The only thing LSU women’s basketball can do now is move forward.
After coming up short and losing to Duke in the Sweet 16, 87-85, the Tigers’ offseason has officially begun. With seniors graduating, players transferring and coaches leaving, there are holes that head coach Kim Mulkey will have to fill.
As the rumor mill of Mulkey potentially retiring at the end of the season started to pick up speed, she let it be known that she had no intentions of doing so.
“I’m not retiring, do I look that bad?” Mulkey said. “I plan to hire two coaches quickly. I plan to get in the portal, get two or three more players and take a little time off to go see my grandchildren.”
Unless LSU fires her or she can’t coach at the elite level as she does, she’s not going anywhere.
Mulkey already got a head start on replacing the coaching vacancy on her staff by bringing in assistant Gabe Lazo from Tennessee.
Former LSU assistant coach Gary Redus II left the Tigers to become the new head coach at Rutgers. He played a pivotal role in LSU’s top recruiting classes, which were ranked No. 1 in the country in 2023 and 2025.
Losing him was a big loss for Mulkey and her staff, and replacing him was a top priority, especially since he was known for his role in recruiting.
Lazo is also known for his recruiting, as he contributed to the No. 2 recruiting class for the class of 2025 with the Lady Volunteers.
“Gabe will be an outstanding addition to our staff,” Mulkey said in the press release. “He has been an invaluable member of two SEC staffs with an unbelievable ability to teach the game and recruit the best players in the country. Gabe will impact our program at the highest level, and his unmatched work ethic will lead to great results on the court and on the recruiting trail.”
While Mulkey still needs to replace the loss of assistant coach Daphne Mitchell, she’s off to a hot start.
As for the roster, of course, there is the loss of Flau’jae Johnson. It’s going to be impossible to replace the impact and talent of Johnson.
She’ll go down as one of, if not the greatest, women’s basketball players in LSU history, scoring over 2,000 points in her career, making the tournament every year and contributing to a national championship in her freshman year.
“She was Freshman of the Year in the SEC, she has two careers that she’s doing every day of her life, wakes up at 5 o’clock, she spent four years at the same institution — the list goes on,” Mulkey said. “So much appreciation to her for being who she is. She has a joyous spirit about her, and she helped us win many ball games, and she also won a championship.”
In her final year with the Tigers, she averaged 14.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.
She was also greeted by numerous accolades, such as being named a Third-Team AP All-American, Third-Team USBWA All-American, First-Team All-SEC and being named a top-five shooting guard according to the Naismith Ann Meyers Drysdale Award voters.
She was also named to the 2026 John R. Wooden All-America Team on Tuesday.
LSU will also be losing forward Amiya Joyner, who, before joining the Tigers this past season, averaged 12.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game at East Carolina. At LSU, she averaged 9.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while shooting 60% from the field.
While it was only one season, she was a valuable piece from the transfer portal and will leave LSU with only two forwards who recorded a significant amount of minutes.
Another loss for the Tigers will be the freshman guard, Divine Bourrage. She was the No. 12 recruit according to ESPN and the No. 7 recruit according to On3 and 247Sports.
The Davenport, Iowa native appeared in 24 games this season and averaged 2.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.
As Mulkey said, to replace the losses of Joyner and Johnson, she’ll go after a couple of players in the portal.
Another big, preferably someone over 6-foot-2, would be ideal to help bolster the interior and dominate on the boards.
It would also be nice if that player could stretch the floor, whether it’s a mid-range jump shot or even a 3-point shot, to space the floor and open the lanes for driving to the basket.
In this day and age of collegiate sports, the offseason is one of the most stressful and impactful moments of the season.
For LSU, if everything holds, depth and talent won’t be a major problem. Mikaylah Williams and MiLaysia Fulwiley will be seniors next season and were two of the top three scorers for the Tigers.
Sophomores Jada Richard and Kate Koval made a jump in their production this season.
Richard went from 2.8 points, 0.4 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game to 9.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 44.8% from the field and 40.8 from the three.
Koval, after only averaging 5.3 points and 4.7 rebounds at Notre Dame, jumped to 8.3 points and 6.3 rebounds with LSU.
The trio of freshmen in ZaKiyah Johnson, Bella Hines and Grace Knox will help pave the way for the future after seeing significant playing time in their first collegiate season.
The Tigers could choose to bring another scorer from the portal, but if they can’t, there’s a lot of confidence that one of the freshmen will be willing to step up to the plate.
