SEC Coaches Put Clara Strack and Me'Arah O'Neal on the Preseason All-SEC Teams

The league's coaches are on the same page as the media about Clara Strack, and they added a second Wildcat to the list. On Wednesday the SEC released its coaches' preseason All-SEC teams for women's basketball, and Strack was a unanimous First Team pick. Forward Me'Arah O'Neal made the Second Team.

For Strack it's the latest in a long run of preseason honors. The 6-foot-5 senior center was already on the media's All-SEC First Team and was named USA Today's preseason SEC Defensive Player of the Year earlier this month. She enters the year as one of the best two-way bigs in the country after averaging 16.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.5 blocks last season.

O'Neal's nod is her first preseason honor from a major voting group. The 6-foot-5 junior, who came over from Florida, averaged 13.6 points and 6.4 rebounds in 2025-26 while shooting 52.9 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from three.

The coaches picked Kentucky fifth in the SEC, behind South Carolina, Texas, and LSU and Vanderbilt, who tied for third. That matches the media poll. Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes was the coaches' preseason Player of the Year.

Our Take: Two 6-5 players who can both score inside and stretch the floor is a matchup problem most of the SEC can't solve. If Strack and O'Neal play to these billings, fifth place is the floor, not the ceiling. The No. 14 Cats open Nov. 2 against Morehead State.

via KSR

Sources: KSR/On3: Strack, O'Neal named All-SEC by league coaches, Mississippi State Athletics: coaches' preseason All-SEC list, WKYT: Strack preseason honors