The conference that has claimed three-straight national championships—South Carolina, (2022), LSU (2023), South Carolina (2024)—is poised to remain a force in women’s college basketball, with a conference-high seven SEC teams ranked in the AP top 25 preseason poll.
Headlining the conference is South Carolina, who last year completed the trifecta of winning the SEC regular-season title, SEC tournament title and national championship, all while going an undefeated 39-0. Will head coach Dawn Staley’s squad continue to dominate the conference, extending their record mark of 43-straight SEC wins? They’re at least favored to again win the conference, with a panel of SEC and national media voting the Gamecocks as the top team in the preseason media poll. Here’s how the rest of the SEC is expected to shake out:
- South Carolina
- Texas
- LSU
- Oklahoma
- Ole Miss
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Kentucky
- Florida
- Vanderbilt
- Mississippi State
- Auburn
- Texas A&M
- Georgia
- Missouri
- Arkansas
And here are our extended thoughts on South Carolina and the top-tier teams mostly likely to truly challenge them—Texas and LSU—along with a tiering of the rest of the SEC:
South Carolina
Three top-30 recruits—No. 3 Joyce Edwards, who also was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year, No. 14 Maddy…
