The SEC remains the standard for women’s hoops. You have to go back to 2021 to find a national title game that didn’t feature a program from the SEC. You have to go back to 2019 to find a Final Four that didn’t feature an SEC program.
It’s more than just the Southeastern Conference – it’s college basketball personified.
While, yes, it’s been South Carolina and LSU leading the charge in the conference under Dawn Staley and Kim Mulkey, respectively, other programs have revamped, recharged, and are nipping at the heels of the powerhouses in the conference.
Vanderbilt has All-American Mikayla Blakes leading their program, and Texas and Oklahoma have fully found their footing in the SEC, led by stars like Madison Booker and Aaliyah Chavez.
Questions remain around some historic programs such as Tennessee, which returns zero players this year, and Florida, which welcomes a women’s basketball legend as its coach. Meanwhile, Mississippi quietly had one of the more impressive transfer portal classes in the country, highlighted by Jada Richard joining the team.
The SEC has seven teams ranked in the top 25 – all in the top 21 – in the first Associated Press preseason poll.
The SEC Tournament will take place in Greenville, S.C., from March 3-7, but the path for positioning will be long, grueling, and everything that we love about SEC hoops that sets it apart from the rest of the land.
Alabama
2025-26 record: 24-11
Coach: Pauline Love
Key returner: Ace Austin
Key newcomer: Brooke Coffey
Key departure: Jessica Timmons (graduation)
Analysis: It’s a change of the guard at Alabama, as longtime head coach Kristy Curry left the program to take the head coaching job at the University of South Florida. Enter Pauline Love, and a revamped roster that is focused on playing fast.
Alabama is Love’s first head coaching gig, but she is familiar with SEC hoops, as she was the assistant head coach at Oklahoma last year and was an assistant under Curry at Alabama during the 2024-25 season.
Love stressed the importance of playing fast, and that will be a shift from what the Crimson Tide did last year, as they had a 69.5 pace.
“We want to play fast,” Love said during SEC Media Days. “So we want to be able to score in the first seven seconds of the shot clock. I think it’s a fun way of doing it, but our first practice in the summer, oh, I’m going to be honest with you, it was a little hectic.”
Love will be relying on sophomore Ace Austin to play a large role this year. Last year, she appeared in 32 games as a freshman – as a reserve – averaging 19.9 minutes and scoring 7 points per game.
They said it: “I feel like Ace has been the leader since last year. This year, I feel like she’s spoken up more, just more vocal, more helping everybody on the court, and just learning every spot on the court. So, making the team better.” – Naomi Jones, senior forward.
Arkansas
2025-26 record: 12-20
Coach: Kelsi Musick
Key returner: Emily Robinson
Key newcomer: D’Asia Thomas-Harris
Key departure: Harmonie Ware (transfer to Georgia)
Analysis: It took Kelsi Musick two years to turn around Oral Roberts when she was the head coach there. Now, in her second season at the helm of Arkansas, she’s hoping for a similar trajectory. The Razorbacks went 12-20 last year, with a defense that surrendered 76 points per game.
“Last year we were a little more passive on defense,” Musick said during SEC media day. “We want to make sure we’re turning up the heat on defense and guarding the length of the court as well.”
To do that, she’s going to have to get buy-in from her team. Of the 14 players on the roster, 12 are new, with Emily Robinson serving as the main returner for Musick.
Though Arkansas struggled defensively last year, it pushed the pace offensively and averaged 70.4 points per game. It lost its top two scorers from a season ago, and it’ll look toward Robinson and four-star freshman Whitley Rogers to set the tone and push the pace offensively.
They said it: “Yeah, we’ve completely changed our defense. It’s more of a turn-and-run, very aggressive, pressured defense. So, just having to work on that in the offseason, in the summer and preseason. It’s been an adjustment cause last year we did not play as aggressively on defense. So, just implementing playing aggressively on both ends of the court is something that we’re definitely having to get used to. But so far, we’ve done pretty well adjusting to it.” – Emily Robinson, senior guard.
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Auburn
2025-26 record: 15-17
Coach: Larry Vickers
Key returner: Kaitlyn Duhon
Key newcomer: Danielle Osho
Key departure: Harissoum Coulibaly (transfer to Tennessee)
Analysis: Auburn looked good to start the season, squaring off at home against the Oregon Ducks in a battle of 8-0 teams. But from that day on, the Tigers went 7-17 the rest of the way in Larry Vickers’ first season behind the bench.
What Vickers did this offseason was hit the transfer portal hard, bringing in six recruits, including Sira Thienou from Mississippi and a pair of Miami Hurricanes, Danielle Osho and Jessica Peterson.
What the three of them, specifically, bring is the rebounding that Vickers so desperately wants.
“I didn’t think it was possible to lose a rebound battle on the glass by 30,” Vickers said during SEC Media Days about Auburn being outrebounded 50-19 in a loss to Texas last year. “We’ve done that. I never want to see that happen again.”
It won’t be all newcomers, though, as Ja’Mia Harris and Kaitlyn Duhon are two of the returning starters for the Tigers. Duhon, the team’s No. 2 leading scorer a season ago, is expected to take on more offensive load this season.
They said it: “The locker room this offseason has really been great. Everybody’s team bonding, getting to know each other and learning everybody’s strengths and weaknesses, so we can get better on the court.” – Ja’Mia Harris, senior guard.
Florida
2025-26 record: 18-15
Coach: Tammi Reiss
Key returner: Jade Weathersby
Key newcomer: Kiyomi McMiller
Key departure: Liv McGill (transfer to Oklahoma State)
Analysis: It’s a new era in Florida, as Tammi Reiss takes over the helm for the Gators. Reiss, a three-time All-American at the University of Virginia and the No. 5 overall pick in the inaugural WNBA Draft, led Rhode Island to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in two decades last year.
She was ready to make the jump, and during her first week on the job, she asked for a salary pool from administrators so that she could recruit and retain an elite staff and elite roster.
“In order to do that, my first week here I had to put a Zoom together and a PowerPoint together to go out in the community and reach our donors and boosters,” Reiss told The IX Sports. “They came through, and we had — we had an outstanding response to our portal construction fundraiser, and it enabled me to get some names. I would not have gotten Kiyomi McMiller had I not had those funds. So our donors, Gator Nation, they came through.”
Reiss brought up McMiller for a good reason. After going from Rutgers to Penn State, McMiller was a top name in the transfer portal, and Reiss wanted to make sure that she had her.
McMiller will be the go-to scoring option for the Gators, who have to make up for the loss of walking bucket Liv McGill.
They said it: “I’ve known Coach for a really long time, and I knew the vision that she was trying to accomplish. I wanted to come to Florida to help her accomplish that.” – Kiyomi McMiller, junior guard.
Georgia
2025-26 record: 22-10
Coach: Ayla Guzzardo
Key returner: Vera Ojenuwa
Key newcomer: Harmonie Ware
Key departure: Dani Carnegie (transfer, Iowa)
Analysis: The Bulldogs lost eight players to the transfer portal in the offseason, including four starters and their top four scorers from a season ago. Four players – Rylie Theuerkauf, Mia Woolfolk, Zhen Craft, and Miyah Verse – transferred within the conference, so they’ll have an opportunity at a revenge game of sorts against their former school.
The Bulldogs, all things considered, had a successful season on paper last year, but its late-season in-conference swing was the writing on the wall that a change had to come, as it lost 10 of its final 17 games.
Despite the mass departure, Ayla Guzzardo did a good job in the portal, landing key names from mid-majors, as well as schools like Arizona, West Virginia, and Arkansas’ Harmonie Ware.
“We needed people to be able to put the ball in the hole, to be blunt and honest,” Guzzardo said during SEC Media Days. “Harm can do that. Harmonie has been working hard on extending her game. Her three-point shot has been magnificent this summer. She puts in almost 2,000 shots a week. Her work ethic on the floor is going to translate into games.”
They said it: “Georgia has a great culture, and I’m really excited to be a part of it. When I talked to Coach Ayla, everything that she wanted in a program was everything I wanted in a program, and her values aligned with mine, especially for my last and final year of college. I’m super excited to be a part of it.” – Jordana Codio, fifth-year wing.
Kentucky
2025-26 record: 25-11
Coach: Kenny Brooks
Key returner: Clara Strack
Key newcomer: Me’Arah O’Neal
Key departure: Teonni Key (WNBA)
Analysis: If you aren’t keeping your eyes on Clara Strack as a sleeper player of the year candidate, you’re, well, sleeping on one of the most dominant interior defenders in college basketball.
Last year, Strack determined a lot of the success of the Kentucky basketball team. During the regular season, in games where she was held to 11 or fewer points this year, Kentucky was 1-6.
Her defense is elite, but there’s another step for Strack to take offensively that can see her cement herself as a top-10 pick in the upcoming WNBA Draft.
Her head coach knows that, too, but he just wants her to be, well, her.
“She just wants to go out and win,” Brooks said at SEC Media Days. “I’ve never seen a more competitive kid. She couldn’t care less about her stats and what’s going on. She reluctantly is doing some of the stuff we asked her to do as far as the campaign. Just shows you the type of player she is. She’s very competitive. She’s getting better.”
Strack will have some help in the form of a young top-10 recruiting class that is headlined by point guard Maddyn Greenway and Savvy Swords. Swords, whose sister, Syla, plays at Michigan, is expected to contribute right away.
“She’s a very mature player physically and mentally,” Brooks said. “You watch her, she goes out there, she’s played multiple positions for us this fall. It’s been a seamless transition.”
The Wildcats made it to the Sweet 16 last year, and if the freshmen and Strack both take a step forward in their development, a routine trip could be in the cards.
They said it: “I think I’ve grown tremendously on and off the court. Coach Brooks has been the biggest part in all of that, just teaching me to keep working hard no matter what, and it pays off.” – Clara Strack, senior center.
LSU
2025-26 record: 29-6
Coach: Kim Mulkey
Key returner: Mikaylah Williams
Key newcomer: Jada Williams
Key departure: Kate Koval (transfer to Baylor)
Analysis: It wouldn’t be a college basketball offseason if there wasn’t a story surrounding Kim Mulkey. Mulkey mismanaged the situation around Kate Koval and Anna Minaeva, and it overshadowed the solid offseason that the Tigers had.
LSU, which opens the season as the No. 9-ranked team in the Associated Press poll, brought in one of the bigger names in the transfer portal in Jada Williams. Williams was one of nine Cyclones who entered the portal, and she gives the Tigers a big four with Mikaylah Williams, MiLaysia Fulwiley, and Grace Knox.
Williams, who looks every bit the part of a top-five pick in the upcoming WNBA Draft, saw her usage dip last year from the previous season, and with Williams and Knox in her second season, it should continue to hover around the 21 percent mark.
What the Tigers didn’t struggle to do last year was put the ball in the basket. They led all Division I programs by scoring 95 points per game.
With Angel Reese, Aneesah Morrow, and Flau’jae Johnson graduating in each of the last three years, Williams’ final season closes a chapter for the Tigers. Another title is exactly what she – and Mulkey – hope to achieve.
They said it: “Everybody is really good, but Anna … I’m extremely excited for you all to see what Anna is here to bring. She’s only 17, so she has a lot more room for improvement. And she’s already so good.” Mikaylah Williams, senior guard
Mississippi
2025-26 record: 24-12
Coach: Yolett McPhee-McCuin
Key returner: Lauren Jacobs
Key newcomer: Jada Richard
Key departure: Cotie McMahon (WNBA)
Analysis: A lot of attention was paid to the job that Oklahoma State did in the transfer portal, but don’t overlook the work that Mississippi put in. Yolett McPhee-McCuin (Coach Yo), loaded up with the prize player being Jada Richard from LSU.
She didn’t stop there, though, as she brought in Talaysia Cooper and Jaida Civil from Tennessee, as well as Knisha Godfrey from Florida.
Does the SEC run through Mississippi? Well, no, but the transfer portal certainly did.
“I recruited Jada out of high school, and she chose to go somewhere else,” Coach McPhee-McCuin said during SEC Media Days. “For me, it was a no-brainer once she got in the portal that I would want to recruit her, just because I believed in her before she even got to college.”
Richard and Cooper will be counted on heavily, as this is practically a brand new team for the school. There are no returning starters, and the two players who are returning – Lauren Jacobs and Desrae Kyles – played a total of 245 minutes last year combined.
Coach Yo’s team played at a slower pace last year, but was very efficient during its possessions, averaging 0.87 points per play.
They said it: “Yeah, I think it’s great, it’s great for basketball and it’s great for the SEC. Coach Yo – I’m just excited to be here. She’s a great coach, she’s a great leader. Strong-willed coach. Just somebody I can look up to, so I’m just happy to be here.” – Jada Richard, junior guard.
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Mississippi State
2025-26 record: 18-13
Coach: Sam Purcell
Key returner: Madison Francis
Key newcomer: Reese Beaty
Key departure: Destiny McPhaul (graduation)
Analysis: Sam Purcell has yet to have a losing record as the head coach of the Bulldogs, but his team did take a step back last year, finishing at 18-13 and missing the NCAA Tournament.
They do, however, return some interesting players, including Madison Francis, the team’s leading scorer from a season ago, and Favour Nwaedozi.
Nwaedozi averaged a double-double in her first year in Division I, as she previously played at Mukogawa Women’s University in Japan.
While Purcell mainly targeted mid-major players in the portal, he did land Reese Beaty from Iowa State as well.
“It was an easy sell,” Purcell said during SEC Media Days. “When Favour and Madison said early in March and late February that they were coming back. Us sitting down and painting a picture, her believing in that vision, then what she’s been getting out of me is the keys to the car.”
An area where the Bulldogs excelled last season was on the glass, averaging 41.8 rebounds per game – good for No. 17 in the nation.
They said it: “I am excited for everyone to see how different my game has been this season. This offseason, I have been able to work on my jump shots, and I have added that to the bag. So all the teams that stepped down and were giving me space from 15 feet last year, you better come up.” – Favour Nwaedozi, senior forward.
Missouri
2025-26 record: 17-17
Coach: Kellie Harper
Key returner: Grace Slaughter
Key newcomer: Nevaeh Caffey
Key departure: Shannon Dowell (transfer to Cal)
Analysis: What do you do when you’re in your second year as head coach and you lose two of your top three scorers from the previous season?
You reload, of course.
That’s the task that Kellie Harper has ahead of her this year after going 17-17 last year in her first season as the coach of the Tigers. Jordana Reisma graduated, and Shannon Dowell left for Cal, leaving Grace Slaughter as the only returning player to average more than 10 points per game.
What Harper was able to do, though, was attract some Power 4 players who were looking for a new opportunity, including Nevaeh Caffey from Indiana, McKenzie Mathurin from Michigan, and Tanyuel Welch of Arizona.
“Stylistically, we recruited to our style, where we want to be,” Harper said during SEC Media Days. “We were extremely intentional with building this roster. If you look at our roster makeup, we have five freshmen, three sophomores. We’re very young. But offensively, I think we’ll look similar in what we’re trying to do, which is share the ball, high assists. We want to play fast. We want to take advantage of our ability to shoot the three but also get paint touches, whether that is passing or putting the ball on the floor.”
Missouri played fast last year, averaging 74.2 possessions per 40 minutes.
And being able to return Slaughter is a big part of that offensive execution.
“She’s been great to coach,” Harper said. “One of the exciting things as her coach to watch has been her comfort level and where she’s at now as opposed to this team last year. You can only get that by experience.”
They said it: “I think the biggest difference you will see with our team will be on the defensive end. A lot of that has to do with the competitive nature of our new players. We wanted to acquire more athleticism in particular on the perimeter. I think you’ll see that. We want to be a better rebounding team than we were last year.” – Kellie Harper, head coach.
Oklahoma
2025-26 record: 26-8
Coach: Jennie Baranczyk
Key returner: Aaliyah Chavez
Key newcomer: Sa’Myah Smith
Key departure: Zya Vann (transfer to Texas)
Analysis: Aaliyah Chavez was the star last year for the Sooners, but there are two seniors from a season ago whose presence will be missed in Norman, Okla., in Raegan Beers and Payton Verhulst. Beers, Verhulst, and Vann leave Oklahoma with three starting vacancies from a season ago, but with Chavez and Sahara Williams returning, the school will still be in good shape.
A lot of that is due to the work in the portal that Jennie Baranczyk did by bringing in Sa’Myah Smith from Virginia and Jordan Speiser from Kansas State.
“Sa’Myah has been just an incredible asset so far,” Baranczyk said during SEC Media Days. “I think she’s a quiet leader, but she’s somebody with just an insane amount of experience. So for her to know what it takes to win a national championship, for her to know what it feels like in February in the SEC, that kind of leadership doesn’t go unnoticed and to know how hard you have to work every day to know the kind of depth that you have to have.”
While the transfers will draw more eyes, as will freshmen Alliyah Bell and Vienna Murray as an inside-out combo, all of the attention will be on Chavez again. She’s the reigning Freshman of the Year, after all, after averaging 18.4 points and 4.2 assists in 34 games a season ago.
“Yeah, I mean, I’m very excited for this year,” Chavez said during SEC Media Days. “Obviously, almost a whole new team, so just learning everybody and learning how our style is going to be. I think it’s just so exciting because practicing has been so much fun.”
Oklahoma enters the season ranked No. 21 in the country in the Associated Press poll.
They said it: “I think the challenge will be showing up every day. I think we have a younger team this year. I think, with graduating some experience, we need to make sure we get that experience early.” – Sahara Williams, senior forward.
South Carolina
2025-26 record: 36-4
Coach: Dawn Staley
Key returner: Joyce Edwards
Key newcomer: Jordan Lee
Key departure: Maddy McDaniel (withdrawal due to personal reasons)
Analysis: Sit down for this – South Carolina is the preseason No. 1 ranked team again. And when you look at what they did this offseason, it’s hard to argue against it.
There is currently one player on South Carolina’s roster – Brooke Quarles-Daniels – who is less than 6 feet tall. The Gamecocks have extreme length that will allow them to switch constantly on defense while getting to all three levels offensively.
Joyce Edwards returns for her junior season in what could be her best one yet. Her scoring, usage, and offensive win shares went up a season ago, and she’ll be the focal point of this offense once again.
Dawn Staley went into the portal to bring in Quarles-Daniels, a defensive stopper, as well as Jordan Lee, who excelled at Texas during her first two seasons in Division I.
“Yeah, it’s no secret that transferring is a difficult decision, especially when you are coming from a program where you had a lot of success,” Lee said. “I have done things well, especially my jump in scoring from freshman to sophomore year. So just seeing how some of those things that I did well at Texas would transfer to her system.”
An addition that isn’t being discussed enough is the return of Chloe Kitts, who tore her ACL before the season began last year.
“It was really hard,” Kitts said during SEC Media Days. “Just sitting and watching them play was tough, but I had to make it a positive and be the best teammate I could be. It challenged me mentally, but I am now a better player because of it. I’m excited to get back out there.”
Kitts and Alicia Tournebize, who came over midway through the year last year from France, will anchor the paint for the Gamecocks, but they are still looking for their answer at point guard.
Maddy McDaniel stepped away from basketball for personal reasons, which is always bigger than basketball. Her departure does open up a spot for No. 6-ranked freshman Jerzy Robinson and star of the NCAA Tournament, Agot Makeer.
South Carolina also landed Oliviyah Edwards, the No. 3-ranked five-star recruit out of high school, this year, too.
The rich just get richer.
They said it: “I am 100%. I am out there every day doing everything that I can. I always felt like I was ready to go. Felt good just a week after surgery, so the mental part didn’t really affect me. Just ready to get back out there.” – Chloe Kitts, fifth-year big.
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Tennessee
2025-26 record: 16-14
Coach: Kim Caldwell
Key returner: N/A
Key newcomer: Harissoum Coulibaly
Key departure: Talaysia Cooper (transfer to Mississippi)
Analysis: A lot can change in a year. Kim Caldwell’s time at Tennessee is proof of this. Two years ago, her coaching style and success were the talk of college basketball, as she used a hockey-line approach with five in, five out to maximize effort on the court. The tactic resulted in the Volunteers reaching the Sweet 16.
But last year, the narrative shifted. Tennessee lost 11 of its final 13 games on the season, leaving Caldwell’s future as head coach in doubt. She returns this season, but the program isn’t returning a single player from a season ago, as all eight eligible returners entered the transfer portal.
“I think when you are building a team any time this time of year, it’s really important to set your foundation, make sure you have your culture, make sure you really set your standard,” Caldwell said at SEC Media Days. “When you have so many new players, it really helps you set that standard the exact way that you want it to because they don’t know any better.”
There was no panic button that was pressed, though, as Caldwell was able to bring in a solid transfer portal class – including three key players from SEC rivals. Joining the Volunteers are Rylie Theuerkauf (Georgia), Fatmata Janneh (Texas A&M), Kaylene Smikle (Maryland), Harissoum Coulibaly (Auburn), Harper Peterson (Stanford), Riley Makalusky (West Virginia), Jada Eads (Seton Hall), Shaelyn Steele (Penn State), Zhen Craft (Georgia), Aaliyah Moore (Texas), and more.
“The thing about this team is we have so many selfless players. Again, they want to get it right,” Caldwell said. “They play with whoever. They’ll play in whatever position. They’ll do whatever it takes to be on the floor, and they’ll do whatever it takes to win, no matter how many minutes that is.”
They said it: “Tennessee had a lot of reasons why I wanted to play here. I mean, ever since a little kid, a little girl, that’s where you dream of playing at is Tennessee. All the history and everything with Pat Summit. Then just when I really got to meet Kim [Caldwell] and come on the visit, I fell in love with her and her ideals and her program. Yeah, it’s been history ever since.” – Rylie Theuerkauf, senior guard.
Texas
2025-26 record: 35-4
Coach: Vic Schaefer
Key returner: Madison Booker
Key newcomer: Zya Vann
Key departure: Aaliyah Crump (transfer to Duke)
Analysis: It’s a different era in Texas basketball. The face of the program, Rori Harmon, is in the WNBA. Madison Booker is entering her final year as a Longhorn. But for head coach Vic Schaefer, it’s business as usual, as he’s focusing on building up his program and maintaining the levels of success that he – and Texas – are used to.
“We got two juniors, two seniors, and then we got those five freshmen. Not a lot in between, but I’m excited about them, 100%,” he told The IX Sports.
Those seniors and juniors are Booker and Breya Cunningham and Bryanna Preston and Zya Vann, respectively, who will be leading a young Longhorns team that had the No. 3-ranked recruiting class in the nation. They brought in five top-50 freshmen – four top-25 – in this year’s class, highlighted by wing Addison Bjorn and forward Brihanna Crittendon.
They’ll play a big role for the Longhorns right away, as the team lost Jordan Lee (South Carolina), Aaliyah Crump (Duke), Justice Carlton (Houston, will miss the season with a knee injury), and Aaliyah Moore (Tennessee) in the transfer portal.
“We recruit to a fit. We’ve been able to retain our student-athletes, and we develop them,” Schaefer said. “I mean, we just-that’s always been the secret to our success. It gets a little more challenging in today’s world, as we all know, with the portal. And this past year, kind of the first time we’ve really experienced losing, you know, a kid or two that we really didn’t want to lose, but we’ve also been able to get into the portal and get some really quality kids.”
The standard remains the standard for Texas, even with the losses in the portal. Booker has a chance to put a cap on her historic collegiate career as the No. 2 consensus player heading into the WNBA Draft. She enters the season as the No. 4 leading scorer in program history with 1,972 points. She’s 551 points behind the all-time leader, Annette Smith, which is a mark that she’s crossed in all three of her seasons at Texas.
They said it: “I stayed in the gym. I worked on my jump shot a little bit. Just continued to work on the touch of it and worked on some new moves to add to my bag that I can bring to my game this season. I just stayed in the gym and continued to work to be ready for my senior year.” – Madison Booker, senior forward.
Texas A&M
2025-26 record: 14-13
Coach: Joni Taylor
Key returner: Salese Blow
Key newcomer: Kailyn Gilbert
Key departure: Fatmata Janneh (transfer to Tennessee)
Analysis: Joni Taylor enters Year 5 as the head coach for the Aggies, as she’s still in search of her first winning season in conference play.
“I think we had to learn how to play in the SEC last year,” Taylor said during SEC Media Days. “We had several newcomers that never played in the league. If you never played in this league, you just don’t know what it’s like, no matter how much you prepare for it, you watch it and you practice it.”
The Aggies were able to show that they were learning how to do that, as they finished the season strong by winning six of their last seven games. They’ll be looking to carry over that momentum into this season with a mixed batch of returners, incoming freshmen, and players from the portal.
While losing Fatmata Janneh to Tennessee was a big loss for the program, Taylor was able to land big-time transfers in Essence Cody from Alabama, Miyah Verse from Georgia, and Kailyn Gilbert from LSU.
The starting lineup will look different, as only Salese Blow and Janae Kent return, so Taylor wants her players to get up to speed and live up to their motto: do more.
“Whether that’s in the classroom, on the court, in the community. What more can we do?” Taylor said. “Let’s not look to the left or the right; let’s not ask somebody else to do more. What can we do every single day when we look in the mirror to do more? Can we get one more rebound, assist, steal, one more shot, more reps up in the gym? Do more because we have enough.”
They said it: “She’s (Taylor) relentless. She wants us to be good in every aspect, on and off the court, but specifically on the court. She preaches defense, being confident in ourselves and playing hard the entire game.” – Salese Blow, senior guard.
Vanderbilt
2025-26 record: 29-5
Coach: Shea Ralph
Key returner: Mikayla Blakes
Key newcomer: Mia Woolfolk
Key departure: Justine Pissott (WNBA)
Analysis: There are still the heavy hitters in the SEC that the title runs through. But over the last few years, you can add Vanderbilt to that discussion with the program that Shea Ralph has built.
The success of the Commodores has made Vanderbilt a destination, as they brought in the No. 16 freshman in the country, Olivia Jones, who should play in the backcourt right away.
Mikayla Blakes is entering her junior season, and her sophomore season quieted any skeptics who were out there about sustaining her freshman season success. What helped Blakes last year was the play of another standout freshman Aubrey Galvan. The duo paced the Commodores to a 29-5 record, averaging 40.5 points per game.
“They’re the best back court in the country. They have had and continue to have the vision here to be champions on and off the court,” Ralph said of the duo during SEC Media Days. “They work at a rate every single day on the basketball court, in the community, in the classroom to be great, to be excellent. They set the standard for our team. They’re two of the most coachable kids I’ve ever coached. They play with joy, and they set a wonderful example for our team and on our campus for what it looks like to work to be great at something, to be a champion at basketball.”
While Ralph only lost two rotational players to the portal, she is losing three starters from a season ago, with Blakes and Galvan as the only returners. She’ll look toward the depth that she’s built at the program – as well as incoming transfers like Mia Woolfold from Georgia and Vernell Atamah from Northwestern State – to fill those voids.
What the Commodores like to do is push the pace offensively while looking for high-percentage shots from all over the floor. They are able to create space for Blakes and Galvan to operate to get downhill and drive to the rim.
Their 84.3 points per game ranked No. 6 in the country last year, and with another year of seasoning for Blakes and Galvan, expect that pace to continue.
“For her (Galvan) and Mikayla it’s very similar. Mikayla has a little bit more experience under her belt,” Ralph said. “Aubrey and Mikayla have the ball in their hands a lot. As a point guard, she needs to be a leader. She needs to be me on the court. Our connection has to be unshakeable, so everything that we need her to accomplish, she needs to be able to do without direction from me during games.”
They said it: “I mean, Mikayla’s the best player in the country and I’ll stand 10 toes behind that. Last year when I was a freshman, she helped me out a lot. She was a great leader to me, and to see how she is still willing and wanting to become a better leader shows that there’s not necessarily like a point you just get to – you got to continue growing. She’s a role model for me.” – Aubrey Galvan, sophomore guard.
