Oklahoma Lands Two on Preseason SEC Basketball Poll, Sooners Picked Fourth

Jennie Baranczyk's first foray into the Southeastern Conference is expected to be successful, even if the SEC has produced three straight national titles and four of the last seven.

John E. Hoover | Oct 14, 2024

Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Oklahoma Sooners

By OU Media Relations

Powered by two preseason All-SEC media selections, Oklahoma women's basketball was picked to finish fourth in the Southeastern Conference's preseason media poll, as voted on by a panel of SEC and national media members and announced Monday by the league office.

All-American center Raegan Beers was named to the preseason All-SEC First Team, while reigning Big 12 Player of the Year Skylar Vann earned a spot on the second team. Oklahoma's fourth-place spot in the poll puts them behind only defending national champion South Carolina, Texas and LSU. Ole Miss trails OU and rounds out the top five.

Led by fourth-year head coach Jennie Baranczyk, the Sooners are poised to make an immediate impact in their first season as members of the SEC. Ranked 12th in ESPN's Way-Too-Early Top 25, Oklahoma returns 98 percent of the scoring production from last year's Big 12 championship team, including Vann and 2024 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Payton Verhulst. All five starters and nearly the entire bench return, with graduate Kennady Tucker marking the only departure. With over 700 combined career games played on the roster, the Sooners bring one of the most experienced rosters in the country into their inaugural SEC season.

Oklahoma's two preseason honorees tie Texas for the third most in the league, trailing only South Carolina and LSU, who each had three selections.

Beers, a two-time All-Pac-12 selection at Oregon State, is the only center named to the SEC's preseason first team. A product of Littleton, CO, Beers transferred to Oklahoma as the nation's top addition according to The Athletic and 247 Sports, after averaging 17.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game last season.

Vann was named to the All-SEC Second Team after earning Co-Big 12 Player of the Year honors in 2024. The senior posted career highs in points (15.1), rebounds (7.0) and assists (2.4) last season, and was an AP All-America honorable mention. Vann will aim to lead Oklahoma to its fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2025.

The Sooners open their season on Oct. 29 with an exhibition game featuring free admission against Oklahoma Christian at Lloyd Noble Center, tipping off at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+. The regular season opener follows on Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. against Southern in Norman.

Vann, Verhulst and Baranczyk will represent Oklahoma at SEC Tipoff '25 in Birmingham on Wednesday afternoon. Fans can tune into SEC Network for live coverage.

SEC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll

1.         South Carolina
2.         Texas
3.         LSU
4.         Oklahoma
5.         Ole Miss
6.         Alabama
7.         Tennessee
8.         Kentucky
9.         Florida
10.        Vanderbilt
11.        Mississippi State
12.        Auburn
13.        Texas A&M
14.        Georgia
15.        Missouri
16.        Arkansas

Published Oct 14, 2024

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.