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Defending Champs LSU top the pre-season rankings at number one with the Aggies on the outside looking in.

jarrett johnson
·4 min read

On Tuesday, the NCAA dropped their pre-season Top 25 poll for the upcoming Women’s basketball season. To no one’s surprise, the reigning champions. LSU Tigers come in at number one, and adding Louisville transfer Hailey Van Lith alongside Angel Reese makes them the top dog.

The Iowa Hawkeyes, led by All-American Caitlin Clark, came in at No. 3 right behind UConn. Leading the way in conference rankings is the Pac-12, with six ranked teams in the SEC finished with five. However, our beloved Aggies are not one of those five teams, and to be blunt…we all knew that would be the case.

Last year was an interesting season for new head coach Joni Taylor. She was replacing a Hall-of-Fame coach, Gary Blair, who brought a Championship to Aggieland and was on a semi-retirement tour simultaneously. To pile on a little bit more, she had a young team that lost multiple leaders, ultimately leading to a 9-20 overall record and 2-14 in the SEC.

Texas A&M could’ve easily rolled over in the SEC tournament, but instead, they rolled up their sleeves and knocked off Vanderbilt and Mississippi State before falling 77-60 to Ole Miss in the Quarterfinals.  Along with ending the season strong, Coach Taylor brought home a gold medal at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

There is a strong case for the Aggies to be the comeback team and coach for the year simply because of the roster turnover during the off-season. She started off hot on the high school recruiting trail, bringing in 3 top 100 players from the class and the number one player in Texas. But most of the heavy lifting came through the transfer portal, resulting in a top-five ranking. The junior guard Aicha Coulibaly leads that group from Auburn, who was recently named a 2nd team All-Conference pick ahead of next season.

Being a year removed from a down season and finally being able to put her stamp on the team, Coach Taylor will have a completely different-looking team outside her two returning freshman standouts. She is one of the younger and extremely talented coaches, so getting this team back on track will not be a problem, and we hope to see them push to be one of the top SEC teams moving forward.

Below, you can check out the schedules and off-season activities the team participated in as they prepare for the season.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on Twitter: @whosnextsports1.

Sneak Peak to what's in store for the Aggie Women's basketball team.

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2024 Non-Conference Schedule

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Story originally appeared on Aggies Wire