It was around mid-January last season that LSU women's basketball was announcing to the nation that they needed to be taken seriously, but the nation wasn't exactly convinced.
The doubters got even louder when LSU lost to juggernaut South Carolina, their only loss of the regular season, in a clear setback at the time. But when those two teams meet again on Thursday, it will be the reigning national champion Tigers greeting Dawn Staley's Gamecocks to the PMAC. It's a game that deserves a national spotlight, and it'll get one, as Bobby Hebert explained this week on WWL.
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"That’s a way to catch the nation’s attention," Hebert to Mike Detillier on SportsTalk. "Yea, this is about as good as it gets, because when you look at old-school, you look at UConn, Tennessee and all that. Right now it doesn’t get any better than South Carolina and LSU women’s basketball.”
South Carolina is ranked No. 1 and a perfect 17-0 on the year, while LSU has dropped a pair of games (vs Colorado & at Auburn) and sits at No. 9 overall. The rematch has a bit more gravity considering that both potential rematch scenarios didn't happen. LSU lost in the early rounds of the SEC Tournament a year ago, while the Gamecocks were upset by Iowa on the opposite side of the Final Four bracket.
The excitement can be seen clearly on the resale market, with the cheapest lower bowl ticket available on SeatGeek going for $125.
"Thursday night will be crazy," said WWL Radio contributor Jeff Palermo, "It is not a stretch to say that it is the most anticipated women’s basketball game in regualr season history for LSU.”
