ACC looks to have a wide-open race for the spotlight with few returning all-conference performers

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Zoe Brooks has never known a time at N.C. State before now when she couldn't lean on star teammates Saniya Rivers or Aziaha James before now.

Florida State coach Brooke Wyckoff understands that type of jarring change considering last year's national scoring leader Ta'Niya Latson ha s transferred to South Carolina after three seasons.

Those are common tales across the Atlantic Coast Conference when it comes to women's basketball for the upcoming season. That's because roughly 70% of last year's all-ACC team is gone, including two Associated Press second-team All-Americans in Latson and former Notre Dame-turned-TCU point guard Olivia Miles.

That means a league that stands with the Southeastern Conference as the nation's best will have a different look with mainstays departed, along with a wide-open route to the spotlight for its next potential stars.

"Some people that we might now know might step up and shock everybody,” Brooks said Monday during the league's preseason media days.

The list of returning all-conference players to the league for 2025-26 is headlined by a two-time AP first-team All-American in Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo.

But 11 of the 15 players who were on the All-ACC first-team are gone, including the Rivers-James duo that led the Wolfpack to the 2024 Final Four, Notre Dame's Sonia Citron and four- or five-year lineup fixtures like FSU's Makayla Timpson and North Carolina's Alyssa Ustby.

Throw in second-team turnover, and 17 of the 25 players from last year's all-ACC teams are gone either through graduation, transfer or to the professional ranks.

And there were other notable losses outside of the all-conference picks, such as Duke forward Oluchi Okananwa transferring to Maryland after being named the ACC Tournament's MVP in the Blue Devils' first championship since 2013.

While roster turnover is a fact of life in college athletics, this year's loss rate of all-conference players (68%) is much higher than the previous two years, when the ACC lost 30% of its 2023-24 honorees and 40% of 2022-23.

“You have your ideas based on the names on the rosters that people have,” said Wyckoff, who saw Latson average 25.2 points last year to lead the country and is retooling with a roster projected to feature more scoring balance. "But with so much change, it's going to be exciting to see who really rises to the top and who does what.

“It's unknown. We have great coaches, though, and that's the biggest thing. They'll get the players in the right spots to do some good stuff.”

Virginia sophomore guard Kymora Johnson and Duke's Toby Fournier join Hidalgo and Brooks as the only first-team all-conference players to return for 2025-26.

Brooks, a junior guard, started her Wolfpack career with a Final Four run playing alongside James and Rivers. She stepped up last year to rank second on the team in scoring (14.2), and spent Monday's interviews talking about the increased pressure to be a leader with James and Rivers now in the WNBA.

Johnson, also a junior guard, has averaged 16.6 points through two seasons with the Cavaliers. Fournier is a skilled forward who averaged 13.2 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 52.6% as a freshman, helping Duke reach the NCAA Elite Eight.

They'll all face a bigger spotlight this year as the few returning all-conference first-teamers.

Fournier, for one, welcomes it.

“It's a different standard this year because I'm a sophomore," she said. "I'm not a freshman. I'm not new to the ACC."

“I love having a spotlight because that means I can have people that look up to me and I can inspire, especially young girls. ... I get nervous sometimes. There is a little bit of anxiety. But at the end of the day, it's stuff that I've done before and I know that I'm ready for it.”