NC State women’s hoops is No. 14 in preseason AP Poll

NC State is one of six ACC teams in the preseason women’s college basketball AP Poll. The Wolfpack begin this season at No. 14, behind No. 9 Louisville and No. 12 Florida State but ahead of No. 16 Notre Dame, No. 18 Miami, and No. 21 Syracuse.

The Pack is heading into 2019-20 coming off of back-to-back trips to the Sweet Sixteen and should pick right up where it left off. This team returns a lot of production and also adds several highly-ranked recruits. Ace Konig and Elissa Cunane were preseason all-conference picks.

This would be a good time to make a move in the ACC, with Notre Dame not expected to be quite as good as it is usually. The Wolfpack was picked to finish second in the conference this season, behind Louisville. That seems plenty doable.

Another strong regular season should once again put NC State in position to earn a four-seed or better in the NCAA tournament, which means a hosting slot for the first two rounds. That’s been State’s path to the second weekend each of the last two years.