The madness of March is back. LSU women’s basketball will begin its tournament run in Baton Rouge, where the biggest question isn’t about matchups or seedings. It’s about whether LSU can find an edge, without being forced on it.
The team will host the first-round and second-round games on Friday and Sunday in the PMAC.
The good news is, their first matchup is against No. 15 Jacksonville. The bad news? Their first matchup is against No. 15 Jacksonville.
We’ve seen it happen before. LSU often enters the NCAA tournament going into early-round games projected to win against lower-ranked teams. Those stakes set the momentum for the game, often reflected in their play, and sometimes the outcome.
Head coach Kim Mulkey is well-known for her attitude on the sidelines, showing her emotion towards referees, other players and her own with no hesitation. That’s where she stands alone as a coach, and what makes her a historically successful one.
That emotion that she thrives off of is mirrored onto her players. It gives the team a sense of strength, coming together and playing their best basketball.
But breaking it down, those emotional responses don’t just come from a missed foul call. It comes from being down by double digits nearing the end of the fourth quarter.
That’s where March can make or break the Tigers. Having early matchups against lower-seeded teams and then seeing a No. 7 or No. 10 team in a possible second round, it’s easy to fall into the cake-walk mentality, especially as a No. 2 team.
And LSU has been there before.
During its national championship run in 2023, the Tigers faced Utah in the Elite Eight, a game that they were projected to win comfortably. But Utah didn’t take those odds well.
The Utes came in hot, making the Tigers respond quickly. After trailing all of the second quarter, the Tigers saw elimination from the tournament right in front of them, and kicked it into first gear, pulling off a near 66-63 Elite Eight victory.
The Tigers didn’t cruise into the Final Four. They survived an identity crisis that changed their momentum for the rest of the tournament.
That Final Four matchup against Virginia Tech also saw the Tigers trailing by the end of the third quarter, until Mulkey and her team realized the danger of the situation and started playing their best basketball, putting up 29 points in the fourth quarter for a 79-72 victory.
And it all came down to the national championship against the Iowa Hawkeyes, with notable player Caitlin Clark as the Tigers’ biggest obstacle. Because of Clark’s skill, Iowa was favored to take home the trophy that day.
But those predictions triggered an emotional response. One that led to victory.
Instead of shrinking in the spotlight of Clark and her team, LSU proved the nation wrong on the biggest stage of the season, putting up a historical offensive performance. That day, the Tigers held the trophy and cut down the net in a 102-85 national championship victory.
But March rarely repeats itself.
If there is any way the 2023 run can mirror this March, it won’t be from cruising into a Final Four battle. It will be because the team is forced to respond in moments where the game stops being about talent and starts being about emotion.
Which is exactly the problem.
Because in a matchup against Jacksonville, there shouldn’t be moments that demand anything. There shouldn’t be a moment of reset from sloppy basketball. But if LSU takes it that way, if they decide to wait for urgency instead of bringing it, that’s where everything can change.
So right now, Jacksonville doesn’t look like the main thing to fear on Friday night. It’s LSU and how they approach Jacksonville.
