov. 2 against Oklahoma in Paris as part of the “Oui Play” event.

Featured image via Atlantic Coast Conference/Nell Redmond

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UNC Women’s Basketball Picked 3rd in ACC; Kate Harpring Receives Preseason Honor

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