Following four consecutive trips to the Final Four and returning more than 10 players from this past season’s squad, the LSU women’s basketball team is expected by most to have another deep run through the NCAA Tournament. When asked if his team feels pressure to make it to the Final Four for a fifth consecutive season, first-year coach Van Chancellor said he is emphasizing to his team to not pay attention to preseason rankings. “We have not mentioned high expectations,” Chancellor said. “I have seen all of the polls; we’re ranked in the top five or six. I talked to our team and said, ‘Let’s be the best team we can be. Let’s be the best team LSU can be.'” Chancellor said in his short tenure as LSU coach, his position has exceeded his expectations. “After having been on the job for four months, the job has been 10,000 [times] better than I thought it would be,” Chancellor said. “I have been here since April 11, and I haven’t had one discipline problem or one situation I have had to see about.”
BIG PRESSURE ON BIG SYL Chancellor said the Lady Tigers will not tinker with this past season’s game plan much, but the former WNBA champion and Olympic gold medal coach said they will focus on getting the basketball to All-American center Sylvia Fowles. “My two favorite plays will be to get the ball to [Fowles], and then to get the ball to [Fowles],” he said. “We have to find some way to get that done.” Fowles said she trusts Chancellor’s strategy, even if she would like to get all of her teammates involved. “I don’t necessarily like [the extra touches],” Fowles said. “But just for [Chancellor] to have faith in me and for my teammates to have faith in me to finish around the basket and toward the block is a good thing for me. I appreciate that.”
SYL TALKS SLEEPERS With the senior center, sharpshooting senior guard Quianna Chaney and senior point guard Erica White back, most fans would expect these players to provide the bulk of LSU’s scoring this season. But Fowles said senior guard RaShonta LeBlanc and junior forward Kristen Morris will have outstanding seasons for LSU. “I think you all got a small taste of what [LeBlanc] could do this past season,” she said. “But I look for her to really break out this year. I think her and Kristen Morris will have really good seasons.”
LADY TIGERS TINKERING WITH WITH SHOOTING TOUCH This past season LSU shot only 33 percent from the outside, making more than three 3-pointers a game. Chancellor said he has emphasized shooting with more consistency and confidence this season if his team wants to avoid scoring droughts that plagued LSU this past season. Senior forward Ashley Thomas is one of many Lady Tigers who spent time in the offseason working on her outside shooting. “I’ve worked on a little bit of everything,” she said. “But mostly on shooting. I’ve been trying to build confidence in taking the shots when they are open.”
—-Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]