BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — South Carolina and LSU have two major new challengers for Southeastern Conference supremacy.
The programs that have combined for the past three national championships are joined by two other preseason Top 10 teams, SEC newbies No. 4 Texas and No. 10 Oklahoma. But the No. 1 Gamecocks are going for their third national title in four years — minus departed star Kamilla Cardoso — after romping through a 38-0 season.
Kim Mulkey’s LSU team is ranked seventh but must replace Angel Reese. The competition just got even tougher with the Sooners and Longhorns.
“It’s pretty much upgraded what I think is the best conference in the country,” Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley said Wednesday at SEC media day. “They’ve upgraded us to another level. We’re fortunate enough that we get to play Texas twice and then we get to play Oklahoma as well.
“Women’s college basketball is at an all-time high.”
She gave a little wince at the part about “getting” to play the Longhorns twice.
Mulkey, herself a former Big 12 coach at Baylor, said Texas and Oklahoma don’t need to be told anything about their new league.
“All they need to know is they have outstanding teams and they’re as good as anybody in the SEC and as good as anybody in the country,” Mulkey said. “We welcome them because it brings more popularity to the SEC, better games to the SEC.
“Me personally, leaving the Big 12, I thought I’d never have to go to Austin, Texas, or Norman, Oklahoma, again.”
The potential battles at the top were emphasized by a three-way tie for preseason player of the year among LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow along with Texas’ Madison Booker.
Texas coach Vic Schaefer has a long history in the SEC as an assistant at Arkansas and Texas A&M and head coach at Mississippi State from 2012-20. Much of that time Tennessee was the big powerhouse under the late Pat Summitt.
Leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, he said: “All I did was jump out of the frying pan and into the grease. It’s a monster, and you’ve got to prepare for that.”
“The parity that we have in our league right now is really incredible,” Schaefer said. “Back then, you had some really dominant teams, then you had some teams that couldn’t beat those top teams.
“In our league right now on any given night if you’re not ready to play, you won’t get beat, you’ll get embarrassed.”
Other ranked SEC teams entering the season include No. 20 Mississippi, No. 22 Kentucky and No. 24 Alabama.
Kentucky is led by new coach Kenny Brooks, who led Virginia Tech to the 2023 Final Four and captured the ACC regular-season title last season.
The two new SEC schools, known more for their football pedigrees, figure to also provide the league with an immediate boost in women’s basketball.
— The Longhorns made their first Elite Eight appearance in four years last season, going 33-5 for the program’s most wins since 1986. And that happened with star point guard Rori Harmon playing in only 12 games before a season-ending knee injury.
Booker helped fill in at that role playing out of position and wound up becoming the first freshman to earn co-Big 12 player of the year honors and was a second-team AP All-American.
— Oklahoma has won back-to-back Big 12 championships and returns all five starters. That includes co-player of the year Skylar Vann, and that league’s newcomer of the year Payton Verhulst. Oregon State All-American Raegan Beers joins the mix after averaging a double-double (17.5 points per game and 10.3 rebounds per game) and earning third-team AP All-America honors.
Coach Jennie Baranczyk’s first roster as an SEC team includes five fifth-year seniors
“We’ve obviously known that we’re coming to the SEC, and we know that the conference is absolutely incredible. But I’m just really excited that our culture is continuing to grow on a foundational level,” Baranczyk said.
South Carolina and LSU are loaded again despite losing two of the top seven WNBA draft pics. The Gamecocks must replace No. 3 pick Cardoso. and the Tigers lost No. 7 pick Reese.
LSU’s Johnson is predicting a different style for this year’s team.
“Last year, I felt like we didn’t push the ball as much as we could,” she said. “This year, we’re going to be moving and we’re going to be moving fast.”
