The Duke women's basketball team received its second preseason No. 1 ranking on Tuesday as Athlon Sports released its college basketball preview.

	ATHLON'S TOP 25
	1. Duke 2. Tennessee 3. Kansas State 4. Vanderbilt 5. Notre Dame 6. LSU 7. Stanford 8. Connecticut 9. Georgia 10. Texas 11. North Carolina 12. Tulane 13. Minnesota 14. Arkansas 15. Texas Tech 16. Colorado State 17. Purdue 18. Louisiana Tech 19. Iowa State 20. Cincinnati 21. New Mexico 22. Oregon 23. Houston 24. USC 25. Penn State

The Blue Devils, who also topped SLAM Magazine's preseason poll, were followed by Tennessee, Kansas State, Vanderbilt and Notre Dame. LSU, Stanford, Connecticut, Georgia and Texas rounded out the top 10.

In addition to its No. 1 ranking, Duke junior guard Alana Beard landed a spot on Athlon's preseason All-America first team. The five-member team also included Chantelle Anderson (Vanderbilt), Nicole Powell (Stanford), Diana Taurasi (Connecticut) and LaToya Thomas (Mississippi State).

A 2002 Kodak All-America and Associated Press All-America honoree, Beard led the ACC with 19.8 points per game, 3.3 steals and a 57.2 field-goal percentage during Duke's run to the Final Four. Beard led the Blue Devils to a school-record 31 victories as Duke became the first ACC school to post a 19-0 mark in ACC action.

The 2002-03 Blue Devils return seven of eight letterwinners from last season's 31-4 squad.