BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – LSU was predicted to win the 2024 Southeastern Conference championship and Angel Reese was tabbed as the preseason SEC Player of the Year on Tuesday by a panel of SEC and national media members. Four Tigers were also featured on the media’s preseason All-SEC Team, including three players on the First Team.
The Tigers came in at No. 1 Tuesday morning in both the AP and WBCA Coaches Polls. The Tigers are coming off their first ever NCAA National Championship. LSU has won the SEC regular season title three times before, most recently in 2008.
Reese was on the preseason All-SEC First Team along with Flau’Jae Johnson and Hailey Van Lith, who was named to the preseason watchlist for the Ann Meyers-Drysdale Award on Tuesday as one of the nation’s top shooting guards. Aneesah Morrow was on the preseason All-SEC Second Team.
A unanimous First-Team All-America last season, Reese set the NCAA record with 34 double-doubles throughout the season after beginning the season with a LSU record 23 consecutive double-doubles. She led the SEC in scoring (23.0 ppg) and rebounding (15.4 rpg), becoming the fourth player in conference history to lead the league in both categories. Reese also set SEC record in total rebounds (555), free throws made (240) and free throw attempts (339). Her 830 points were the third most ever by a LSU player in a season.
Johnson started all 36 games for LSU a season ago and was the SEC Freshman of the Year, averaging 11.0 points, and 5.9 rebound to help the Tigers claim the national championship. She finished the season with 20 games scoring in double figures and had three double-doubles throughout the year.
Over the past three seasons, Van Lith was one of the top players in the ACC and in the country, playing at Louisville before transferring to LSU this summer. Last season she was on the First-Team All-ACC and was an AP All-America honorable mention. She averaged 19.7 points, 3.2 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game last season and was the only player in American other than Iowa’s Caitlin Clark who averaged at least 19 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Over the Summer, Van Lith claimed a Gold Medal with Team USA at the 3×3 FIBA World Cup.
A double-double machine, Morrow has 53 double-doubles in 66 career games at DePaul before transferring to LSU this summer. She led the Big East in rebounding both of the past two seasons and finished second in the conference in scoring both years. Last season Morrow averaged 25.7 points (No. 4 in NCAA) and 12.2 rebounds (No. 7 in NCAA). She and Reese were the only two players in the country to rank inside the top-10 nationally in both scoring and rebounding. As a freshman during the 2021-22 season both the WBCA and USBWA tabbed Morrow as the National Freshman of the Year.
2023-24 SEC Preseason Media Poll
- LSU
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Ole Miss
- Mississippi State
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- Texas A&M
- Alabama
- Florida
- Missouri
- Auburn
- Kentucky
- Vanderbilt
Preseason Player of the Year
Angel Reese, LSU
Preseason All-SEC First-Team
Flau’Jae Johnson, LSU
Angel Reese, LSU
Hailey Van Lith, LSU
Kamila Cardoso, South Carolina
Rickea Jackson, Tennessee
Preseason All-SEC Second Team
Anneesah Morrow, LSU
Madison Scott, Ole Miss
Jessika Carter, Mississippi State
Jewel Spear, Tennessee
Aicha Coulibaly, Texas A&M
Jordyn Cambridge, Vanderbilt