Ole Miss will enter the 2026-27 season with a preseason national ranking and plenty to prove.
The Rebels checked in at No. 19 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll released Tuesday, giving head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin and her program another measure of national respect heading into the new season.
At the same time, the ranking could provide additional motivation for a team that has consistently exceeded expectations under McPhee-McCuin’s leadership.
Preseason AP Poll Rankings 🏀 #NCAAWBB pic.twitter.com/iWSTjhlAEa
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) October 20, 2026
Ole Miss is coming off a 24-12 season that included a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Rebels have now reached five consecutive NCAA Tournaments, the second-longest streak in program history, and have won at least 20 games in each of the last five seasons.
No previous Ole Miss coach had accomplished five straight 20-win campaigns before McPhee-McCuin.
Last season also produced another historic achievement. Ole Miss became the first team in program history to defeat three AP Top 5 opponents in the same season and was the only SEC team to record three such victories without any of them coming on its home floor.
Despite that success, the Rebels were slotted behind several conference rivals in the preseason rankings.
South Carolina claimed the No. 1 spot nationally, while SEC foes Texas (No. 6), Vanderbilt (No. 8), LSU (No. 9) and Kentucky (No. 14) were all ranked ahead of Ole Miss.
The SEC placed seven teams in the preseason Top 25, including four in the top 10, highlighting the challenge that awaits the Rebels in league play.
The biggest question facing Ole Miss is how quickly a nearly brand-new roster can come together.
The Rebels return only two players from last year’s team and welcome 10 newcomers, leaving McPhee-McCuin with the task of building chemistry on the fly.
Still, she believes the roster was assembled with balance and versatility in mind.
“We’ve always had about eight new players because I’m very active in the portal, but this year is different because we don’t have any returning starters,” McPhee-McCuin said at SEC Media Days. “So we have 10 newcomers and two returners that didn’t play a lot of minutes. Basically, I have a brand-new team.
“The difference is one of the things that I think my staff and I focused on was making sure we diversified the roster. I think we’ll look different offensively, and then hopefully we can maintain the same intensity and what we’re known for defensively. We have height, we have shooting, we have point guard play. We have scorers. We have a little bit of everything, and that’s something that we focused on building with this roster.”
If Ole Miss can successfully blend its influx of new talent while maintaining the defensive identity that has become its trademark, the No. 19 ranking could end up looking conservative by season’s end. For now, the Rebels enter the year ranked, respected and determined to continue one of the most successful stretches in program history.
Preseason AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll
- South Carolina
- UConn
- USC
- Duke
- Michigan
- Texas
- Louisville
- Vanderbilt
- LSU
- Iowa
- UCLA
- North Carolina
- Notre Dame
- Kentucky
- TCU
- Washington
- Minnesota
- Ohio State
- Ole Miss
- Maryland
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma State
- Illinois
- West Virginia
- NC State
