Megan Duffy was joined by Hokie women’s basketball players Carleigh Wenzel and Alyssa Latham at the annual ACC Media Days this past week in Charlotte.
Last year’s team took a big step, finishing 23-10 and reaching the NCAA tournament. Duffy returns six players from that team and takes on the moniker of the university when she talks about that foundation and its construction.
“It’s been our goal every year to build I say Hokie stone by Hokie stone, continuing to improve. We made a big step with our confidence, with our ability to lay a great foundation for future years.”
She cited returning players like Wenzel for those positive steps.
“Carleigh sitting to my left is one of the reasons why we’ve continued to make steps. I think this team can be even better. I think we have the pieces to be a little bit more athletic inside and be, you know, a team that can protect the rim a little bit better,” Duffy said.
No surprise for the early success as Duffy has averaged 22 wins in her nine years as a head coach. Duffy accumulated a 44–20 overall record previously at Miami (Ohio), then followed it up with a 66–26 mark at Marquette before coming to Blacksburg.
Again, she revisited the idea of building from the ground up without too much pizzazz.
“Yeah, I’ve always been the coach that isn’t too much about the glitz and the glam. It’s laying that standard and foundation and trying to meet it every single day. We live on our core values. We try and keep a standard that is hard to reach. As soon as they reach it, we want to put it up a little bit more. I’m really big on just trying to pour into these women as much as I can on and off the court, be consistent with that, really pushing them to their max,” Duffy said.
According to the coach, that’s always been a little bit of staples of all her teams is getting the max out of her players.
“We need to do that this year. That’s the biggest thing. Our improvement from now until March is going to be critical to our success,” she said.
Wenzel led the Hokies in scoring last season and was one of the most versatile players in the ACC as she ranked in the Top 25 in 11 different statistical categories. She was also named to the All-ACC second team.
The key for her this season is Wenzel being a leader for this team.
“Just being a leader, taking my team to the steps that we want to get to and reaching the goals that we want to obviously achieve. Being my best self, and I want to do a little bit more of my game, but my biggest thing is efficiency,” she told reporters.
That leadership could be a big driver for a team with many new faces.
“I think with our team I think they’re (fans) going to be interested in what our new faces look like. I think we went out in not only the portal, but with our freshman class to fill some needs,” Duffy said.
Now, it’s the correct combination to blend the new faces and trying to find some chemistry.
“We’re working extremely hard right now in this preseason time to lay the foundation of how gritty we’re going to be, how tough we’re going to be. We’ve always believed in playing both sides of the ball. We want to be able to be a great defensive team. We made big strides last year with that, and I think this year we want to really be a little bit more balanced with our offensive prowess, being able to shoot the three a little bit better,” Duffy said.
The ACC continues to be one of the deepest conferences in the country, and Duffy is proud of the historic records it continues to break.
“To get nine teams in the tournament last year, multiple teams in the Sweet 16, we all have goals to win national championships. I think what’s fantastic about all of us head coaches is we want to have our teams now, but how we finish in that January, February, March time is what matters the most,” she said.
The Lady Hokies open the 2026–27 season on Nov. 2 at home against North Carolina Central.
