The South Carolina Gamecocks and head coach Dawn Staley have some big expectations, just weeks away from the 2026-27 season tipping off. The Gamecocks made it to the national championship last season, falling to UCLA in the final.
Entering this season the Gamecocks will be looking to win the SEC regular-season title for the sixth season in a row. Well, the media believes South Carolina is good enough to do just that. The SEC's preseason order of finish has been released, and South Carolina is projected to be the No. 1 team in the SEC when it's all said and done.
The Gamecocks are projected to finish first in front of the No. 2 Texas Longhorns, who beat South Carolina in the conference tournament last season. The No. 3 team in the preseason rankings is LSU, followed by conference heavyweights in Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Here's the full order of finish:
- South Carolina
- Texas
- LSU
- Vanderbilt
- Kentucky
- Oklahoma
- Ole Miss
- Tennessee
- Mississippi State
- Alabama
- Texas A&M
- Florida
- Georgia
- Missouri
- Auburn
- Arkansas
The SEC also released a preseason All-SEC first and second team, and a pair of Gamecocks made both squads. Returning star forward Joyce Edwards made the preseason All-SEC first team, along with Texas' Madison Booker, Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes, who was predicted to be the conference's player of the year Kentucky's Clara Strack and LSU's Mikaylah Williams.
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South Carolina had two players make the All-SEC second team, in Chloe Kitts and Tessa Johnson.
One thing that South Carolina failed to do last season was win the SEC Conference Tournament. Although the Gamecocks looked primed for a four-peat, South Carolina fell to Texas 78-61 in the tournament final. The Longhorns were the only team last season to beat the Gamecocks twice, also winning 66-64 in Columbia during a regular-season game in late November.
South Carolina will host an exhibition game against Benedict on Fri., Oct. 23 before the regular season gears up. The Gamecocks open the season on Nov. 4 with a game against Maryland in Paris, followed by non-conference games against UNC, Clemson and UNC.
The Gamecocks will open SEC play on Dec. 31 against Alabama at home, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. ET, airing live on SEC Network. This is anticipated to be one of Staley's most talented rosters she's had in Columbia, adding the likes of Texas transfer Jordan Lee and former five-star Tennessee signee Oliviyah Edwards this offseason.
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