What would you do if you just got out of class and Kim Mulkey asked you to guard Khayla Pointer in transition, post up Faustine Aifuwa or even attempt to stop Jailin Cherry’s mid-range shot? For LSU students Luke LeGoullon and Christian Weaver, it’s their weekly routine.
They are on the “Dream Team,” a group of LSU male students that runs against the LSU women’s basketball team in practice every day of the season, an important piece to the puzzle of why LSU and Mulkey were able to make their 25-4 run in the regular season.
Back in August 2021, LSU put out interest calls to join the Dream Team on social media. LeGoullon and Weaver went through interest meetings and try-outs.
This all-male practice squad for a women’s collegiate basketball team is something that pretty much every program does. It seems like it would be a pretty big commitment but for any basketball fan it’s easy to see why they got sold on the idea of practicing with the team.
“I heard [Mulkey] was coming here and I’ve always enjoyed watching women’s basketball, so I knew about her,” Weaver said after catching his breath after a practice before the women’s team hosted Georgia. ”I played basketball in high school, so being able to get coached under her and playing in the PMAC all the time is awesome. Then hanging out with all of these players who are really cool and really talented, got a lot of cool features about it.”
Just how big is the commitment, though?
“I come here every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. So pretty much just as my class ends around 1:20 p.m., I come [to the PMAC] and then change and get right to work,” LeGoullon told the Reveille. “I got the exact same schedule. Actually, every guy has two or three days they’ll come. We just happen to be the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday guys,” Weaver added.
During practice, the Dream Team plays a major role – they act as a scout team for the upcoming opponents. Through drills and plays, the guys would get addressed by the coaches in the middle of plays by the player’s name they are mimicking.
“[The coaches] take the starters on the other team and tell us that we are now going to practice and be this person. They send us clips through the app ‘HUDL’ for us to watch so we can see what we need to emulate,” LeGoullon explained.
This is something professional teams do as well. It’s important to see what is going to run against you in the middle of the games before you actually get put into that position.
I watched and listened as Coach Mulkey and her assistants ran through the playbook, then on gameday I saw LSU put up against those same plays and they knew how to stop it.
This of course will put the Dream Team players in precarious situations, with the guys getting smacked around by the aggressive players on LSU’s team.
“It’s pretty fun except they can jump higher and hit us harder than we can do to them,” Weaver said with a laugh. “When you’re forced to block out a player like Faustine Aifuwa, there really isn’t much that you can do. Try your hardest not to catch an elbow, that’s about it,” Weaver added while he and LeGoullon were still laughing.
“I got like an arm to the throat today, they’re a lot rougher than you think,” LeGoullon said. Then, Weaver showed us his bruises that he had accumulated throughout the practices.
That doesn’t take away from what LeGoullon and Weaver learned about these players and what made this team so special—that they are a fun group and have some special personalities.
“Coach Kaylin [Rice] is awesome. She’s like our leader. Khayla Pointer is hysterical. Alexis Morris scares me,” said Weaver before erupting in laughter.
No one could have seen this 25-4 season coming, but how long did it take the Dream Team and the feeling of this basketball program to notice something special was on the horizon?
“Honestly, day one. I think Coach Kim [Mulkey] is just an outstanding coach. It started out sloppy, but so does every season, you know? But early on you could see how Coach was molding them to be the team that she thought they would be best at. You can see now it’s working. They’re winning games against great teams,” Weaver said.
“Mulkey’s just very passionate. It makes you want to play for her. She’ll get on to a player, but then immediately hype her up,” LeGoullon added from his experience with Mulkey.
It’s easy to see after even just sitting in on one practice and talking to the practice squad that LSU has something special going on in the PMAC that will be here for a while.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Savanna Orgeron

Dream Team Luke LeGoullon and Jacob Skwira guard LSU women’s basketball 5th-year senior guard Alexis Morris (45) Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022 during the LSU women’s basketball team in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on N. Stadium Drive in Baton Rouge, La.