COLUMBIA, S.C. — If this preseason prognostication is any indication, this is going to be a good season for Dawn Staley and the Gamecock women's basketball team.
The media picked her team to win the 2020 SEC Championship in a vote, one of several preseason selections the sportswriters made. Texas A&M was second, Mississippi State was third, while Kentucky and Arkansas rounded out the top five.
The team is coming off a 23-10 season last year where they did not win the SEC title but did make it to the Sweet Sixteen in the national tournament.
The team returns two starters but welcomes six new players, including a much hyped recruiting class that was ranked number one in the nation, and that some have said is one of the best women's recruiting classes of all-time.
Among the group are Zia Cooke, Aliyah Boston, Laeticia Amihere, Breanna Beal, and Olivia Thompson. Several of them were ranked in the top 15, and even the top 5, recruits this past year.
Returning starter Tyasha Harris was named to the preseason first-team, while Mikiah Herbert Harrigan made the second team.
USC is looking to restart their championship streak, which saw them win four straight SEC tournament championships from 2015 to 2018, and four straight regular season SEC titles from 2014 to 2017. And of course, there's the 2017 National Championship in there as well.
