SEC women’s basketball is back in more ways than one.
With newcomers Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC is looking stronger than ever, and it shouldn’t really be a debate about if it’s the best conference anymore. The last three national championships were won by SEC teams, including South Carolina going 38-0 last season, and the conference is only going to get more dominant.
Now, onto the preseason power rankings:
1. South Carolina
What to know: Dawn Staley’s daycare has a year of experience – and by experience, I mean an undefeated national championship run – to their credit. I have no reason to doubt the Gamecocks here.
2. LSU
What to know: Kim Mulkey’s strategy of pulling big names out of the portal has worked, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t work once again, especially with Flau’jae Johnson leading the charge.
3. Texas
What to know: I’m high on Texas as Vic Schaefer returns to the SEC, but he has to face Staley and the Gamecocks twice. Just ask him how that went when he was at Mississippi State.
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4. Oklahoma
What to know: The Sooners have enough redshirt seniors to fill a starting lineup, and with their experience, they’ll make a splash their first year in the SEC.
5. Ole Miss
What to know: Coach Yo has turned the Rebels into a solid SEC program, which makes it all the more confusing why she was desperate enough to hire someone on staff who would only pass an Ole Miss basketball background check.
6. Kentucky
What to know: Kentucky is ranked this high purely because of Georgia Amoore. No, I will not be explaining further.
7. Alabama
What to know: Alabama brings back all but one of its starters, so if it can’t keep its place in the upper half of the SEC, things are looking bleaker in Tuscaloosa than I thought.
8. Tennessee
What to know: There’s a new kid on the block – well, actually, make that two – at Tennessee, which is about to find out if going young and bold is the path to national relevance again.
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9. Auburn
What to know: Johnnie Harris’ defense paired with a pure scorer in Taliah Scott? Yeah, sign me up. Don’t be surprised when Auburn wins some big games this season.
10. Florida
What to know: The Gators have always been a middle of the pack, not horrible, but not great, type of team, and that hasn’t changed under Kelly Rae Finley. Here’s to hoping her talented youngsters can shake things up in a good way.
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11. Vanderbilt
What to know: Everyone messed around and let Shea Ralph get a roster with more depth than she has ever had at Vanderbilt. Women’s basketball might be on a Vandy football vibe this season.
12. Texas A&M
What to know: The Aggies never really reached their full potential last year and lost two starters. I can’t guarantee they’ll be exciting, but I’ll bet Joni Taylor’s defense will still give a lot of teams problems.
13. Mississippi State
What to know: I can count on one hand how many returners Mississippi State has. And maybe that’s a good thing based on how last season ended.
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14. Georgia
What to know: Georgia was abysmal last season and didn’t add the players to make me believe it will be any better this season in a loaded SEC.
15. Arkansas
What to know: Mike Neighbors went international to fill some holes left by a mass exodus after last season. That’s one way to not have to deal with NIL, I guess.
16. Missouri
What to know: Missouri went from being the last team to hand South Carolina a loss in SEC play to last in the conference in two seasons. My, how times have changed and the coach hasn’t.
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: SEC Power Rankings: South Carolina women’s basketball set to dominate
