The No. 13-seeded LSU women’s basketball team will open a “new season” in the Southeastern Conference Tournament against No. 12-seed Alabama at 10 a.m. today at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
Although LSU coach Nikki Fargas and company face a tough road ahead, the Lady Tigers (9-20, 3-13 SEC) enter the postseason with their eyes focused on the future.
“We’re going to look at this SEC Tournament as a new season for our team,” Fargas said. “The strength of the SEC is the best in the country when you look at the numbers of teams that we consistently get into NCAA Tournament play.”
Alabama (15-14, 4-12 SEC) poses a dynamic challenge for LSU. The rivals have not met since the Lady Tigers dropped their conference opener, 62-45, to the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa on Jan. 3.
For Fargas, LSU is a different squad this time.
In the first matchup with Alabama, the Lady Tigers’ leading scorer and rebounder junior forward Alexis Hyder played a season-low 16 minutes and contributed a season-low two points. Hyder has since averaged a team-high 13.7 points per game for LSU and has only been limited to single digits scoring once.
LSU was outrebounded 32-29 against Alabama. In the rest of SEC play, LSU held a slight edge on boards over its opponents, 507-504.
The Lady Tigers’ improvement will have to extend to the transition game if they want to have success against the Tide.
“They did a nice job of getting out quickly when they had the transition game against us at their place,” Fargas said. “We were adjusting to our injuries, but now we’ve settled in and I know this team is capable of being a much better defensive team. We take pride in the fact that we’re one of the better rebounding teams that we’ve had here under my leadership.”
But LSU isn’t the only one that looks different than it did in January, the Crimson Tide roll into the tourney bout after struggling in the second half of conference play.
Although Alabama came out the first matchup with a 12-2 compared with LSU’s 6-8 mark, both teams boast similar 3-12 records with wins against Tennessee, Georgia and Ole Miss.
The biggest difference might be the absence of the Lady Tigers’ second highest scorer, sophomore guard Jenna Deemer. Deemer scored nine points in the game against Tennessee on Feb. 21, after returning from nine-game absence.
Deemer played sparingly in the home finale against Florida on Feb. 25 and did not appear in the regular-season finale against South Carolina on Feb. 28.
“You want to have that type of player on the floor,” Fargas said. “You reflect back and there are those ‘what if’s’ — if Deemer was healthy, if [senior forward] Ann Jones never went down. Deemer’s spark [against Tennessee] showed who she is and what she’s made of because through her illness, we weren’t able to train her, literally it was just rest.”
If LSU defeats Alabama, they will face No. 5-seed Kentucky in Game 4 on Thursday afternoon. The Wildcats (21-6, 10-6 SEC) roll into the tournament riding a six-game winning streak that began when they defeated the Lady Tigers, 70-58, on Feb. 7.
The Lady Tigers hope this ”new season” can help strengthen their 2016-17 campaign. 
“I like the fact that we have another year with Hyder,” Fargas said. “The play of [junior guard] Rina Hill has been unbelievable this year, and she’ll be going into her senior year, so you’re going to have that type of leadership. I can continue down the roster, but I’m very excited about the future of our program and the early commitments we have on the table.”
You can reach Jarrett Major on Twitter @Jarrett_tdr