The SEC powers remain strong, while a number of other programs are on the rise.
It took a historic effort put forth by a program without much history to speak of, but the South Carolina dominance of the SEC was finally put to an end (well, sort of) when Mississippi State was crowned regular season champions last season. The Bulldogs clinched the title with two games to spare in the regular season, but still went on to go undefeated in the regular season, joining the 1997-98 Tennessee Lady Vols as the one teams to run the table in the SEC.
Of course, Dawn Staley and company wouldn’t let go of the reign of terror quite so easily. After making it to the SEC tournament championship for the fifth year in a row, the Gamecocks handed MSU their first loss of the season and allowed A’ja Wilson to raise the trophy again, winning it all four years of her career.
Now, where do we go from here? Both SC and MSU lost transcendent players, but both have plenty of firepower coming back. Do one of those teams continue to run the league or does someone new climb to the top of the latter? We will take a deep dive into each team to find out.
*Notes*
-Rankings provided for incoming players when available (rankings according to ESPN HoopGurlz)
-Transfers are only listed in the ‘newcomers’ section if they are eligible to play this season