Stanford Boasts Three Preseason All-ACC Stars, Picked Sixth in Loaded Conference

Stanford women's basketball is going to surprise some people in 2025-26. While the program missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in decades last year, it was a season of transition and change. This season, we should begin to see the Cardinal return to the form that has come to be expected from the program.

The women will be boasting a potential breakout star in Nunu Agara, along with one of the best recruiting classes across college basketball, with Hailee Swain and Lara Somfai being the two key five-star standouts from that class.

All three were recognized as impact players in the preseason ACC awards, with Agara being named to the 10-person All-ACC Team, while Swain and Somfai are the only teammates named to the Preseason All-Freshman Team, which consists of just six players.

In their first poll of the preseason, the AP left Stanford unranked, though they were highlighted as one of 12 programs that were mentioned past the top-25. After a down year in 2024-25, the Cardinal are ready to return to the national stage this season.

Here is the full press release sent out by Stanford.

STANFORD, Calif. – Nunu Agara, Hailee Swain and Lara Somfai were recognized on Preseason All-ACC teams, and the Cardinal was picked to finish sixth in the league, the conference announced Tuesday. The predicted order of finish and preseason teams are voted on by the ACC’s 18 head coaches and Blue Ribbon Panel.

An All-ACC second team selection last season, Agara was voted to the 10-person Preseason All-ACC Team. She was Stanford’s leading scorer (15.8 ppg) and rebounder (7.6 rpg) a season ago and is the ACC’s third-leading returning scorer (Hannah Hidalgo – Notre Dame; Kymora Johnson - Virginia) and its second-leading returning rebounder (Jessica Peterson - Miami).

She scored in double figures in 21 games, had six 20-point efforts, and tied for eighth in the ACC with nine double-doubles. Agara increased her scoring average by 10.4 points and her rebounding average by 4.7 boards over her freshman year.

Swain and Somfai landed on the six-person Preseason All-Freshman Team and Stanford is the only school with multiple players on the list. Both five-star talents, Swain was rated as the No. 8 player in the country in the Class of 2025 according to ESPN HoopGurlz and Somfai was ranked 12th.

Among numerous prep honors, the pair were McDonald’s All-Americans, Jordan Brand Classic All-Americans and appeared at the Nike Hoop Summit – Swain for USA Basketball and Somfai on the World Roster.

Stanford totaled 1,041 points from 70 voters to finish sixth in the predicted order of finish. Duke topped the poll with 1,525 points and 40 first-place votes, NC State was second with 1,487 points and 25 first-place votes, North Carolina was third with 1,374 points and one first-place vote, Louisville was fourth with 1,276 points and two first-place votes, and Notre Dame was fifth with 1,255 points and the final two first-place votes.

Stanford is near the top of the league in returning production, welcoming back 54.2 percent of its scoring (1,221 of 2,255 points), 49.7 percent of its rebounding (583 of 1,172 rebounds), 57.4 percent of its assists (251 of 437 assists) and 56.9 percent of its minutes played (3,585 of 6,300 minutes) from a season ago.

The Cardinal is third in the ACC in returning points (Duke - 67.7%, Virginia 61.6%, Virginia Tech 54.7%), second in returning rebounds (Duke - 64.1%), third in returning assists (Virginia - 70.7%, Virginia Tech - 68.5%, Duke - 63.0%), and third in returning minutes (Duke - 68.1%, Virginia Tech - 57.6%).

The Cardinal only has one transfer on its roster in junior Mary Ashley Stevenson, who is in her second year on The Farm after playing one season at Purdue. Stanford has the fewest transfers on its roster among all 68 Power 4 programs. NC State, Washington and Oklahoma each have two.

Among Power 4 schools, Stanford and Washington tied for the least amount of portal movement this offseason (total number of transfers in + transfers out).

In addition to Stanford's returning core, the team added the nation's No. 3 recruiting class according to espnW HoopGurlz. Kate Paye’s first signing class as head coach includes three five-star talents (Swain, Somfai, Alexandra Eschmeyer) and two four-stars (Nora Ezike, Carly Amborn) according to espnW HoopGurlz, and four ranked in that publication’s top 100.

Stanford’s three five-star signees tied for the national lead with Tennessee and LSU and the program’s most since it had four in the Class of 2019 (Haley Jones, Ashten Prechtel, Fran Belibi, Hannah Jump). Of the 24 women selected to be McDonald’s All Americans, Stanford (Eschmeyer, Somfai, Swain) and Tennessee had the most players suiting up next fall with three commits each.

Stanford’s three McDonald’s All Americans were almost as many as the rest of the ACC combined (4).