Could the karma get any better for LSU athletics this year?
After putting itself in position to win the national championship, the LSU football team was rewarded with a trip to New Orleans to play in the Sugar Bowl, and we all know what happened then.
And now, the LSU women’s basketball team, which played its way through the West regional and had to travel to Seattle to face relative neighbors Texas and Georgia, will also make the trek to N.O. to stake its claim to the national championship.
In some ways, the women’s road to the Final Four was more impressive than the men’s odyssey to the Sugar Bowl.
The Lady Tigers beat a team in Texas that absolutely swamped them, 78-60, in last year’s round of eight in the NCAA Tournament. And that was with inside star Aisyha Smith, who ran out of eligibility after that game.
On this run, inside players Tillie Willis, Wendlyn Jones, Treynell Clavelle and Crystal White all manned (or womaned) the inside by committee, mostly for defensive purposes, and they were very effective at what they did, especially against Texas.
Then, LSU moved on to defeat Georgia, a tradition-rich women’s basketball school which beat the Lady Tigers earlier this year, 80-74, in a game which the Lady Bulldogs led by double-digits for most of the way.
Since that Georgia game, LSU has been without its beloved head coach Sue Gunter, who has stayed away from the court on game nights while recovering from acute bronchitis. She did not make the trip to Seattle, but rumor had it that she could not stop calling acting coach Pokey Chatman, checking in every so often to see how things were going.
But, most of all, two individuals consumed in a team concept led the Lady Tigers to the promised land.
Temeka Johnson, LSU’s ultra-quick point guard extraordinaire, absolutely refused to lose against Georgia, hitting big shots that a normal person would be afraid to even take. And do not forget the NCAA Tournament record for assists that she will break. Johnson is sitting on 42 assists through LSU’s first four games in the tourney and needs just five more to tie the all-time mark. That should not be too challenging for a woman averaging 10.5 per game in the tournament as it is.
And, last, but so far from least, it is Seimone Augustus, the Lady Tigers’ dynamic 6-foot-1 guard who frankly can’t be stopped by anyone in the women’s game, including the WNBA.
Augustus was named Most Outstanding Player in the West regional after averaging 26.3 points per game and she pretty much scored at will.
She put on a mid-range shooting clinic in the tournament, and that part of her game is more advanced than a large majority of men who are playing or played in the NCAA Tournament. And, her size, along with her ball-handling skills, makes her an impossible match-up for any team.
After two years of good production and, in my opinion, too much unselfishness, Augustus is beginning to realize there is no one in the women’s game that can stop her. In turn, she now understands she can carry a team on her back.
And, the best news for LSU women’s basketball fans… she is only a sophomore.