Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="CajunHusk94, post: 5293506, member: 13615"] Lets try to keep the thread civil as it seems most LSU threads end up turning into doom/gloom, coaches suck, players/locker room is cancerous etc (lots of trolling) The team is coming off an elite 8 after losing Hailey Van Lith/Angel Reese and really didnt add anything of substance from HS or portal ranks last offseason. this season came with its share of losses to portal and graduation but have a lot of interesting new pieces Adding 3 transfers (Koval, Fulwiley, Joyner) and #1 Freshmen Class (Knox, Zakiyah, Bourrage, Hines, and Yarnevich [B]Projected Starting Lineup:[/B] 1. Malaysia Fulwiley- 5'10 Guard 2. Flaujae Johnson- 5'11 Guard 3. Mikaylah Williams- 6'0 Wing 4. Amiya Joyner- 6'3 Forward 5. Kate Koval -6'5 Center [B]Bench:[/B] Kailyn Gilbert 5'8- Guard Jada Richard- 5'7 Point Guard Grace Knox- 6'2 Forward (#7 ESPNW) Zakiyah Johnson- 6'0 Guard (#10 ESPNW) Divine Bourrage- 6'0 Point Guard (#24 ESPNW) Bella Hines- 5'10 Guard (#32 ESPW) Meghan Yarnevich- 6'2 Forward (Unranked) Izzy Besselman- Walk On Guard [B]Top questions Questions: 1. How will PG play play out?[/B] Will we see a rehash of Hailey Van Lith? Or will Fulwiley take on a role similar to Morris in which she is more of a scorer than being a facilitator purely. To me this is why some of the Hailey Van Lith experiment failed, she took a backseat to everyone else and never could find a rhythm on that 2024 LSU team and you saw her confidence tank and it reflected on the court. Jada Richard was heralded by Mulkey and is a PG she has been working with in detail for a while. She is clearly an explosive offensive play maker but her defense is a big reason why she struggled to get consistent minutes in year one. Can Divine Bourrage assert herself for minutes at the PG spot? The talent, size, versatility Is there... [B]2. How will post play evolve? [/B] Losing Morrow was a significant loss and she isn't replaceable to me but that isn't to say the new faces can't have success and do well. Koval showed flashes at a freshmen especially with her rim protection and at times on the boards but she will need to settle in more offensively. The potential is sky high, will we see a sophomore in year 2 for her? She has arrived at LSU early so maybe a full summer of training could help with this. Joyner to me was nice addition as its the type of bigs Kim used to have at Baylor, big, physical and versatile. The adjustment of coming into the SEC is a question but based on her performances vs P4 her first 3 years in college she should be able to provide a nice spark to the post room. Grace Knox is highly heralded as one of the best rebounders of the 2025 class, how big will her role be? Physically she has to add weight and adjust to the speed of the game but very versatile and high ceiling? [B]3. Where is the leadership coming from? [/B] Mulkey and assistant Bob Starkey alluded to this consistently last season, it was a struggle to replace the void and leadership left by Angel Reese after her departure. It did not seem like there was a consistent presence that provided that each week, sure there were spurts where people took on those roles but there didnt seem to be anyone who could provide that consistently last season? [B]4. How impactful can the freshmen be?[/B] Collectively on paper this is definitely the most talented and deep class Mulkey has had on paper since her 2018 signing class (Smith, Egbo, Decosta, etc). There is a lot of talent, will Mulkey allow some of them to work through freshmen mistakes and evolve into key contributors? Mulkey let Williams, Flaujae, Sa'myah Smith play big roles as freshmen. The 2023 class were not given that opportunity completely although with time its looking more and more like that class was a bust purely from a talent evaluation standpoint outside of Williams. LSU has not had quality bench production in general in a while, so while this group will be much younger and inexperienced, their potential is high to provider scoring and a punch off the bench when starters get tired. To me this has been a issue for LSU the last two years, starters getting too overworked and the fatigue impacted many of their starters [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

Forum statistics

Threads: 164,432

Messages: 4,396,088

Members: 10,209

Latest member: gemini*trvl