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Women's Basketball

ACC Women's Basketball: Recapping A Banner Season

FINAL ACC RELEASE

ACC IN THE FINAL FOUR
• Notre Dame won the 2018 NCAA Championship following wins over No. 1 seed Connecticut (91-89 in  OT) in the semifinals and No. 1 seed Mississippi State (61-58) in the championship game. Junior guard Arike Ogunbowale hit the game-winning shot in both the semifinal and championship games and was named the Women’s Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.
 
• The ACC accounted for half of the Women’s Final Four field with both of the league’s No. 1 seeds – Louisville and Notre Dame – advancing.
 
• The ACC has had multiple teams in the Final Four on three occasions (2006, 2014 and 2018).
 
• Current ACC teams own three NCAA Women’s Basketball Championships – North Carolina (1994) and Notre Dame (2001 and 2018) and 23 appearances in the Final Four.
 
• An ACC team has earned a Final Four berth in four of the last five years, and a league team has reached the title game in those same years (Notre Dame in 2014, 2015 and 2018, and Syracuse in 2016).
 
• Including Louisville this season, seven different institutions have represented the ACC in the Women’s Final Four (current membership).
 
• Since 2006, the current ACC membership has combined for nine title game appearances, the most from any conference.
 
ACC IN THE POSTSEASON
• Since the 2015 NCAA Tournament, the ACC owns the most tournament wins (55) of any conference. The ACC’s .671 winning percentage in the tournament during that time is the best among the Power 5 conferences. 

• With Louisville and Notre Dame both earning No. 1 seeds in this year’s NCAA Tournament, the ACC has had at least one No. 1 seed in each of past five tournaments and 19 times overall. The ACC has had multiple No. 1 seeds in five tournaments (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2018).

• Three of the top seven winningest active coaches by percentage in NCAA Tournament history are in the ACC (more than any other league): Tied for No. 2 Jeff Walz of Louisville (.750), No. 5 Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame (.729) and No. 7 Sylvia Hatchell of North Carolina (.682).
 
• Led by ACC Champion Louisville, eight league teams were selected to the 64-team 2018 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship field. The eight teams matched a league record (2014 and 2015), and were the most of any conference this year. It is also the fourth time in the last five years that at least seven ACC teams have earned berths in the Big Dance, and the 11th time in the last 14 years that at least six teams have been selected.
 
• Including two ACC teams selected to the WNIT (Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech), the ACC had 10 postseason tournament participants.
 
• Four ACC teams advanced to this year’s Sweet 16 – No. 1 Louisville, No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 4 NC State and No. 5 Duke. The four ACC teams in the Regional Semifinals tied for the most from a single conference.
 
• Four ACC teams earned a top four seed and hosted first and second round games in the 2018 NCAA Tournament – No. 1 Louisville, No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 3 Florida State and No. 4 NC State.
 
• The ACC has had a .500-or-better showing in the NCAA Tournament for 21 consecutive seasons. The ACC was 16-7 in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The 16 wins were the most of any league.
 
• Virginia Tech won five games in the WNIT and advanced to the title game. The Hokies lost at Indiana, 65-57, in the final.
 
AWARDS
• Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw collected three national coach of the year honors – AP, USA Today and espnW.
• Four from the ACC (Duke’s Lexie Brown, Louisville’s Asia Durr and Myisha Hines-Allen, and Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale) combined for 14 All-America Team honors.
  • Durr was honored by the WBCA, AP (first team), USA Today (first team), USBWA (first team), and   espnW (second team)
  • Ogunbowale was honored by the WBCA, AP (second team), USA Today (second team), USBWA (second team) and espnW (second team).
  • Brown was honored by the AP (third team), espnW (third team) and the Senior Class Award.
  • Hines-Allen was honored by the AP (third team) and USA Today (third team).
• Louisville’s Asia Durr was named the ACC Player of the Year, North Carolina’s Janelle Bailey the ACC Rookie of the Year, Duke’s Lexie Brown the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Georgia Tech’s Zaire O’Neil the Sixth Player of the Year and Louisville’s Jeff Walz the ACC Coach of the Year.
 
REGULAR SEASON NOTABLES
• The ACC finished the regular season as the No. 1 conference in the RPI and strength of schedule rankings.

• Top seeded Louisville won the 2018 ACC Championship following wins over No. 9 seed Virginia Tech, No. 5 seed NC State and No. 2 seed Notre Dame. It was the Cardinals’ first ACC title.

• Louisville and Notre Dame shared the regular season crown with 15-1 ACC records.

• Five conference teams were ranked in the final Associated Press Top 25 – No. 3 Louisville, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 11 Florida State, No. 20 Duke and No. 21 NC State. Following its national championship, Notre Dame was the top ranked team in the USA Today Coaches Poll, followed by No. 4 Louisville, No. 12 Duke, No. 14 Florida State and No. 16 NC State.

• Nine ACC teams secured 20-win seasons, the most among all conferences – Louisville (36), Notre Dame (35), Florida State (26), NC State (26), Duke (24), Virginia Tech (23), Syracuse (22), Miami (21), and Georgia Tech (20).

• ACC teams posted a 152-45 record (.772) against non-conference opposition during the 2017-18 regular season, including 11 wins over Top 25 teams. Including postseason games, the ACC was 175-54 this season against non-ACC foes. The ACC’s 175 non-conference wins were the most of any conference.

• The ACC combined for an event record 10 wins over the Big Ten to win the 2017 Big Ten/ACC Challenge, 10-4. The Challenge title is the eighth in league history as the ACC owns an 8-0-3 advantage in the Challenge.  The ACC owns an 81-55 record against the Big Ten in Challenge games.

• Syracuse’s Tiana Mangakahia set the ACC single season assists record with 304. She averaged a national best 9.8 assists per game for the 2017-18 season.

• North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell eclipsed the 1,000 career win mark on December 19. She became the third women’s basketball coach to reach 1,000 career wins and is one of five coaches overall.