Louisville women's basketball will open head coach Jeff Walz's 20th season ranked seventh in the preseason AP Top 25 and USA TODAY coaches poll. Kenny Brooks enters his third season leading Kentucky, which comes in at the No. 14 spot in both rankings following last year's Sweet 16 appearance.
Louisville has made the preseason AP poll for the 19th straight year and the coaches poll for 16 years in a row. Its highest start to the season during that span was fourth (coaches poll) in 2018 and fifth in the AP poll four times (2013, 2016, 2018, 2020).
Louisville is also projected to finish second behind Duke in the ACC standings.
UofL recorded 29 wins, an ACC Tournament championship appearance and a Sweet 16 appearance while ranking 11th in both polls at the end of the 2025-26 campaign. The Cardinals return three starters − Taj Roberts, Mackenly Randolph and Elif Istanbulluoglu − and ACC Sixth Player of the Year Imari Berry from that team while adding several key transfers. Two of those portal players came from the ACC: Carys Baker (Virginia Tech) and Zam Jones (NC State).
Louisville is set to open the 2026-27 season by hosting Bellarmine at 5 p.m. Nov. 2.
ACC teams in preseason AP Top 25
No. 4 Duke
No. 7 Louisville
No. 12 North Carolina
No. 13 Notre Dame
No. 25 NC State
ACC teams in preseason USA TODAY coaches poll
No. 4 Duke
No. 7 Louisville
No. 11 North Carolina
No. 13 Notre Dame
No. 25 NC State
Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Where Louisville, Kentucky women's basketball rank in preseason polls