The Lady Tigers basketball team will open one of its most highly intriguing and exciting seasons tonight at 7 p.m. when the exhibition season tips off at the PMAC against the Basketball Travelers.
LSU ranks No. 3 in the preseason AP poll and No. 4 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ poll. It’s the highest ranking for the Tigers since the 1977-78 season when the Lady Tigers finished that year at No. 2.
LSU returns all of its key players from last year’s team that made a run into the second round of the NCAA Tournament and also finished second in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
In addition, instead of playing seven players, like last year’s team, LSU should be deeper. Not only is senior DeTrina White returning from a redshirt year, but highly touted recruit Seimone Augustus will make her debut for the Lady Tigers.
Six-foot-five center Crystal White, a transfer from current No. 1 Duke, will be available after the end of the fall semester and sophomore Florence Williams is academically eligible this year.
It is obvious why LSU is ready to start the brief two-game exhibition schedule.
“It’s the first real measure of where we are,” said head coach Sue Gunter. “It’s hard to gauge yourself when you’ve been playing each other. To play someone who’s a good team, it kind of gives us a check of where we are. It will give us a chance to look at new combinations.
“Where do we have to get better? I don’t know of any place that we don’t have to get better right now. It’s just time for us to get focused on what it’s all about, start eliminating mistakes and give us film to look at.”
Aiysha Smith, who was named one of the top five power forwards in the country by ESPN.com, said the Tigers hope to get something out of the first exhibition game.
“[I’m looking to see] everybody come together as a team,” Smith said. “[We need to] execute like the coaches want us to execute, play hard even though its an exhibition game we’re still trying to win. It will be good to beat up on somebody else instead of beating up on each other”
ESPN.com also named shifty five-foot-three point guard Temeka Johnson as one of the top five at that position following her strong postseason showing last year.
Gunter does not see the pressure of all the preseason accolades effecting the team.
“I don’t think we necessarily feel any pressure,” she said. “I don’t. I don’t think the kids really do. There is a lot of excitement and a lot of hype, but I think that’s a positive thing. I think that brings new energy to us.”
LSU will open up the regular season against Arizona on the road Nov. 22 at 8 p.m.