Louisville Ranked #7 in Preseason AP Poll

Jeff Walz celebrates during the game against Florida State at the KFC YUM Center on January 27.

Photo by: Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics

October 18, 2022 | Women's Basketball

It is the eighth-straight season the Cardinals are ranked in the Top-10 in the preseason poll

By: Matt Paras

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The 2022-23 women's basketball season is right around the corner and the Louisville women's basketball team will be ranked No. 7 heading into the campaign as the Associated Press announced its preseason poll Tuesday afternoon. It is the eighth-straight season Louisville will be ranked in the Top-10 in the inaugural preseason poll.

The Cardinals are the highest-ranked team in ACC and are coming off a successful 2021-22 campaign. Louisville went 29-5 last season and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It was the Cardinals third No. 1 seed in the last four tournaments and they are the only program in the country to achieve that feat over the last four full seasons. Louisville reached the Elite Eight for the fourth-straight year and they are just one of two programs to make each of the last four. The Cardinals took down Michigan to advance to the program's fourth-ever Final Four and head coach Jeff Walz is just one of five active head coaches to make it to four or more Final Fours.

Louisville returns eight players and two starters from the 2021-22 season. The returners include first team All-ACC guard Hailey Van Lith who started all 34 games last year and forward Olivia Cochran, who started in 32 of 33 games played. Van Lith earned First Team All-ACC honors and was named Wichita Region Most Outstanding Player in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Mykasa Robinson is back for her fifth year with the program after being named to the All-ACC Defensive team for the second-straight season.

The Cardinals have seven newcomers to the squad in three graduate transfers and four freshmen. Morgan Jones comes to Louisville from Florida State where she was a two-time WBCA Honorable Mention All-American and two-time first team All-ACC selection. Chrislyn Carr comes from Syracuse and she was just recently selected as one of 20 to the Lieberman Award Watch List. Josie Williams is the third transfer from Utah Valley where she averaged a double-double last season (17.3 points, 12.4 rebounds).

The entire freshman class were all ranked inside the 2022 espnW Top-100 rankings with Nyla Harris leading the way at No. 35. She was followed by Zyanna Walker (#38), Imani Lester (#57) and Jalyn Brown (#78).

Louisville opens the 2022-23 campaign at home on Monday, November 7 when they take on Cincinnati at 5 p.m. ET from the KFC Yum! Center.

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