South Carolina women's basketball: SEC preview Part 1

South Carolina WBB: News • Schedule • Roster • Stats • SEC • Polls • WNBA • Scholarship Chart

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The new look SEC tips off this season, making the nation’s strongest conference even stronger. Catch up on the rest of the league in part one of our SEC Preview.

Alabama Crimson Tide
Last season: 24-10 (10-6, 4th in SEC), NCAA Second round
Preseason projection: 6
Key losses: G Loyal McQueen
Key additions: G Zaay Green (transfer), G Chloe Spreen, G Eris Lester

Outlook: Alabama returns most of last season’s team, and replacing McQueen with Green is at worst an even trade and could be an upgrade. Add in a strong recruiting class and there is a lot of talent around preseason All-SEC Sarah Ashlee Barker. The question is whether it is enough to jump into the SEC elite.

“Excited, y’all!” Kristy Curry said. “I mean, 24 wins a year ago, we’re certainly looking forward to building on that. Return eight to our squad, have added six new faces. I’m a big believer that it’s really important as you continue to build a program that you have a solid freshman class. Another top freshman class in the league recruiting-wise with three faces, and then we’ve added three transfer young ladies who we feel like are amazingly talented, mature. We return eight with those six and feel like we put ourselves in a position with more versatility, more depth. Have really given ourselves a chance to improve from a year ago.”

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Arkansas Razorbacks
Last season: 18-13 (6-10, 10th in SEC), WBIT First Round
Preseason projection: 16
Key losses: Everybody
Key additions: G Izzy Higginbottom (transfer)

Outlook: Not too good. Arkansas had four starters transfer and the fifth graduate. Going back to last preseason, Arkansas’ top seven players are all gone, plus another key reserve. Higginbottom, the former Missouri player, comes to Arkansas via Arkansas State and will put up big scoring numbers. But unless someone in the Razorbacks’ unheralded recruiting class turns out to be a diamond in the rough it’s going to be a long season.

“Have never one time finished where the poll predicted, 0-32 on that,” Mike Neighbors said. “We’re going to focus on making sure we don’t finish where we’re predicted. I do understand them. I appreciate everybody that votes in ’em. I don’t think anybody that voted has been to a practice yet. So I don’t put a lot of stock into it, mainly because, again, we’ve never finished there. Whether we were picked to finish third one year, we finished fifth. We’ve never finished where we were picked.”

Auburn Tigers
Last season: 19-10 (8-8, 7th in SEC), NCAA First Four
Preseason projection: 12
Key losses: G Honesty Scott-Grayson, G Sydney Shaw, G Jamya Mingo-Young
Key additions: G Taliah Scott (transfer)

Outlook: Behind a tenacious defense, the Tigers broke through in Johnnie Harris’ third season, going from two wins to five to eight and an NCAA Tournament bid. But offensively the Tigers were almost entirely dependent on Scott-Grayson, who scored over a quarter of their points on the season. The good news is that Arkansas transfer Scott would have led the SEC in scoring last season if she had met the playing minimum, so she is fully capable of picking up that scoring load.

“Everyone knows Taliah as a scorer, but she’s a pretty good defender,” Harris said. “I don’t know if she has had a practice where she hasn’t stepped in and taken a charge. She was committed to getting better on the defensive end when she got on campus. That’s been a really pleasant surprise. Her goal is to become an overall, well-rounded player. She works really hard. She’s one of the hardest workers that I have.”

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Florida Gators
Last season: 14-14 (5-11, 11th in SEC), WBIT First Round
Preseason projection: 9
Key losses: G Aliyah Matharu, G Leilani Correa
Key additions: G Liv McGill, F Me’Arah O’Neal

Outlook: Florida loses its top two scorers from last season, but the program is in good shape since to a big-time recruiting class that includes #15 McGill and #31 O’Neal. McGill is the highest-ranked recruit in program history, and O’Neal’s father Shaquille was okay at basketball. 

“(McGill)has excelled for us,” Kelly Rae Finley said. “She’s an old-school point guard, a floor general. She’s got a steadiness to her game, a good pace. But I would say where she stands out the most right now is just in her demeanor on the court and her IQ and understanding the feel for the game as a whole.”

It may be asking a lot for two freshmen to lead the Gators to the top half of the SEC this season, but they should be a dangerous opponent.

Georgia Lady Bulldogs
Last season: 12-18 (3-13, 13th in SEC), no postseason
Preseason projection: 14
Key losses: F Javyn Nicholson, G Zoesha Smith
Key additions: G Indya Davis, F Mia Woolfolk, G Trinity Turner 

Outlook: Georgia lost its top two scorers from last season, leaving big shoes to fill. Coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson put together a nice recruiting class, signing four ESPN top-100 players, including three in the top 75, but that means the Dawgs are probably a year or two away from competing.

“I’m a big foundation coach,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “I really like to build the foundation. I’m all about empowering women. My coaches and I do a really good job of development. I’ve always been that way. Usually our players stay with us. They don’t usually hop into the portal. That’s just kind of what we’re comfortable with. We’re a big family. This class coming up is going to be a really good class, too.”

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