2023-24 LSU Thread

[DallasDomer]

I thought I'd start a thread for America's favorite team and fan base!

I watched the first half of their 2nd exhibition highlights (can be viewed here):


Initial thoughts:

Their starting 5 is going to be extremely good. I don't think there's a more athletic team in the country than LSU going into this year. I know it's an exhibition game against an overmatched team but the shooting from Williams looks really promising. I think she's going to be a star. Just such a fluid athlete and her frame and strength will serve her well. Van Lith looked comfortable running the show and appears to be playing as more of a pass first PG than a volume shooter like she was at Louisville. Reese looked like Reese in the limited clips, though I didn't see any outside shot development. Missed several point blank layups which isn't uncommon for her. Flaujae looked great in this game. She's just an incredible athlete and has the tools to be a real star. Last year she started out hot and then struggled, I could see her blossoming this year and taking over a larger role, almost like a Jackie Young type of role for LSU. Still not sure how Morrow is going to fully fit in with this lineup but I think they'll find their rhythm.

The second group of players weren't nearly as effective as the first group. They seemed more oriented on feeding the bigs inside. Del Rosario looks quite raw and I think she'll be a project for Kim. I'd look for her to put up big numbers against the 300+ RPI squads but seldom get minutes against better teams. Sa'Myah Smith looks good and see her being an impact player off the bench for LSU. I thought she was primed to take a starting spot prior to Morrow coming in.

The way I see the rotation shaking out, if Kim opts for going 8 players deep, I think we'll have a starting 5 of Reese/Morrow/Flaujae/Williams/Hailey Van Lith, and a bench of Smith/Poa/Poole. I wouldn't count out Del Rosario from getting minutes throughout the year, and the other freshmen of Kent and Velez could also nab playing time.

"I thought I'd start a thread for America's favorite team and fan base!" Nothing endearing about that LSU arrogance combined with Mulkey getting a double technical while up 40 points and topped off with 97th lowest strength of schedule.

 

[bballnut90]

"I thought I'd start a thread for America's favorite team and fan base!" Nothing endearing about that LSU arrogance combined with Mulkey getting a double technical while up 40 points and topped off with 97th lowest strength of schedule.

It was intended as a joke...everyone here rags on LSU lol.

 

[HuskyNan]

It was intended as a joke...everyone here rags on LSU lol.

LOL DallasDomer called you an LSU fan. It’s like someone calling me a Notre Dame fan.

 

[Hester42]

I just don’t see how you can build a fanbase when you feed them only cupcakes.

Ironically LSU is 3rd in attendance nationally based on current numbers, their social media following is through the roof as well.
Kim has built LSUs attendance and following really quick since coming to LSU. And the numbers were pretty staggering after just her first year.

Kim does need to schedule better but we are beating a dead horse. She will retire within the next 10 years and people can move on to the next thing to complain about.

 

[visitingcock]

Ironically LSU is 3rd in attendance nationally based on current numbers, their social media following is through the roof as well.
Kim has built LSUs attendance and following really quick since coming to LSU. And the numbers were pretty staggering after just her first year.

Kim does need to schedule better but we are beating a dead horse. She will retire within the next 10 years and people can move on to the next thing to complain about.

Ironically or not, wbb at the high level is new to thee LSU fans and they are still celebrating their rather unexpected championship. They will grow more particular as the newness wears off.

But, I expect Kim to schedule more quality in her non-conference schedule in the future IF OTHERS WILL PLAY HER!! Honestly, who wanted to play her this year with a championship level squad that added Mortow, Van although and Mikayla? The schedule was not all her fault.

 

[HuskyNan]

Ironically or not, wbb at the high level is new to thee LSU fans and they are still celebrating their rather unexpected championship. They will grow more particular as the newness wears off.

But, I expect Kim to schedule more quality in her non-conference schedule in the future IF OTHERS WILL PLAY HER!! Honestly, who wanted to play her this year with a championship level squad that added Mortow, Van although and Mikayla? The schedule was not all her fault.

I bet Iowa would have liked another shot at LSU. But, still, there has to be someone better than Queens (NC). South Carolina, Stanford, Iowa, UCLA didn’t have trouble finding decent teams to play

 

[triaddukefan]

I bet Iowa would have liked another shot at LSU. But, still, there has to be someone better than Queens (NC). South Carolina, Stanford, Iowa, UCLA didn’t have trouble finding decent teams to play

My Royals catching a stray a few days before Christmas

 

[SECbbfan24]

I bet Iowa would have liked another shot at LSU. But, still, there has to be someone better than Queens (NC). South Carolina, Stanford, Iowa, UCLA didn’t have trouble finding decent teams to play

Because Kim is scared, she can't beat quality teams without a massive talent advantage is why. She would lose the vast majority of those games if she did schedule them.

 

[DefenseBB]

I think Kim uses the cupcakes the way other coaches use a practice squad. It's a plan, to get her kids used to finding their spots against weak competition, and to get used to winning. By tournament time, they know how they're supposed to move and where they're supposed to be on defense.

In some ways, the cupcake schedule last year wasn't quite as shocking as it is this year, just because the SEC doesn't seem as strong as it was last season. I mean, LSU lost to a ranked team in the first week and beat another ranked team a month later. But they won't face another ranked team until the end of January when they play SC, and then not another ranked team until the tournament. They'll end up with 2 or maybe 3 losses by the tournament, and have one of the weakest schedules for a contender. Is that Kim's fault or are the ranking schemes out of date? It's a fair question.

It is COMPLETELY Kim’s fault as she is NOTORIOUS for scheduling weak teams AT HOME and is proud about. Just use Google and look at last years comments or 2 years ago and her comments.
While the process of obliterating less skilled schools and programs helped her last year, most of the time it severely hurt her Baylor teams given so many “early” exits as #1 or #2 seed as her teams simply were not battle tested. I look at her pedigree and resume and am completely confused by her bizarre stance on this. She’s an NCAA titleist as a player (1982), a finalist as a player (1983), Titleist as an Assistant Coach (1988), a Gold medalist in the Olympics (1984) and a 4 time HC Title winner (2005, 2012, 2019, 2023) so why she doesn’t do more to promote the sport is really mind boggling to me. She is the Ultimate “if your are not with me, you are against me” person so she most definitely will bite off her know to spite her face to prove she’s right.
Like I said, I wish this was not her mode but it is and it is tough to truly support her when all you can see is bitterness at times.
She does know how to coach and it wouldn’t be that hard to modify.

 

[LSUAlum96]

Ironically or not, wbb at the high level is new to thee LSU fans and they are still celebrating their rather unexpected championship. They will grow more particular as the newness wears off.

But, I expect Kim to schedule more quality in her non-conference schedule in the future IF OTHERS WILL PLAY HER!! Honestly, who wanted to play her this year with a championship level squad that added Mortow, Van although and Mikayla? The schedule was not all her fault.

First of all, wbb at the highest level is NOT "new to LSU fans". We'd been to five final fours and won the SEC numerous times before Kim got there AND before SC was any good. What Kim did is wake up a sleeping fan base that had been put to sleep by Nikki Fargas' terrible tenure. Now that we have an AD who cares and a coach who's as good as anyone in the game, the fans are back.

With that being said, many of you can be mad if you want at Kim's scheduling, but it is not her job to "grow women's basketball". Her job is to win games and championships for LSU, period. So, again, there's a "method to her madness" and it seems to work as well as anyone else's method in the game today

 

[cancontent]

First of all, wbb at the highest level is NOT "new to LSU fans". We'd been to five final fours and won the SEC numerous times before Kim got there AND before SC was any good. What Kim did is wake up a sleeping fan base that had been put to sleep by Nikki Fargas' terrible tenure. Now that we have an AD who cares and a coach who's as good as anyone in the game, the fans are back.

With that being said, many of you can be mad if you want at Kim's scheduling, but it is not her job to "grow women's basketball". Her job is to win games and championships for LSU, period. So, again, there's a "method to her madness" and it seems to work as well as anyone else's method in the game today

Hasn't she benefited from the growth of women's basketball however? If you look at where basketball was when she was a collegiate player to now, I think she has.

She has one if not the highest salaries in NCAAW. Huge investments have been made to upgrade her teams facilities. National attention for anything she does whether it merits attention or not.

None of this would have happened if the sport hadn't gained popularity which is growth. These P5 conferences wouldn't have the money they do to throw around if the game hadn't grown. She wouldn't have coached the players she's had over the years of there wasn't growth in the game.

These go hand in hand from my perspective.

 

[BRS24]

First of all, wbb at the highest level is NOT "new to LSU fans". We'd been to five final fours and won the SEC numerous times before Kim got there AND before SC was any good. What Kim did is wake up a sleeping fan base that had been put to sleep by Nikki Fargas' terrible tenure. Now that we have an AD who cares and a coach who's as good as anyone in the game, the fans are back.

With that being said, many of you can be mad if you want at Kim's scheduling, but it is not her job to "grow women's basketball". Her job is to win games and championships for LSU, period. So, again, there's a "method to her madness" and it seems to work as well as anyone else's method in the game today

It may not officially be in her job description, however as Geno and other coaches have said many times in past years, without more exposure to the game, which gets more fans, WBB will not grow as much as everyone wants. In the recent article about Aaliyah's homecoming game, he explains why he does it, the impact for the city and opposing team. Same with DT and KLS out west, Stevie's game @ Colgate, among others.

 

[JellyBean]

First of all, wbb at the highest level is NOT "new to LSU fans". We'd been to five final fours and won the SEC numerous times before Kim got there AND before SC was any good. What Kim did is wake up a sleeping fan base that had been put to sleep by Nikki Fargas' terrible tenure. Now that we have an AD who cares and a coach who's as good as anyone in the game, the fans are back.

With that being said, many of you can be mad if you want at Kim's scheduling, but it is not her job to "grow women's basketball". Her job is to win games and championships for LSU, period. So, again, there's a "method to her madness" and it seems to work as well as anyone else's method in the game today

Well said on the part about the history of LSU women's basketball. I will ignore the comments about Coach Fargas/Caldwell. Heck even under Coach Fargas/Caldwell, LSU was NCAA tournament bound. But LSU has been a staple in women's basketball forever. Under Sue Gunter, in the 80s & 90s, LSU was a force. Same with Pokey Chatman, even though she had short run, but LSU has always been a women's basketball mover/shaker.

As for Coach Mulkey growing the game, she is growing the game her way. She is playing and helping programs. She is hosting camps and doing speaking tours. She has LSU women's basketball on the radar of many high school basketball players, fans, and networks. She is growing the game her way and the growth of women's basketball is in good hands.

 

[JellyBean]

It is COMPLETELY Kim’s fault as she is NOTORIOUS for scheduling weak teams AT HOME and is proud about. Just use Google and look at last years comments or 2 years ago and her comments.
While the process of obliterating less skilled schools and programs helped her last year, most of the time it severely hurt her Baylor teams given so many “early” exits as #1 or #2 seed as her teams simply were not battle tested. I look at her pedigree and resume and am completely confused by her bizarre stance on this. She’s an NCAA titleist as a player (1982), a finalist as a player (1983), Titleist as an Assistant Coach (1988), a Gold medalist in the Olympics (1984) and a 4 time HC Title winner (2005, 2012, 2019, 2023) so why she doesn’t do more to promote the sport is really mind boggling to me. She is the Ultimate “if your are not with me, you are against me” person so she most definitely will bite off her know to spite her face to prove she’s right.
Like I said, I wish this was not her mode but it is and it is tough to truly support her when all you can see is bitterness at times.
She does know how to coach and it wouldn’t be that hard to modify.

How is she not promoting the sport? When she plays those so-called less skilled programs, she is helping those schools with a little exposure and much needed cash for their programs. Those schools, especially the HBCUs on the men's side of basketball and I am sure on the women's side, would welcome the chance to get an invite to play LSU. Or once the schedule is finalized and coaches see that they have a program like LSU on their schedule, this could help with recruiting. Like I said before, Coach Mulkey is helping to grow the game of basketball in her way and the growth of the game is in good hands.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

I bet Iowa would have liked another shot at LSU. But, still, there has to be someone better than Queens (NC). South Carolina, Stanford, Iowa, UCLA didn’t have trouble finding decent teams to play

The good basketball programs are always remarkably willing to play each other. Mulkey has always been an exception. It's too bad for the fans, but it is how she likes to rolll.

 

[DallasDomer]

It was intended as a joke...everyone here rags on LSU lol.

Apologies I hope its not a deadly insult.

 

[Hester42]

The good basketball programs are always remarkably willing to play each other. Mulkey has always been an exception. It's too bad for the fans, but it is how she likes to rolll.

Her scheduling at Baylor was always not good but no doubt it’s been much worse at LSU than it was at Baylor. Even at Baylor she faced UConn/ucla/Stanford/played in some high profile tournaments playing ranked teams even if it wasn’t a lot. At LSU it’s been the polar opposite. Is it because she in the SEC now? Does she not feel confident in her current crop of players? No clue but last years title probably only threw fuel to the fire to continue to schedule that badly.

For the record, tough schedule or weak schedule, I will never doubt Mulkeys teams will be really good and well coached. She has done it every year for a very long time and proof is in the pudding so she has earned the benefit of the doubt but her scheduling doesn’t grow the game currently. Playing so many teams in the 300s and winning by 80 is tough to watch. I could tell the last couple years her teams have gotten bored playing in these games after a while. It is what it is, she is so far up in her career it’s never going to change at this point which is why I give up beating a dead horse. Maybe HuskeyNan can pin a mulkey scheduling thread at the top of the page so people can get their complaints out every year with regards to her scheduling instead of it being posted over and over all over the place

 

[cancontent]

Her scheduling at Baylor was always not good but no doubt it’s been much worse at LSU than it was at Baylor. Even at Baylor she faced UConn/ucla/Stanford/played in some high profile tournaments playing ranked teams even if it wasn’t a lot. At LSU it’s been the polar opposite. Is it because she in the SEC now? Does she not feel confident in her current crop of players? No clue but last years title probably only threw fuel to the fire to continue to schedule that badly.

For the record, tough schedule or weak schedule, I will never doubt Mulkeys teams will be really good and well coached. She has done it every year for a very long time and proof is in the pudding so she has earned the benefit of the doubt but her scheduling doesn’t grow the game currently. Playing so many teams in the 300s and winning by 80 is tough to watch. I could tell the last couple years her teams have gotten bored playing in these games after a while. It is what it is, she is so far up in her career it’s never going to change at this point which is why I give up beating a dead horse. Maybe HuskeyNan can pin a mulkey scheduling thread at the top of the page so people can get their complaints out every year with regards to her scheduling instead of it being posted over and over all over the place

Per your thread suggestion, let's treat it likeFestivus. Once LSU's non-conference is announced, we vent for a day or two and then lock the thread down for another season.

 

[LSUAlum96]

How is she not promoting the sport? When she plays those so-called less skilled programs, she is helping those schools with a little exposure and much needed cash for their programs. Those schools, especially the HBCUs on the men's side of basketball and I am sure on the women's side, would welcome the chance to get an invite to play LSU. Or once the schedule is finalized and coaches see that they have a program like LSU on their schedule, this could help with recruiting. Like I said before, Coach Mulkey is helping to grow the game of basketball in her way and the growth of the game is in good hands.

Exactly! Kim has said............on NUMEROUS OCCASIONS that part of the reason she came back to LSU was to not only help LSU regain it's previous glory, but to also help GROW THE GAME in the state of Louisiana. To all you bellyachers, let her do it HER WAY. It is successful.............The coaches of McNeese, ULL, MVSU, and Coppin State have ALL expressed their gratitude to coach Mulkey for giving them the opportunity to expose their kids to high level competition AND attention to their programs. What other P5 teams have scheduled away games AT an HBCU this season? I guess it's only growing the game if Dawn plays an HBCU and blows them out by 80, right?

 

[HuskyNan]

Exactly! Kim has said............on NUMEROUS OCCASIONS that part of the reason she came back to LSU was to not only help LSU regain it's previous glory, but to also help GROW THE GAME in the state of Louisiana. To all you bellyachers, let her do it HER WAY. It is successful.............The coaches of McNeese, ULL, MVSU, and Coppin State have ALL expressed their gratitude to coach Mulkey for giving them the opportunity to expose their kids to high level competition AND attention to their programs. What other P5 teams have scheduled away games AT an HBCU this season? I guess it's only growing the game if Dawn plays an HBCU and blows them out by 80, right?

Every top team plays a couple lower level teams; LSU has 10 cupcakes in it’s first 14 games and only 2 on the road and of the two road games, one was two hours from the LSU campus. Here’s South Carolina:

 

[LSUAlum96]

Every top team plays a couple lower level teams; LSU has 10 cupcakes in it’s first 14 games and only 2 on the road and of the two road games, one was two hours from the LSU campus. Here’s South Carolina:

View attachment 94404

..............................and that's great for South Carolina. However, that has NOTHING to do with LSU's scheduling, nor their likelihood of making the final four or winning the NCAA tournament again this season. In fact, I don't think SC's schedule will result in much in comparison to LSU, when January 25th comes around. LSU will still more than likely win that game. With that being said, Dawn is scheduling similar teams, but also sprinkling in some top ten matchups. That's great! But, that is not Kim's way, and there's nothing wrong with that...........................................................although there appears to be so many who have psychological discomfort with it.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Exactly! Kim has said............on NUMEROUS OCCASIONS that part of the reason she came back to LSU was to not only help LSU regain it's previous glory, but to also help GROW THE GAME in the state of Louisiana. To all you bellyachers, let her do it HER WAY. It is successful.............The coaches of McNeese, ULL, MVSU, and Coppin State have ALL expressed their gratitude to coach Mulkey for giving them the opportunity to expose their kids to high level competition AND attention to their programs. What other P5 teams have scheduled away games AT an HBCU this season? I guess it's only growing the game if Dawn plays an HBCU and blows them out by 80, right?

I would consider the matchups vs Maryland, Notre Dame, UConn, Utah, UNC, Duke, maybe SD State more in that category. It was someone lighter schedule than usual but then we had Stanford back out and rescheduled UCLA, which would have been a hell of a non-con game. Oh well.

The pure buy games are neither here nor there for me. Dawn often will do someone a favor or maybe play one on the road here and there.

Winning by 80 can be entertaining, but I sure don't want 11 of them as a fan.

 

[DefenseBB]

I just don’t see how you can build a fanbase when you feed them only cupcakes. Sure, everybody schedules SOME patsies but why would I want to watch the loaded LSU lineup against the 300th ranked team.

Of course scheduling is a two way street. I don’t know how many coaches of top ten-ish teams wanted to play LSU this year. Plus, Kim is not very well liked by other coaches.

You are not new to WCBB so I am surprised by your naive post here. VERY few coaches schedule good (let alone “strong”) OOC games.They view the sole goal of the OOC to get the team ready for conference play, heck, @JellyBean just posted how impressed they were with Minn at 10-1. Most fans and many Athletic Directors seem to be clueless on the scheduling of bad OOC games to merely pad the wins, put together a sham resume for the NCAAT bid.
i defy you to name 10 coaches of the 351 D1 schools who try to play a good OOC? Heck, I doubt you could give me 5 as a year-in, year-out effort.

 

[SECbbfan24]

You are not new to WCBB so I am surprised by your naive post here. VERY few coaches schedule good (let alone “strong”) OOC games.They view the sole goal of the OOC to get the team ready for conference play, heck, @JellyBean just posted how impressed they were with Minn at 10-1. Most fans and many Athletic Directors seem to be clueless on the scheduling of bad OOC games to merely pad the wins, put together a sham resume for the NCAAT bid.
i defy you to name 10 coaches of the 351 D1 schools who try to play a good OOC? Heck, I doubt you could give me 5 as a year-in, year-out effort.

Mulkey does it because she knows she needs all the help she can get. If she were to schedule a legit OOC like SC/Stanford/ND/UCONN etc her record would be near .500 if not worse, hence she schedules the way she does. Only out talents opponents, hence her historic underachievement as a post season coach.

 

[visitingcock]

You are not new to WCBB so I am surprised by your naive post here. VERY few coaches schedule good (let alone “strong”) OOC games.They view the sole goal of the OOC to get the team ready for conference play, heck, @JellyBean just posted how impressed they were with Minn at 10-1. Most fans and many Athletic Directors seem to be clueless on the scheduling of bad OOC games to merely pad the wins, put together a sham resume for the NCAAT bid.
i defy you to name 10 coaches of the 351 D1 schools who try to play a good OOC? Heck, I doubt you could give me 5 as a year-in, year-out effort.

It was Christmas Eve when I posted, trying to spread Peace on Earth and Joy to Mankind, Don’t worry, I’ll be cursing Kim by New Year’s Day