Danielle Ballard will not return to LSUWBB for senior season

Well that's not good

Here is the full release...I love how the news of Ballard not returning is just kind of an "oh, by the way", hidden deep in the story. Kudos to the Reveille for reading the entire release, which is virtually worthless otherwise.

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BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s basketball program has started its preparations for the 205-16 season and is in the midst of its three-week summer workout program.

The Lady Tigers have been working out in position groups on the court. LSU also has held strength and conditioning training in the weight room led by Melissa Seal.

“I’ve been extremely impressed and pleased with how our players have performed in our summer workout program,” head coach Nikki Caldwell said. “It lays the foundation and serves as the building blocks for success for the upcoming season. The future is bright for our program, and I couldn’t be more excited with how our preparation for 2015-16 has started.”

LSU boasts five newcomers on its roster for the 2015-16 campaign.

Alexis Hyder, a 5-11 forward, who practiced with the Lady Tigers last season after she transferred to LSU from North Texas will start her redshirt junior season in 2015-16. She was an All-Sun Belt pick and started 51 of 59 games for the Mean Green in her first two seasons. Hyder posted 14.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game as a freshman.

Ayana Mitchell and Shanice Norton will begin their freshman seasons. Mitchell is a 6-2 forward from Conyers, Georgia and was ranked as a Top 50 player by a vast number of recruiting websites including ESPNW. She is four-star recruit who amassed 18.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per game en route to Class 5A All-State First-Team accolades.

Norton, a 5-8 guard from London, England, will represent her native country on the U18 squad at the 2015 FIBA European Championship. She also comes from a championship pedigree and won a pair of state titles at the Potter’s House Christian Academy in Florida.

Transfers Chloe Jackson, a 5-9 guard from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, along with Tatum Neubert, a 6-2 forward from Elizabeth, Colorado, will sit out the 2015-16 season due to NCAA transfer rules.

Jackson was named the Washington Post’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year and garnered Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) High School All-America Honorable Mention stats during her high school career.

Neubert secured McDonalds High School All-America nominee and was a Colorado Class 4A All-State First-Team selection as a high school senior. She also was the state’s leading scorer at 22.7 points per game and was a three-time conference Player of the Year recipient.

Danielle Ballard will not return to LSU for her senior season.

“We appreciate all that Danielle has done for our program during her time at LSU,” Caldwell said. “We wish her nothing but the best and success in her future endeavors.”

LSU has collected four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances highlighted by a pair of NCAA Sweet 16 trips under Caldwell. The Lady Tigers also have secured a trio of 20-plus win seasons and have reached at least 10 SEC victories three times with Caldwell at the helm.

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I love how the news of Ballard not returning is just kind of an "oh, by the way", hidden deep in the story

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And the next "NIKKI CALDWELL IS SO INCREDIBLE!" paragraph is longer than that sentence.

Yikes. We were pretty terrible without her last year. This could be bad.

Don't mind have a bad year in wbb to fire nikki

Nikki whats really going on?

I originally thought hiring the coach from UCLA was a good hire. I was wrong. I don't see the program getting stronger, even a little bit at a time.

Unless we show strong improvement, it's time to look elsewhere, IF we want to compete on the highest level.

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I originally thought hiring the coach from UCLA was a good hire. I was wrong. I don't see the program getting stronger, even a little bit at a time.

Unless we show strong improvement, it's time to look elsewhere, IF we want to compete on the highest level.

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I just don't understand how she can't recruit to save her life. she comes off as so charismatic, smart, and had a great resume before she came to LSU.

Sometimes good coaches just don't work out at programs, and this is starting to look like the case with Caldwell. Let's not sugarcoat it. We're going to suck next season. Though I was distracted by the other spring sports excelling, I forgot she STILL didn't bring in an assistant with recruiting ties. She's fricked, and this is coming from a positiger

Pay NC and CJJ each about 150K more a year.

Have NC be the bench coach for the men's team. That's her strength.

Have CJJ recruit for the women's team. That's his strength.

Problem solved.