lsualum96

I love our defense thus far......................especially Mikaylah's defense on Booker. It's clear she's heard the chatter lately about her effort on the defensive end. Our offense doesn't look great, but I didn't expect it to in a game against this team.

:geauxtigers:

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I consider tomorrow a watershed moment for Mulkey, not the program but her. Kim needs to live up to the hype, the ego and the wardrobe. What is she about? Herself or coaching this team to a victory over a ranked opponent that has eluded her?

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WTH are you talking about? :lol: :lol:

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In Kim's prior seasons she didn't really have almost a complete roster overhaul that hadn't played a game for her like she's facing this year. Really only three players (not counting KG) from last year's roster returning. That's a lot of new faces.

So I understand the need for her to see what each player could offer and which combos best worked for the team unit in certain situations. She gave everyone an equal chance and "learned" her team, as she said, in the pre-conference. This should pay dividends around tourney time.

However, the schedule obviously didn't prepare her girls for tough SEC play, ie. how you can't just show up and drive to the hoop at will or maneuver in the post and outjump tall teams like Kentucky for rebounds like you did against SE Louisiana. You can't get away with the constant careless and risky passes against Vandy like you did against Houston Christian, especially when they're looking for them. And you can't bank on every possession being a fast-break layup and rarely playing a contested possession where you don't have to rely on making your 3s.

Although they play really hard and with maximum effort, the team does look tired at the end. Was it wise to play the likes of MW and MF only half of each game in the pre-conference? Can they really suddenly "get in shape" in the next few weeks to pay off at the end? That seems like a lot of sacrificing of SEC games against good teams, and their psyche and attitude could suffer in suddenly losing when they're accustomed to winning and winning easily. Kim was planning that the reduced playing time early would result in less wear and tear on the key bodies down the stretch.

I do disagree with her not playing Bella Hines in the first two games. Why not? She proved herself in my opinion in the preseason. She always brought a spark and hustle and a high basketball IQ. She's tenacious defensively. It would give MW, MF, or FJ a much-needed rest.

Also, the easy scoring resulted in getting into the habit of street ball on offense- they noticeably shared the ball and reversed the ball less in critical situations like the other teams, relying more on MW to make it happen on her own.

In the big picture, it's still early with only two close losses against two really good basketball teams who are Top Ten worthy. But I hope Kim hasn't put her team behind the eight ball too soon where they can't recover in time. They still have Texas twice, Oklahoma on the road, and South Carolina, which looks like it's still rolling despite the injuries. They have Ole Miss on the road and Tennessee.

I think we can kiss the SEC regular season title goodbye and realistically look at a 3 seed, maybe a 4 for the NCAA. If Kim pulls off better than that and win the SEC tourney or make the Final Four, I would have to say that would be one helluva coaching job, especially with brand new players making up 75 percent of the roster. We shall see

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I couldn't have said it better. I agree with you on all points! Although, I do believe the team is still talented enough to beat the other top teams in the SEC. We shall see if they can get things corrected by then................

:geauxtigers:

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Kim has gone back to her mo... 7 to 8 player rotation! Everyone else sits, which is totally different from the way she subbed in pre-conference play. This is a problem..

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I don't think the conditioning is an issue. That's not why they lost the game. I DO hope that Kim will use that depth that they talked about earlier, for the remainder of the season. Even if they don't want to play Bourrage and Yarnevich, I think Hines REALLY needs to see the floor..................................especially early in this SEC schedule.

Exactly! I was one of those who was REALLY excited at the prospect of getting Williams. I thought she could be the missing piece to a final four run. But thus far at UConn, she's not done much. Also, I think Joyner has done very well for us. She had 14 pts and 5 rebs in her FIRST SEC game. Koval was a big disappointment in HER first game. So, now we're gonna see what kind of fire she has on Sunday. Will she respond with more heart and effort, or will she wilt under pressure like Del Rosario did last season?

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Koval was outmatched by the 3 bigs from Kentucky. All tall, long, and WAY quicker. Just 2 rebounds in 17 minutes.

Fulwiley is supposed to be the spark off the bench to come in and score 15-20 against their bench guards. She finished 1/6 2 points and 4 fouls. Pitiful game from her.

Everybody else from LSU pretty much played well. The only thing LSU got completely outplayed at was rebounding. Richard had a good game and had career highs. Williams was great. Flaujae started slow but picked it up and had a decent game. Joyner had one of her best games of the year. Zachiyah Johnson and Grace Knox are freshmen playing their first SEC game against some of the best post players they’ll see. They weren’t terrible by any means. Just overmatched a little. I’d give those 2 a pass.


If that becomes a theme, of getting completely outplayed and outrebounded, not getting anything out of Fulwiley, the team is in trouble. But I don’t think that will be the case.

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I think we all need to slow our roll a little here. Yes, the effort on the boards was piss poor. Yes, Koval didn't look good at all last night. But, I think we also need to remember there are EIGHT new players on this team.......................seven of which have NEVER played in an SEC game. The difference between winning and losing this game was effort on the boards and offensive execution down the stretch. The effort on the boards can be addressed IMMEDIATELY. I'd be surprised if we don't see a concerted effort on Sunday against 12th ranked Vanderbilt, on the boards. The offensive execution down the stretch may take longer to correct. However, we actually played a great game on the offensive end. We shot 49% from the field and 45% from the 3pt line. We also scored more points in the paint than KY even though they greatly outrebounded us.

Again, considering we lost on a last second shot and had those shortcomings, I think the future looks good. But, those shortcomings MUST be addressed.

:geauxtigers:

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Drop Reese from this list; several others more deserving.

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Wait................................what?! :lol: :lol:

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On a fast break she can easily dunk. She’s not driving the lane and throwing it down on someone.

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I think we need to not be so enamored with women who can dunk. Nowadays, there are MANY ladies that can dunk. But think about how many times you've acutally seen them do it in games. It's VERY rare. Toby Fournier has a ton of dunking videos from high school, and there were a ton of uninformed "fans" who declared she was going to dominate women's basketball. How many dunks did she have against LSU earlier this month.....................................................? Zero.

Fournier Dunking in HS........

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I feel like Sara Okeke would a bigger get than Robinson anyway. Okeke is a big and we need forwards and a center more than guards next season. Fingers crossed for Okeke. ??

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For us, Okeke would absolutely be a bigger get than Robinson because she's at a position of need. Even if she came here for only one season, we'd be good because Caroline Bradley will be here the very next season.

:geauxtigers:

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Cool. And my philosphy is I'm not going to watch when they play teams they will beat by 60, which is her entire chosen non conference schedule (the SEC/ACC challenge was forced on her). I'll watch the SEC games.

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I think you're absolutely entitled to do that. Just stop complaining about it, when you know she's not going to change. :rolleyes:

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Did she do that at Baylor, or did she just start that at LSU? I know in 2019 she played s lot better schedule and won it all.

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She probably didn't because, if you remember, that was a veteran team coming back that was expected to compete for the NCAA championship. This season's team at LSU has 8 new players and the team three seasons ago had nine new players. I have a feeling that next year, their non-conference schedule will be tougher, but still will have a lot of lower ranked teams on it.

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The 8 home games in SEC play include Kentucky, Texas, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee. Those games alone are worth the price of season tickets. PMAC is going to be LIT for all of them.

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Exactly! The preseason games really don't matter. I'd love for us to schedule some tough games in the preseason, but that's for "entertainment purposes only". Ultimately, all that mattes are conference games for teams in the SEC.