South Carolina women's basketball picked second in SEC by league's coaches, two Gamecocks put on All-SEC team

On Wednesday, the SEC league office announced results from the conference’s coaches’ preseason voting for All-SEC teams and end-of-season standings. Perhaps surprisingly, South Carolina women’s basketball was not picked as the league’s champion.

Instead, the Gamecocks were second in the preseason standings. The Texas Longhorns slotted into the poll position.

The entire order of finish can be seen below:

1. Texas Longhorns
2. South Carolina Gamecocks
3. LSU Tigers
4. Oklahoma Sooners
5. Tennessee Volunteers
6. Ole Miss Rebels
7. Kentucky Wildcats
8. Vanderbilt Commodores
9. Alabama Crimson Tide
10. Florida Gators
11. Georgia Bulldogs
12. Mississippi State Bulldogs
13. Texas A&M Aggies
14. Missouri Tigers
15. Auburn Tigers
16. Arkansas Razorbacks

South Carolina has won nine of the last 12 regular-season SEC Championships and nine of the last 11 SEC Tournaments. That includes three SEC regular-season crowns in a row. After splitting two regular-season meetings, the 2024-2025 Gamecocks technically shared the SEC title with Texas but won the season series thanks to blowout wins in the SEC Tournament Championship Game and the NCAA Tournament Final Four.

This preseason, the Gamecocks and Longhorns split the title of preseason favorites, as the SEC media selected USC as the conference favorite. The media poll came out within hours of senior forward Chloe Kitts’ ACL injury announcement.

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!

Just like in the preseason media voting, South Carolina put two players on the preseason All-SEC squad. Both sophomore forward Joyce Edwards and senior transfer portal guard Ta’Niya Latson earned spots on the first team. Former Gamecocks Talaysia Cooper (Tennessee) and MiLaysia Fulwiley (LSU) made the first team and second team, respectively.

Edwards led USC in scoring last season (12.7 points per game) en route to first-team All-SEC honors, a Freshman All-American selection, and inclusion on the Honorable Mention All-American team. With Chloe Kitts and Ashlyn Watkins out for the season while rehabbing knee injuries, Edwards is expected to start after coming off the bench as a freshman.

A preseason All-American, too, Latson joined the Gamecocks after three years at Florida State. She was an All-American with the Seminoles and led the nation in scoring last season, logging 25.2 points per game. It was the third year in a row she had scored more than 21 points per game. Virtually unanimously, Latson was considered one of the three best transfer portal additions of the offseason.

Texas junior Madison Booker is the league’s preseason Player of the Year after winning the SEC Player of the Year honor last season. The SEC media also picked Booker to be the league’s POY.

You can see the entire preseason All-SEC team below (ties in voting are not broken):

Preseason First Team All-SEC
Flau’Jae Johnson, LSU Tigers
Mikaylah Williams, LSU Tigers
Raegan Beers, Oklahoma Sooners
Joyce Edwards, South Carolina Gamecocks
Ta’Niya Latson, South Carolina Gamecocks
Talaysia Cooper, Tennessee Lady Volunteers
Madison Booker, Texas Longhorns
Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt Commodores

Preseason Second Team All-SEC
Essence Cody, Alabama Crimson Tide
Liv McGill, Florida Gators
Teonni Key, Kentucky Wildcats
Clara Strack, Kentucky Wildcats
Cotie McMahon, Ole Miss Rebels
Payton Verhulst, Oklahoma Sooners
MiLaysia Fulwiley, LSU Tigers
Rori Harmon, Texas Longhorns

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!