South Florida Tabbed as 2024-25 American Women’s Basketball Favorite in Preseason Coaches’ Poll

IRVING, Texas – South Florida has been tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the 2024-25 American Athletic Conference women’s basketball title in voting done by the league’s head coaches, the conference announced on Friday.

The Bulls were selected as the conference favorite for a fifth consecutive season, earning eight first-place votes and 135 total points. Rice, the defending American Athletic Conference tournament champion, and North Texas both earned 124 total votes to finish second in voting. The Mean Green earned three first-place votes, while the Owls earned the final two. Tulsa (98) and UTSA (96) rounded out the top five in voting.

East Carolina finished sixth in the voting with 91 points, followed by Memphis (84), Temple (78), UAB (55), Tulane (40), Charlotte (38), Wichita State (32) and Florida Atlantic (19).

North Texas graduate forward Tommisha Lampkin and South Florida redshirt-senior forward Romi Levy were voted Preseason Players of the Year.

Lampkin, a 2023-24 First Team All-American Athletic Conference selection, helped lead the Mean Green to a regular season title, finishing seventh in the NCAA with a field goal percentage of 61.6 percent. She posted 13 double-doubles while averaging 15.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

Levy, the 2023-24 American Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year, scored in double-figures in 24 of her 28 games started. She averaged 14.7 points per game on 43-percent shooting. Levy was also named to the 2023-24 American Athletic Conference All-Newcomer Team and Second Team All-American Athletic Conference.

Lampkin and Levy are joined on the first team by Rice senior forward Malia Fisher (13.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, American Athletic Conference Championship Most Outstanding Player in 2023-24), UTSA redshirt-senior forward Jordyn Jenkins (17.1 points, 6.8 rebounds in 2023-24; Conference USA Player of the Year in 2022-23), and Tulsa senior guard Delanie Crawford (18.3 points. 5,8 rebounds, American Athletic Conference Most Improved Player in 2023-24).

Players named to the preseason all-conference second team were East Carolina junior forward Amiya Joyner (12.9 points, 10 rebounds in 2023-24), South Florida sophomore guard Vittoria Blasigh (13.5 points, American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in 2023-24), South Florida graduate guard Mama Dembele (10.2 points, 6.5 assists at Missouri in 2023-24), Temple senior guard Tiarra East (13.3 points, Second Team All-American Athletic Conference in 2023-24) and Tulane redshirt-senior guard Kyren Whittington (17.4 points, 2.4 assists in 2023-24).

Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team or student-athletes.

North Texas (23-9), Temple (20-12) and Tulsa (25-10) all reached the 20-win threshold a season ago. The Rice Owls completed a Cinderella run to The American Championship as the No. 10 seed in the tournament to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Mean Green and Golden Hurricane earned invites to the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT), while UAB and UTSA both earned invitations to the WNIT.

All 13 league teams are scheduled to compete for the 2024 American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The tournament is scheduled for March 8-12 on ESPN Networks.

2024-25 American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll and Honors