GREENSBORO, NC – The Atlantic Coast Conference announced today the composite league schedule for the 2017-18 ACC women’s basketball season.
“ACC Women’s Basketball sets the standard for the highest quality competition,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “This year will be no different, with outstanding matchups throughout the regular season and culminating with all 15 teams competing in Greensboro at what is arguably the top women’s basketball conference tournament in the country.”
Highlights of the upcoming league schedule include:
- All 120 conference games will be broadcast on an ESPN linear network, Regional Sports Networks or ACC Network Extra.
- Nine regular season conference games on ESPN networks, including one on ESPN, seven on ESPN2 and one on ESPNU.
- ACC Network Extra will carry 86 conference games throughout the season.
- Twenty-five conference games on the ACC’s Regional Sports Networks (RSN) are highlighted by eight Sunday afternoon doubleheaders on Dec. 31, Jan. 7, Jan. 14, Jan. 21, Jan. 28, Feb. 11, Feb. 18 and Feb. 25. The ACC’s Regional Sports Networks for the 2017-18 season are comprised of FOX Sports South, FOX Sports Southeast, FOX Sports Florida, FOX Sports Sun, FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports Indiana, NESN, YES Network, CSN Mid Atlantic and AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh. All games will also be available via the FOX Sports Go and ESPN apps but are subject to blackout.
- The 2017-18 women’s basketball season tips off on Friday, Nov. 10, with 12 ACC teams in action. The ACC begins conference play on Thursday, Dec. 28, with four league games – Louisville at Georgia Tech, Syracuse at Notre Dame, Pitt at Virginia and NC State at Virginia Tech.
- The 41st annual ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament is back in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the Greensboro Coliseum Wednesday, February 28 – Sunday, March 4. RSN will carry the first, second and quarterfinal rounds, while the semifinals will be broadcast on ESPNU. ESPN2 will carry Sunday’s championship game.
- In addition to the 120 televised league games, five non-conference games will air on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. Additional non-league games are expected to be broadcast ACC Network Extra. The ACC Network Extra coverage debuted in 2016-17 and marked the initial phase of the full ACC Network announced in July 2016 by ESPN and the ACC. Live streaming of women’s basketball continues to increase, and the events covered by ACC Network Extra are available to users who have access to the ESPN app.
- ACC teams will play at least 40 games against teams that are either ranked in ESPN’s Way-too-early Top 25 for 2017-18 or earned a berth in the 2017 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. The ACC sent seven teams to the NCAA Championship in 2017, with three advancing to the Sweet 16 and Notre Dame and Florida State appearing in the Elite 8.
What’s to come in 2017-18
- The ACC returns three Associated Press All-Americans from a season ago – Lexie Brown, Duke (third team), Shakayla Thomas, Florida State (honorable mention) and Asia Durr, Louisville (honorable mention) - and Louisville’s Myisha Hines-Allen, who earned AP All-America Honorable Mention honors in 2016. Notre Dame’s Brianna Turner, an AP All-America Second Team selection in 2017 will sit out the 2017-18 season due to injury.
- The ACC returns six All-ACC performers from a season ago –Duke’s Lexie Brown (first team) and Rebecca Greenwell (first team), Florida State’s Shakayla Thomas (first team, Coaches Player of the Year) and Chatrice White (Sixth Player of the Year), Louisville’s Asia Durr (first team) and Myisha Hines-Allen (ACC Player of the Year). Notre Dame’s Brianna Turner, an All-ACC First Team honoree and reigning Defensive Player of the Year, will sit out the 2017-18 season due to injury. All eight players who were All-Freshman Team selections also return: Clemson’s Kobi Thornton, Duke’s Leaonna Odom, Georgia Tech’s Francesca Pan (the ACC Freshman of the Year in 2017), Notre Dame’s Jackie Young, Syracuse’s Gabby Cooper, Virginia’s Dominique Toussaint and Jocelyn Willoughby, and Wake Forest’s Alex Sharp.
- Four ACC teams are listed among ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2017-18: No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 10 Louisville, No. 12 Duke and No. 25 Florida State.
- The ACC has six of the top 20 freshman classes as ranked by ESPN Hoopgurlz this season –No. 4 Louisville, No. 11 Duke, No. 12 Georgia Tech, No. 13 Miami, No. 14 Syracuse and No. 19 Notre Dame. The ACC’s six ranked classes are the most from any conference.
- Five McDonalds All-Americans join the league for the 2017-18 season: Janelle Bailey (North Carolina), Dana Evans (Louisville), Danielle Patterson (Notre Dame), Loretta Kakala (Louisville) and Jade Williams (Duke).
For more information on ACC women’s basketball, visit
theACC.com and be sure to follow the league on Twitter: @accwbb.
About the ACC
The Atlantic Coast Conference, now in its 65th year of competition and 15 members strong, has long enjoyed the reputation as one of the strongest and most competitive intercollegiate conferences in the nation. ACC members Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest continue to build upon the cornerstones on which the league was founded in 1953 with a consistent balance of academics, athletics and integrity. The ACC currently sponsors 27 NCAA sports – 14 for women and 13 for men – with member institutions located in 10 states. For more information, visit theACC.com and follow @theACC on Twitter and on Facebook (facebook.com/theACC).