LSU’s women’s basketball team will begin Sunday night its second NCAA Tournament in four years with an interim coach when the No. 3 seed Lady Tigers take on the University of North Carolina at Asheville in Austin, Texas.
LSU began the season No. 10 in the preseason poll, and remain there going into the NCAA Tournament, but the Lady Tigers once lofty expectations have been clouded with uncertainty in the past few weeks with the unexpected resignation of coach Pokey Chatman.
“Pokey’s always been a great person, she’s like my mom and it’s going to stay that way from here on out,” LSU junior center Sylvia Fowles told ESPN.com. “No matter what people say, I’m not going to look at her any different.”
Longtime assistant coach Bob Starkey will fill in for Chatman during the NCAA Tournament, but Starkey has expressed that he has no interest in permanently replacing the coach that has spent the last two decades at LSU as either a player or a coach.
While the Lady Tigers have several obstacles to overcome off the court, the Lady Tigers are also faced with a brutal West region that has five teams ranked in the national Top-25.
If the Lady Tigers win their first-round matchup against the heavy underdog Lady Bulldogs they are expected to face No. 6 seed Xavier.
The Musketeers have four players who average double-figure scoring, and their fast-paced offensive style may be enough to hold off the Lady Tigers in the second round of the tournament.
Starkey said Xavier is a team that can surprise everyone in the tournament.
“Xavier is a very athletic and talented team,” Starkey said. “They are a quality opponent and are set to play West Virginia. West Virginia was a team we played in our first game this season and they have improved as the season went along.”
If the Lady Tigers are able to move on to the Sweet 16, the nation’s No. 5 team, the Stanford Cardinal will likely be the Tigers opponent.
The No. 2 seed can potentially cause problems for LSU because freshman forward Jayne Appel and senior center Brooke Smith average a combined 27 points and 15 rebounds a game, which could cause matchup problems for Fowles.
Stanford started the season 2-3, but have since won 26 of 27 games to make them a trendy Final Four pick.
The No. 1 seed in the West region is the University of Connecticut. Lady Tiger fans remember University of Connecticut vividly, because of the two team’s epic 72-71, Huskies victory February 11 in the PMAC, and there is no doubt LSU players have March 26 circled on their calendars as a rematch with the nation’s No. 2 team.
All five UConn starters average over 10 points a game and without a true star player, the Huskies are capable of scoring in bunches, scoring 80 or more points 17 times this season.
LSU is the polar opposite, only scoring 80 or more points five times, but the Lady Tigers have held opponents under 50 points 16 times on the year.
Despite all of the uncertainty surrounding the program’s future, junior forward Ashley Thomas said the team has bonded together through the ordeal.
“We are a close team,” Thomas said. “We will stay together like we always do throughout this tournament as well. If you put pressure on yourself, you make things tougher. I just try to maintain focus on the task at hand, and do what I do best.”
For LSU to make an unprecedented fourth consecutive Final Four, the Tigers must rely on a defense that has only given up 49 points a game this season, but the Lady Tigers come into the game playing poorly losing four of their past eight games.
Tiger fans better hope Starkey has the ability to turn things around in the wake of the chaos surrounding the program or else LSU will fail to make it past the Sweet 16.
—–Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]