<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3qiClH_0wBTyjwc00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3qiClH_0wBTyjwc00" width="1200" height="800" ><figcaption>Texas A&amp;M head coach Joni Taylor speaks during the Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Media Day in Birmingham, Ala. MIKE STEWART, ASSOCIATED PRESS</figcaption></figure>STAFF &amp; WIRE REPORT 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 in fourth-ranked Texas and 10th-ranked Oklahoma. But the top-ranked 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 Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball 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.”Staley gave a little wince at the part about “getting” to play the Longhorns twice.Texas A&amp;M, which was picked to finish 13th in the media poll, catches a break in that it will play Arkansas twice. The Razorbacks were picked 16th. The Aggies are looking to build on last year’s NCAA Tournament appearance after a two-year hiatus.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2ou4Kg_0wBTyjwc00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2ou4Kg_0wBTyjwc00" width="1763" height="1175" ><figcaption>Texas A&amp;M guard Aicha Coulibaly speaks during the Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Media Day in Birmingham, Ala. MIKE STEWART, AP</figcaption></figure>“Going into year three, I think we are moving in the right direction,” A&amp;M coach Joni Taylor said. “Are we where we want to be? No, because we’re not winning championships yet. We took a huge step last year. Our goal is to continue to move that program in the right direction, and we’re doing that. I’m excited about our staff. I’m excited about our players and the potential that we have.”A&amp;M was 19-13 last season, including 6-10 in league play to tie Arkansas for ninth place. A&amp;M beat Mississippi State at the SEC Tournament 72-56 before falling to South Carolina 79-68 in a hard-fought game. Nebraska nipped A&amp;M 61-59 in the NCAA tourney.“We got to stay healthy, number one,” Taylor said. “I really think we could have had five more wins last year if we don’t lose [guard] Endyia Rogers and Lauren Ware. We played that game in the [NCAA] tournament against Nebraska without Lauren, and Endyia was coming back off of a knee surgery that allowed her to come back for the SEC Tournament. We were fortunate to still make the tournament. So we’ve got to stay healthy.”A&amp;M returns a trio of starters in fifth-year senior guard Aicha Coulibaly, graduate guard Sahara Jones and the 6-foot-5, senior forward Ware, who averaged 9.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.“I am just trying to get better at shooting the 3 and being efficient on the court,” Ware said. “[I’m] just reading the defense and being patient. Staying composed at times because people take a lot of charges on me, and just taking it out of that and just doing what I do best.”Ware said she’s in better shape and so is Coulibaly, who averaged 13.6 ppg and 5.7 rpg in her first season for the Aggies after transferring from Auburn.“[Coulibaly] is our toughest player, she brings a level of competitiveness and drive and hunger for the game that has leaked over into the rest of our team,” Taylor said. “Year two for her here with us in our program and our culture. I’m excited to see how she continues to grow. She leads us every day with our competitiveness and her drive to win.”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.<img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4VMqla_0wBTyjwc00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4VMqla_0wBTyjwc00" width="1600" height="900" >Texas coach Vic Schaefer has a long history in the SEC as an assistant at Arkansas and Texas A&amp;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 victories 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.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2qxZwf_0wBTyjwc00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2qxZwf_0wBTyjwc00" width="1763" height="1176" ><figcaption>Texas A&amp;M’s Lauren Ware speaks during the Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Media Day in Birmingham, Ala. MIKE STEWART, AP</figcaption></figure>“We’ve obviously known that we’re coming to the SEC, and we know that the conference is absolutely incredible,” Baranczyk said. “But I’m just really excited that our culture is continuing to grow on a foundational level.”South Carolina and LSU are loaded again despite losing two of the top seven WNBA draft picks. 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.”</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Aggies' return path to NCAA women's field made tougher as Texas, Oklahoma join SEC

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 in fourth-ranked Texas and 10th-ranked Oklahoma. But the top-ranked Gamecocks are going for their third national title in four years — minus departed star Kamilla Cardoso — after romping through a 38-0 season.