Missing Mangakahia, Syrcause should still be strong
Syracuse guard Tiana Mangakahia will miss the entire upcoming season as she continues cancer treatment. On July 1, the two-time Lieberman Award finalist announced that she had stage two breast cancer. According to the school, she will continue chemotherapy through October and have surgery in November. Mangakahia led the ACC in assists last season, averaging 8.4 dimes per-game. No. 1 overall WNBA Draft pick Jackie Young was second with 5.1 assists per-game.
Replacing Mangakahia at point guard will be Kiara Lewis. A season ago, she averaged 8.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists per-game. Last year, under the direction of Quentin Hillsman, the Orange went 25-9 and made the NCAA tournament. Syracuse will also get a boost this year from a trio of transfers in Elemy Colome (Rhode Island), Whisper Fisher (St. Joe’s) and Brooke Alexander (UT Arlington).
And – win or lose – fans of the Orange can always count on Quentin Hillsman to be among the best dressed coaches in all of college basketball.
Name a coach with more swag than @CuseWBB's @CoachQatSU …
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) October 3, 2019
We’ll wait. pic.twitter.com/K0tOjfMPrc
(Also, he said avocado is “kind of like bacon,” which is a questionable take.)
Bounce-back year for Duke?
Duke will have the tallest team in the ACC this season with an average height of 73.21 inches, or about 6-foot-1. The Blue Devils are armed with 10 players over 6-feet tall, including four that are taller than 6-foot-4.
Do-it-all guard Haley Gorecki is back for her redshirt-senior campaign. A year ago, she averaged 17.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.6 steals per-game. Joining Gorecki in the back-court will be Miela Goodchild, who helped Australia earn a silver medal this summer at the FIBA World Cup.
Duke will likely go as far as Gorecki takes them. She’s the leading returning scorer in the ACC, was named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award watch list and she was the only player in the ACC last year to rank in the top 17 in points, rebounds, steals and assists.
The Blue Devils missed the NCAA tournament last season for just the second time since 1995, but won four of their last five games.
Bugg back, Pitt looks for next step
While the ACC head coaches and its Blue Ribbon Panel picked Pitt to finish second-to-last this season, expect the Panthers to be improved in Lance White’s second season. Returning for them is sixth-year senior Aysia Bugg – who missed the majority of last season with blood clots – and leading rebounder Cara Judkins. Pitt also added a pair of JUCO transfers that White is high on, and his first full recruiting class includes a trio of three-star recruits and two foreign players with FIBA U-18 experience. White called freshman Dayshanette Harris an “electric” player and brought her to ACC Media Day.
Pitt will be without Kyla Nelson to start the season, who was fourth in three-point shooting in the ACC a year ago with a 40.4 percent connection rate from behind the arc. In September, she was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor on her appendix. Nelson had successful surgery to remove it this month, and White and team doctors are optimistic about her return this season.
“I think we’re a little bit more leveled off in this conference and not so top-heavy. I think it’s anybody’s game,” Bugg said. “I think the off-season has been really good, just in regards to bringing a cohesiveness with the freshman and all the returners. It’s been good with meshing and coming together as a unit.”