By JONATHAN BURROWS

Tribune Sports Reporter

jburrows@tribunemedia.net

At the 2025 SEC Basketball Media Day in Birmingham, Ole Miss Women’s Basketball head coach Yolett “Coach Yo” McPhee-McCuin, pictured, and several of her players appeared before the media to set the tone for the season.

Coach Yo reflected on how far the programme has come since her arrival. “I used to hate coming to SEC media Days,” she said,” because back then, we were trying to build something from the ground up. Now I love it because we’ve built something that matters.”

Heading into the 2025-2026 season, Ole Miss is ranked number 12 in women’s college basketball. In addition, in the SEC’s predictions, Ole Miss is slated to finish sixth in the conference. 

Coach Yo’s eight-year tenure at Ole Miss has featured a series of milestones. During the 2023-2024 season, she won her 100th game as head coach, a position she has held since 2018. She became the second coach in the program’s history to reach that mark. 

The Rebels also captured the Battle4Atlanis title in 2023, going 3-0 over three days under her coaching. She has also led the Rebels to many NCAA tournaments. 

In the 2021-2022 season, Ole Miss earned its first NCAA tournament berth since 2007. In the 2022-2023 season, Ole Miss made it all the way to the Sweet Sixteen, defeating powerhouse schools such as Stanford along the way marking one of the school’s best season performances in decades. 

Ole Miss returned to the NCAA tournament the next season, marking three straight appearances for the first time since the 1980s. Ole Miss returned to the NCAA tournament for the fourth time this past season capping the tournament in the Sweet Sixteen, losing to the number one-ranked UCLA Bruins. 

With a top-15 ranking and a veteran roster returning, Coach Yo and the Rebels are once again positioned to make noise in the SEC.