re: LSU WBB 84 vs #10 Kentucky 79 FINAL ESPNU

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It sucks that Ballard was out, her presence probably flips 3 or 4 games and this win would've moved them into the top 20.

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You are probably right. I will be conservative and say that there are 2 games LSU definitely wins if she is playing....Tulane and Santa Clara. Tulane is good and we almost beat them anyway. Santa Clara is just awful and there is no way we lose that game. We were soundly beaten by UALR, Long Beach State, and Miami, which are all good teams. Rutgers would have been a tossup.

But for the sake of argument,just give LSU those 2 wins I mentioned (Tulane and Santa Clara) and things look very different right now. LSU would be 12-6 instead of 10-8. A 12-6 LSU would probably jump into the rankings this week. But more importantly, going 6-6 in the non-conference as opposed to 8-4 means LSU's conference record is probably going to have to be 11-5 to merit NCAA consideration, plus a couple of wins in the SEC tournament. Those two wins would have made it a lot easier coming down the stretch...now there is no margin for error. LSU has to win almost all of the games they are "supposed" to. At Tennessee this Thursday will be tough and at South Carolina will be almost impossible. Other than that, LSU can only afford about 1 more loss in the other 8 games.