Angel Reese felt like he could start over when he joined the LSU Tigers. But for Kim Mulkey, it meant going back to the beginning.
As a point guard at Louisiana Tech, Mulkey was an All-American and two-time national winner. He then made history as the head coach at Baylor. She worked there as an assistant coach from 1985 to 1996 and won another title with the Lady Techsters in 1988.
“It’s energized me, to go back home, to see familiar faces, and know that those people will now buy season tickets just because they know me,” she added.
Mulkey was born in Hammond, Louisiana, and now she lives only 40 minutes away from her mom. In Major League Baseball, her son Kramer Roberston plays for the St. Louis Cardinals. It was clear that they should go back to Louisiana. It’s not that her time with the Bears wasn’t good. As soon as she took over, she turned Baylor around. With that team, she won three national titles (in 2005, 2012, and 2019). Mulkey was glad to have had that experience, but now it was time to return home.
It’s already clear that choice was the right one. This is her second year as head coach of LSU. For the first time since 2008, the Tigers are in the Final Four.
He wore a cowboy hat and said, “It’s kind of ironic that after two years at LSU, my team is in the Final Four in a state that was very good to me, not far from an institution that was very good to me.” “I think there will be a lot of Baylor students sitting in our section.” I just had breakfast with Odyssey Sims, who is one of the best girls to play at Baylor. I’ve talked on the phone with a lot of past players.
Mulkey is the only person in college basketball history to have won a Division I national title as a player, an assistant coach, and even as the head coach. Even though she has a lot of experience on the big stage, that doesn’t mean that her present team will be successful.
“I’m the only one in our locker room who has done this, but I’m not going to shoot, dribble, pass, or guard any of them.” “So it doesn’t matter what I did,” Mulkey said.
“All I’m going to do is tweak a thing here or there throughout the course of the game, but it has nothing at all to do with coaching and how long a coach has been somewhere or how many times a coach has been somewhere.”
But Reese, the star player who moved from Maryland to LSU last year, said that joining the Tigers was the fresh start she was looking for. Mulkey wanted to go back home.
I came to LSU to start over. I just wanted to start over. I feel bad about some things I did in the past. I mean, I’ve done some things. But I’m from Maryland, and I did well there, but I wanted more. “And more was to get better every day and then cut down the nets one day,” she said.
“For me, what was important was just being able to be in a program where someone like Kim Mulkey would push me every day to keep me humble and help me get to the next level.” I needed Coach Mulkey, and I got it. I had to have Coach Mulkey.”
It’s clear that the junior forward has grown. She scored 17.8 points and grabbed 10.6 rebounds per game for the Terrapins last year. This year, those stats got even better, with 23.2 points and 15.7 boards per game. This season, the All-American had 32 double-doubles, which is the SEC record for most in a single season.
She said the Tigers have been focusing on five things all season: focus, perform, leadership, defense, and rebounding. They have the second best scoring margin in the country at 25.1, behind No. 1 overall seed South Carolina. Their hard work has paid off so far. This season, they’ve won 31 games, which is the most for the team since 2007–08.
The Tigers have also been helped by Alexis Reese, a guard in her fifth year who played for Baylor from 2017–18. She averages 14.9 points per game. This weekend, she will be someone to watch, and she gets to finish college in her home state of Texas. Flau’jae Johnson, who averages 10.4 points per game, is LSU’s third player in double figures. Mulkey said Johnson works harder than anyone else she has ever taught.
Even though this is a good team, Reese said it’s more important than ever to stay focused because the Tigers need to win now more than ever to make the program’s first-ever title game appearance. For the No. 3 seed LSU team to have a chance to play for the title, they need to beat the No. 1 seed Virginia Tech on Friday. This team has never done any of it before, but Reese is sure her coach can lead them there.
“She’s been to championship games and won them.” She even told us that during the Sweet 16 game, “You get us to the Elite Eight, and we’ll get you to the Final Four.” “If you win this game, I’ll get you to the championship and help you win it,” Reese said.
“Just putting my faith in the coaches.” They’ve been here before, of course. And putting as much faith as we can in it.”
Womens Final Four Lsus Kim Mulkey Is Energized By Louisiana Angel Reese Has Found A Fresh Start There
