re: LSU women’s basketball vs Jacksonville Hailey Van Lith back on the floor

This team can repeat, but a big strength was going to be two legit sets of post players, Reese-Morrow and ADR-Smith. Smith being out for the season hurts badly. ADR is developing nicely but it’s having to rush her expecting her to play a key role and a lot of minutes in important games. Bartlett has shown nothing but that she’d be a liability in a big SEC or tournament game playing key minutes.

The backcourt? I know it’s fashionable for all the Johnny-come-latelies to trash Kateri Poole. But she was invaluable last season, especially from the Sweet Sixteen forward. She played rugged defense and hit key threes. Velez is just not ready.

Unless a disaster occurs, you can bank on this team hosting the first two rounds and making the Sweet Sixteen. After that, when all the teams are good, depth will be concerning. Yes, this team is damn good. But while it may not happen, the goal is obviously to repeat as national champions. Let’s hope we don’t have another key injury.