Even with the LSU women’s basketball team’s loss to No. 5 Tennessee on Jan. 22, the Lady Tigers still have hope of reaching their goal and making an appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row and 24th time in school history.
The trouncing LSU (10-9, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) suffered in Knoxville, Tennessee, last week did not hurt its tournament chances. The Lady Tigers’ Rating Percentage Index, the system used to rank teams based on their wins, losses and strength of schedule, remained at No. 76 after their loss to the Lady Volunteers.
Of LSU’s nine losses this season, six of them were against teams inside the top 50 RPI rankings. Three of those teams ranked inside the top 30.
LSU coach Nikki Caldwell said she is aware of the hill LSU has to climb, and the team will take its week off recuperating.
“We’ve been at many of the top teams in our conference and in the country,” Caldwell said. “Our kids are going to have to take this weekend and just kind of take a step away from basketball for a little bit and get refocused on what we have to do in this next stretch.”
LSU has kept its season alive with quality wins against then-No. 15 Mississippi State and then-No. 10 Kentucky, which were upsets for an LSU team that had been struggling without its star junior guard Danielle Ballard.
Playing in a loaded conference can kill or cure LSU’s season, as it will play eight times against teams with winning records, three of which are ranked in the top 25. The Lady Tigers’ next matchup in their tough conference slate begins Thursday when they host Ole Miss (14-6, 4-3 SEC) at the PMAC.
The last three years the Lady Tigers made the NCAA Tournament, they lost 11, 12 and 13 games, respectively. To increase its RPI and be one of the 64 teams to make the tournament, LSU will need to win big games against ranked teams, keep from losing to inferior opponents and stay around 12 losses to end the year.
Sophomore guard Raigyne Moncrief said she and the team will need to focus and remind themselves what this season is all about.
“[Caldwell] just says play for that person that you put on the board, and basically that person is who you’re playing basketball for, or who you will go hard for,” Moncrief said. “That’s what we’re all doing. Playing for that person and playing together and playing for each other.”
Because the rest of its schedule is comprised of all SEC opponents, LSU will be familiar with many of its matchups. On LSU’s itinerary, the Lady Tigers will face No. 1 South Carolina and No. 12 Texas A&M for the second time this season and will face Ole Miss twice before the end of the season.
Caldwell said for her team to reach its goal, it will have to start by developing and improving its fundamentals.
“We’ve got some things we need to get back to. We’ve got to get back to being that hungry, aggressive team that really gets after people,” Caldwell said. “We are going to have to really think about offensively, ‘What is the play action that we can run and kind of tweak to get better looks?’ Just really getting the basics.”
You can reach Stanton Vignes on Twitter @stanvignes_TDR.