Imagine the Lady Tigers’ basketball team as a jigsaw puzzle, just a couple of pieces from being completed to make a run for an NCAA Championship.
Some of the pieces were already in place: An improving low-post threat in forward Aiysha Smith, the soft-touch forward Ke-Ke Tardy brings, the guard duo of twin sisters Roneeka and Doneeka Hodges and quick, shifty 5-foot-3 point guard Temeka Johnson.
The injured also would be coming back in the form of forward DeTrina White and point guard Kisha James.
Perhaps the final piece of the puzzle for LSU was the top catch of any recruiting class in the nation.
Seimone Augustus, the 2002 Student Sports National Player of the Year from Baton Rouge’s Capitol High School, signed with LSU and was given the burden of taking the Lady Tigers to the next level.
“You add to the mix Seimone Augustus, and that’s the icing on the cake,” head coach Sue Gunter said. “That was something that propelled us in a lot of different areas. She adds a lot of different things.”
Augustus was four-time Louisiana Class 4A Player of the Year and scored 3,600 points in her career. She believes she might be the final addition this team needed to go from a good team to a great team.
“The year before they had a lot of injuries that kept them from going further in the NCAAs,” Augustus said. “It seems as though I was the piece to the puzzle that made them a better team.”
Pressure was put on her shoulders right from the beginning. Athletics Director Skip Bertman called Augustus “the most important recruit in the history of our athletic program.”
“That really didn’t put any pressure on me; it was just a compliment,” Augustus said. “It was a big compliment to say I was the biggest recruit. I mean Pistol Pete came through here, and he has the whole PMAC named after him. That just made me want to come out and work harder.”
The hard work paid off for Augustus. In her collegiate debut, she scored 27 points at Arizona in an overtime win. For the season, the 6-foot-1 guard started all 30 games and averaged a team-leading 15.3 points per game and tied for second on the team with 5.6 rebounds per game.
“How do you get better when you start with 27 points in an overtime game away in Arizona?,” Gunter said. “She’s not going to be intimidated by a whole lot of folks. The thing that impressed me was once we got into conference play, she kicked it into another gear. I think by that time, she had enough games under her belt to know what to expect.”
Added forward Aiysha Smith: “She filled her shoes pretty well. Everybody expected a lot, and she gave a lot. She came out — she’s leading the team in scoring — and did what she needed to do. She proved a point about her reputation.”
Despite opening the season with 27 points, Augustus said the transition from high school basketball to college was more difficult than people may think.
“It might not show on the court, but in practice and doing conditioning was very hard for me,” Augustus said. “My teammates and the coaching staff got me through it. Once I got on the floor, it was a good combination with me and the team and how well we played together.”
Augustus earned second-team All-Southeastern Conference honors and garnered SEC Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year by the SEC coaches and the Associated Press, respectively. She was also named the Freshman of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association last week.
Gunter said Augustus gives LSU a multitude of things: a tremendous amount of intensity, good learner and hard worker.
“[When] the coaches try to devise defenses to take care of you and you still find a way to be very proficient in what you are doing, she’s made an impression on not only everybody in the conference, but everybody in the country,” Gunter said.
Not only is Augustus a good player on the court, but she is able to make adjustments. Johnson said Augustus is easy to correct on the court.
“The one thing I like about Seimone is that of all the expectations people have of her, she never overdoes everything,” Johnson said. “She’s gotten to the point where she lets stuff come to her. She’s comfortable with what she’s doing.”
Associate head coach Pokey Chatman, who also handles recruiting for the Lady Tigers, remembers trying to get Augustus to come to LSU.
“You could have watched her in high school, and there was no one up to her level, and she led the team in assists,” Chatman said. “We often times have to get on Seimone in terms of not necessarily shooting the ball but getting touches with the ball. What people don’t realize is that she may not score 20 points, but when she touches the ball, she draws attention and someone else is open.”
Augustus’ game is not without flaw. The coaching staff consistently gets on her to improve her defense and rebounding, both of which have progressively improved.
“When I came in, I knew one of my weakest links was my defense,” Augustus said. “I wanted to make sure I improved on that because I was going to be playing against bigger and better players, especially in the SEC. I had to step it up.”
Chatman believes Augustus can get even better.
“She has the capability to be a defensive stopper,” Chatman said. “The thing we always get on her is that she has the ability to rebound.”
It may be Augustus who helps the Lady Tigers make it to the unknown land of the Final Four for the first time in Gunter’s illustrious coaching career.
“Maybe the best is yet to come,” Gunter said.