LSU sports were on an emotional rollercoaster over the weekend, but the ups and downs these teams faced are the reason LSU has deemed itself an “everything school.”
Softball barely missed a series win versus Oklahoma, baseball took its first series win of the season and women’s basketball suffered a heartbreaking, season-ending loss to Duke in the Sweet 16. On top of all of that, men’s basketball fired its head coach and rehired NC State’s Will Wade.
This is why tough weekends with such big wins and upsetting losses are essential to the championship mindset the SEC fosters, but more importantly, the reason LSU is a force to be reckoned with in any sport.
“[The SEC is] a gauntlet,” baseball shortstop Steven Milam said. “It’s tough. It’s the best league in the country, and you’ve got to be mentally and physically prepared for it.”
Deep rosters make for tough competition
It’s no secret at this point in the season that LSU baseball has built the season around the depth on the bench, and head coach Jay Johnson has used it in tough moments as needed. However, this extends beyond the baseball team.
After the women’s basketball game versus South Carolina on Valentine’s Day, freshman Bella Hines had a great day on the court. She showed head coach Kim Mulkey that she deserved to be in the mix more often.
“I saw a kid I need to play more,” Mulkey said. “She needs to take some minutes from others. She guarded Tessa [Johnson], wasn’t afraid to get up on her, made shots, and played with energy and effort. She has my respect.”
When moments got tough, Mulkey did what she had to do, and it turned out to be a moment that turned the season around for the freshman. Hines even played seven minutes on Friday versus Duke and made one assist.
Even though the season didn’t end the way LSU may have wanted, the ability to turn to nonstarters in tough moments is why this team made it this far in the postseason.
Different game on a different day
Another tough thing these teams have to go through each time they take the field or court is that each team plays vastly different from each other in the SEC, and each team does it well.
Softball usually has one of the highest reported strength-of-schedule ratings each season, and part of this comes from the caliber of teams they play throughout the season, but the other part is due to the sheer disparity between the teams.
“I think we’re constantly trying to bulletproof ourselves to avoid situations like what happened last year and to avoid any of those things, and make sure we have a team that’s built for every scenario,” softball head coach Beth Torina said. “So, I think just trying to find where the chinks in the armor were in the past and seal those up, and you try to have an answer for everything.”
The softball team took its first series victory against South Carolina the week before the matchup against Oklahoma.
South Carolina is usually known for strong bats and decent pitching. The Tigers’ pitching staff limited the Gamecocks to just one run in the rubber match to take the series, and while LSU lost the series to Oklahoma, it also held that potent offense to just a few runs throughout the series.
But the Tigers don’t just play teams with high-scoring opponents; they also have to play the teams with lockdown pitching that try to sneak runs across. This is exactly the kind of team the Tigers played to beat in the beginning of the season. On Feb. 28, LSU took on Iowa in a fast-paced, scrappy contest that went down to the very end.
While the 5-3 score didn’t suggest a pitchers’ duel, this contest showed the scrappiness of the Hawkeyes and how LSU didn’t back down from the battle.
Being able to play its best game against each opponent will be crucial once the postseason starts for the Tigers.
Fan behavior = preparation for intensity
LSU fans are known for loud and almost obnoxious behavior, but they’re not the only ones to bring fervor to the stadium, which only makes it more difficult to play on the road.
The Bayou Bengals baseball team took on Vanderbilt on the road to open conference play, and while the Tigers dropped a couple of games in Nashville, the crowd was just as electric as it is at home. The “Vandy Whistler” was annoying every fan watching the game, but the Tigers were able to stay calm enough to battle through all three close games.
Johnson has said before that Alex Box is a hard place to play, and he said it’s a big part of the recruiting process for him and his staff.
“You can’t bring little boys into a program like LSU and win in an environment like this,” Johnson said during the 2025 postseason.
The SEC is a gauntlet, and that’s a fact every SEC fanbase knows, but not every school is prepared to battle through it in every sport.
The up-and-down weekend the Tigers experienced wasn’t the first or the last, but it is a big reason why any sport can compete for a national championship.
