Every member of the LSU women's basketball roster that arrived in Dallas Tuesday afternoon is making its first ever Final Four trip.
The same can't be said of their head coach, who is making her fifth trip, and her first since returning to her home state. But she's going to be taking a bit of a different approach than she was able to in her time at Baylor.
"What I will do with this team is make them relax. And how will they relax? There are no expectations place on us. There is no pressure on us," Mulkey told Mike Detillier and Bobby Hebert on SportsTalk. "We are someplace we were not supposed to be."
Listen to the full interview with Kim Mulkey in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"We’ve heard all the criticism of the bad non-conference schedule," Mulkey continued. "Well, I’m gonna sit at that podium at the press conference and say ‘the non-conference schedule wasn’t so bad after all.’ Make them laugh, make them realize you’re here because you know in that locker room you are one of the top teams in the country."
And in something of an about-face from her messaging throughout the year, which has been along the lines of pump the brakes, this is a process and the team hasn't arrived yet. The Tigers are in the Final Four, and all bets are off.
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LSU faces No. 1 seed Virginia Tech on Friday at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
"[LSU] proved it [ was one of the best teams in the country] in conference by finishing behind the national champions, and don’t be surprised if the national champions aren’t playing LSU for the national championship this year," Mulkey said. "And how wonderful would that be? Two SEC teams playing for the national title.”
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What to expect from Virginia Tech
“What I know is in 2020 we played in the bubble because of COVID. I had to play them when I was at Baylor in the first game," Mulkey said. "All those players, four of them, were freshmen and sophomores that year. This year, they’re good because they all stayed together and they’re all older. There’s not anybody but a senior. They’re senior, senior, graduate, senior, senior. That’s the advantage they have over us. Elizabeth Kitley inside is about 6-6, 6-7, but we can guard her. They’ve got a great point guard [Georgia Amoore] who's just killing it from the perimeter. But we’re gonna get after it and see if we can’t get to that national championship game.”
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What's she gonna wear?
First things first, Mulkey wants people to know she's always dressed nice. Since she returned to LSU, designers who are also Tigers alums have been dropping off items and asking her to wear them during games. So she does, sometimes. There are some that are even too "outlandish" for her. She gave the world a dose of that with her pink-feathered jacket during a Sweet 16 win over Utah. People are more than welcome to talk about it, but she also has a request for those who do.
"Don’t just look at what I’m wearing," she tells WWL, "look at the product on the court. … You better talk in the same breath about how damn good those players are on that floor and what I’ve done throughout my career. If you talk about both hand-in-hand, I’m good with it. But don’t just talk about what I wear, I’ve been doing that for years.”
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What does LSU have to do better to win the next two games?
“We’ve got shoot better and we’ve got to score better than we did in the Miami game, end of story. If we’re not, then I’m going to have to stall it, and I’m gonna have to make sure the shots we take are at 10 seconds or less on the shot clock. But I’ve got kids that can score the ball. Alexis Morris hasn’t gotten on track here of late, but she’s very capable. We can score the ball.
"I don’t know, if we get to the championship game and South Carolina is in that championship, if we can’t get up and down the floor and score with them, we’re going to have to be very creative, very selective on when we run, when we don’t run. But, listen, guys we’re here. There’s only four teams playing the last week of the season and LSU is one of them.”
Can LSU really pull this thing off?
“Listen, we’re a 3 seed. Virginia Tech was a 1 seed. We’re not supposed to win," Mulkey said. "But then again, Utah was a 2 seed. We were a 3 seed and we won. If the best, or the ones that people think are the best, always win, then there would be no reason to play. I’m going to go back to 2005 when I won my first national championship at Baylor. We beat LSU, who had the best player in the country in Seimone Augustus, the best post player in Sylvia Fowles and the best point guard in Temeka Johnson, and we upset them and beat them and went on to win the national championship.
"What’s old Herm Edwards say? That’s why you play the game, baby.”
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