South-Carolina

SEC Power Rankings: South Carolina women’s basketball set to dominate new era of conference

Published

2 months ago

October 31, 2024

SEC Power Rankings: South Carolina women’s basketball set to dominate new era of conference

SEC women’s basketball is back in more ways than one.

With newcomers Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC is looking stronger than ever, and it shouldn’t really be a debate about if it’s the best conference anymore. The last three national championships were won by SEC teams, including South Carolina going 38-0 last season, and the conference is only going to get more dominant.

Now, onto the preseason power rankings:

1. South Carolina

What to know: Dawn Staley’s daycare has a year of experience – and by experience, I mean an undefeated national championship run – to their credit. I have no reason to doubt the Gamecocks here.

2. LSU

What to know: Kim Mulkey’s strategy of pulling big names out of the portal has worked, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t work once again, especially with Flau’jae Johnson leading the charge.

3. Texas

What to know: I’m high on Texas as Vic Schaefer returns to the SEC, but he has to face Staley and the Gamecocks twice. Just ask him how that went when he was at Mississippi State.

4. Oklahoma

What to know: The Sooners have enough redshirt seniors to fill a starting lineup, and with their experience, they’ll make a splash their first year in the SEC.

5. Ole Miss

What to know: Coach Yo has turned the Rebels into a solid SEC program, which makes it all the more confusing why she was desperate enough to hire someone on staff who would only pass an Ole Miss basketball background check.

6. Kentucky

What to know: Kentucky is ranked this high purely because of Georgia Amoore. No, I will not be explaining further.

7. Alabama

What to know: Alabama brings back all but one of its starters, so if it can’t keep its place in the upper half of the SEC, things are looking bleaker in Tuscaloosa than I thought.

8. Tennessee

What to know: There’s a new kid on the block – well, actually, make that two – at Tennessee, which is about to find out if going young and bold is the path to national relevance again.

9. Auburn

What to know: Johnnie Harris’ defense paired with a pure scorer in Taliah Scott? Yeah, sign me up. Don’t be surprised when Auburn wins some big games this season.

10. Florida

What to know: The Gators have always been a middle of the pack, not horrible, but not great, type of team, and that hasn’t changed under Kelly Rae Finley. Here’s to hoping her talented youngsters can shake things up in a good way.

11. Vanderbilt

What to know: Everyone messed around and let Shea Ralph get a roster with more depth than she has ever had at Vanderbilt. Women’s basketball might be on a Vandy football vibe this season.

12. Texas A&M

What to know: The Aggies never really reached their full potential last year and lost two starters. I can’t guarantee they’ll be exciting, but I’ll bet Joni Taylor’s defense will still give a lot of teams problems.

13. Mississippi State

What to know: I can count on one hand how many returners Mississippi State has. And maybe that’s a good thing based on how last season ended.

14. Georgia

What to know: Georgia was abysmal last season and didn’t add the players to make me believe it will be any better this season in a loaded SEC.

15. Arkansas

What to know: Mike Neighbors went international to fill some holes left by a mass exodus after last season. That’s one way to not have to deal with NIL, I guess.

16. Missouri

What to know: Missouri went from being the last team to hand South Carolina a loss in SEC play to last in the conference in two seasons. My, how times have changed and the coach hasn’t.

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.

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South-Carolina

South Carolina offers transfer portal DL

Published

4 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

South Carolina offers transfer portal DL

South Carolina continues to mine the transfer portal to fill needs and the Gamecocks have sent out another known offer to an interior defensive lineman.

Bowling Green transfer portal DL Davonte Miles posted on Twitter/X Saturday that the Gamecocks have offered the 6-foot-5, 275-pounder.

In addition to South Carolina, Miles is hearing from Mississippi State, Memphis, Northwestern, and UConn.

South Carolina Transfer Portal Resources:

Miles is expected to play in Bowling Green’s bowl game on Dec. 26 and will likely make a decision after that.

Listed as a redshirt sophomore, Miles should have two years of eligibility left.

Miles collected 10 tackles, including a tackle-for-loss, and two quarterback hurries this season.

He is originally from River Rouge, Mich.

South Carolina is expected to bring in multiple interior defensive linemen from the portal as the Gamecocks will have to replace Tonka Hemingway, Boogie Huntley, Deandre Jules, and likely T.J. Sanders from this year’s talented group.

Carolina already has one portal commitment at the position in Texas A&M transfer and former five-star Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy.

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South Carolina signee finishes Shrine Bowl week domination with huge defensive touchdown

Published

12 hours ago

December 21, 2024

Press Room

South Carolina signee finishes Shrine Bowl week domination with huge defensive touchdown

This week, some of the top high school players from both South Carolina and North Carolina took part in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas. South Carolina had 11 signees selected for the game, but some did not participate due to early enrollment at USC.

One name that popped up all week was Havelock, North Carolina native Donovan Darden. In fact, On3’s Charles Power picked Darden as his practice MVP. The future Gamecock linebacker got reps at both defensive end and linebacker.

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On Saturday, in what became a dominant 49-24 victory for the Tar Heels, Darden put his stamp on the strong week with a big-time play. Late in the 3rd quarter, North Carolina led 28-10 when the future Gamecock effectively ended the game. Irmo High School quarterback AJ Brand rolled right out of the pocket to escape pressure and tried fitting a pass through a tight window. Darden, who was in a short zone, stepped in front of the pass and picked it off. An elite athlete, he also made short work of the 48-yard return as he took the interception back for a score.

You can watch the play below.

South Carolina signee Donovan Darden capped off an incredible week at @ShrineBowlNCSC with a pick six to put North Carolina up 35-10
Darden owns 21-10.75 LJ & 45-8 Shot Put personal bests. Strong showing all week from the former HS quarterback pic.twitter.com/oDhCnTSVL2
— Hudson Standish (@247Hudson) December 21, 2024

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Darden will join a linebacker room at South Carolina that could need a youngster or two to play. The Gamecocks use their ‘backers in a variety of ways, and his experience as a pass rusher could help him get on the field. He also has a solid frame already, measuring in at 6’4″ and 225 pounds. On3 ranks Darden as a 4-star EDGE prospect. In On3’s rankings, he is No. 122 nationally, No. 6 in North Carolina, and No. 13 among EDGEs. He will start his USC career in the linebacker room but could grow into an EDGE.

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South-Carolina

Radford visits South Carolina after Murray-Boyles’ 22-point outing

Published

19 hours ago

December 21, 2024

Press Room

Radford visits South Carolina after Murray-Boyles’ 22-point outing

Associated Press

Radford Highlanders (10-4) at South Carolina Gamecocks (8-3)

Columbia, South Carolina; Sunday, 2 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: South Carolina hosts Radford after Collin Murray-Boyles scored 22 points in South Carolina’s 91-88 overtime victory against the Clemson Tigers.

The Gamecocks are 6-1 in home games. South Carolina has a 1-1 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Highlanders have gone 3-4 away from home. Radford scores 77.1 points and has outscored opponents by 6.3 points per game.

South Carolina’s average of 8.0 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.6 fewer made shots on average than the 8.6 per game Radford allows. Radford has shot at a 44.9% rate from the field this season, 3.7 percentage points higher than the 41.2% shooting opponents of South Carolina have averaged.

TOP PERFORMERS: Murray-Boyles is averaging 16.5 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Gamecocks.

Brandon Maclin is averaging 9.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals for the Highlanders.

LAST 10 GAMES: Gamecocks: 8-2, averaging 76.9 points, 32.8 rebounds, 14.5 assists, 4.9 steals and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 46.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.2 points per game.

Highlanders: 7-3, averaging 75.5 points, 38.2 rebounds, 12.4 assists, 7.2 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 43.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.2 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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