After the LSU women’s basketball team picked up a critical win at then-No. 5 Tennessee in its Southeastern Conference opener, the Lady Tigers were upset by Texas A&M in their conference home opener, dimming LSU’s chances of a regular season title in the league.
But, after the game, Texas A&M coach Gary Blair reminded everyone that the road through the SEC this season will be a bumpy one.
“If you are going to win this league, you’re probably going to have four losses, more so than any other year,” Blair said. “LSU, Tennessee and Kentucky have all lost their home opener, and those might be the three best teams in the league.”
Blair’s comments have only become more accurate as LSU has found itself in one of the toughest conferences in the country. The SEC is currently tied with the Atlantic Coast Conference for most teams in the AP top 25 with six.
At the moment, the SEC is led by the teams picked to finish 4th and 7th — A&M and South Carolina — in the SEC preseason media poll in October. Teams such as Tennessee and Georgia, which were picked to finish in the top half of the conference at the start of the season, find themselves far behind their predicted finish.
The Lady Tigers’ 3-2 record has them mixed with a group of seven teams at the top of the convoluted conference standings.
“It’s extremely competitive. Everybody comes here and you don’t look at anybody’s record prior to that game,” coach Nikki Caldwell said. “You don’t look at the standings or where you’re ranked because it is a different level of competition in this conference.”
LSU experienced one of its most difficult stretches over the weekend, traveling to Missouri on Thursday and Vanderbilt on Sunday. The long hours of travel certainly showed when the Lady Tigers fell behind by as much as 20 against Vanderbilt and eventually lost 79-70.
Strength of schedule prior to conference play has propped up some SEC teams through difficult conference play.
A&M began conference play 5-0 after a non-conference schedule that included Texas, St. John’s and No. 13 Penn State. Meanwhile, after going 13-0 in a non-conference schedule that included just one road game, Arkansas has started 2-4 in the SEC.
Blair said the high level of competition has been more than appreciated by fans in the conference, and their spirit is not something seen everywhere.
“When the games are over, people pull for each other. … We had a lot of compliments from the LSU crowd after the game,” Blair said. “And sometimes in the Big 12, it wasn’t quite that way all the time.”
Although already playing A&M, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Florida, a gauntlet still awaits LSU. The Lady Tigers still must play road games against A&M and Kentucky as well as home games against Tennessee and South Carolina.