Which teams can notch wins in inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge?

The SEC has five ranked teams, led by No. 1 South Carolina, in this week’s AP women’s college basketball poll. The ACC has six, led by No. 5 NC State. So how will the conferences fare in a showdown?

We’ll find out at the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge, in 14 games played over Wednesday (five games) and Thursday (nine).

SEC teams won three of the past six national championships, while the ACC captured one. The last time the women’s Final Four didn’t have at least one team from either the ACC or SEC was in 2013 — although those national semifinals included Notre Dame and Louisville, which would soon join the ACC.

Bottom line: Several teams we’ll see in the ACC/SEC Challenge are likely to be major players come March. Others are trying to establish themselves as having that potential. So what can we learn from these games? ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, Charlie Creme and Michael Voepel break down the field. Scroll down for the complete schedule and our predictions for each game.

Five things we’re watching in the ACC/SEC Challenge

1. Which players will be on the floor for LSU, and how do they jell?

The Final Four rematch of defending national champion LSU (currently ranked No. 7) and No. 9 Virginia Tech on Thursday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN) was a huge game to watch even before the Tigers’ personnel issues. We know now, after coach Kim Mulkey’s news conference Wednesday, that forward Angel Reese will be available for LSU, but guard Kateri Poole is not back with the team. Reese and Poole didn’t travel with the Tigers for their games in the Cayman Islands Classic.

Mulkey also said sophomore forward Sa’Myah Smith, who suffered a right knee injury Friday in the Cayman Islands Classic, will miss the rest of the season. That’s a blow to LSU, as Smith was averaging 11.7 points and 7.6 rebounds.

Reese was benched in the second half of the Tigers’ win over Kent State on Nov. 14, then subsequently missed four games. LSU won all of them and is 7-1. LSU…