Now the fun really begins.
The entire season plus the Southeastern Conference tournament merely have been a prelude to the main event for the LSU womenโs basketball team.
Now the question gets answered: Can the Tigers get back to the Final Four? Can they get past the most wide-open field of contenders womenโs basketball has seen and repeat as national champions?
One word comes to mind with this LSU team: danger.
First, danger to others. That is what the Tigers represent to any team in their path.
โAnyone seeing us moving forward should be scared,โ LSU All-American Angel Reese said after the Tigersโ 79-72 SEC tournament final loss to South Carolina.
Reese wasnโt merely boasting. That list includes No. 1 overall seed and unbeaten South Carolina, which saw Reese foul out of a 76-70 win in Baton Rouge with four crucial minutes to go and found the Tigers at even lesser strength when they met in the fracas-filled final in Greenville, South Carolina.
With a starting lineup filled with five starters who could all go off for 20-plus points on any given night, this is a team that can beat anyone. When LSUโs name went up in the Albany 2 Regional as the No. 3 seed, you probably could hear a muttered โOh, manโ from the Iowa camp, the regionalโs top seed. And possibly from Westwood, home of No. 2-seeded UCLA.
Thereโs always a โbutโ at tournament time, of course. For LSU, there is danger to itself.
The Tigers are like an antique French lidded cobalt blue vase. Beautiful, valuable but vulnerable to shattering to pieces. The Tigers have been without forward SaโMyah Smith and guard Kateri Poole for a long time and have adjusted to it. But in the SEC tournament they had to deal with a tender foot belonging to freshman shooting guard Mikaylah Williams and the loss of point guard Last-Tear Poa to a frightening concussion in the semifinals against Ole Miss.
Williams didnโt play until the SEC final, but coach Kim Mulkey said she is practicing full speed now. One makes the guarded assumption that she will be good to go in LSUโs NCAA opener Friday against No. 14-seeded Rice. The Tigers need her to be 100%.
Poa posted a timely Instagram video Sunday saying she looks forward to being back on the court soon. The huge question remains, how soon is soon? Can she play in the first round? How about the second round, if LSU wins? The Sweet 16? Poa attended LSUโs watch party with the rest of the team, moved well and sounded good for someone who is overcoming such a serious injury. But concussion recoveries are notoriously fickle things. Likely no one yet knows exactly when she can be back, including Mulkey.
โSheโs getting better every day,โ the coach said. โWeโre going to try to do some individual workouts, so thatโs a great sign.โ A great sign, perhaps, but not a total green light.
LSU canโt hope to make it to Cleveland and the Final Four without Poa bringing the ball up the court to free Hailey Van Lith to be a shooting guard or without Williams contributing offensively. The depth at guard is reduced to pretty much Janae Kent, a freshman who makes great plays and novice mistakes, and thatโs it. And anyone who follows March Madness knows how crucial guard play is.
A few words on LSUโs seeding and regional assignment, starting with the NCAA selection committee got it wrong again. The Tigers have a NET ranking of 8, went 28-5 and finished second to the No. 1 overall seed yet were on the 3 line for the third straight year. The committee underseeded LSU last year, too. But putting Iowa and LSU in each otherโs path before the Womenโs Final Four does set up a potential blockbuster in the final of a regional that appears to be the toughest of them all.
But, hey, committee members, donโt you care about Final Four TV ratings? Apparently not.
The one delectable thing the committee did was put Louisville in Baton Rouge as the 6 seed. Itโs not quite what an LSU-Baylor potential second-round matchup would have been, but that is Van Lithโs former school. She doubled over with a โI canโt believe itโ like reaction when she saw Louisville will be here. The Cardinals, of course, have to get past No. 11 Middle Tennessee first, no guarantee, but itโs likely what we will see in the round of 32.
I think LSU has the firepower and talent, no matter Williamsโ and Poaโs status, to at least reach the Sweet 16. After that? How many upsets happen? Will UCLA and Iowa be in LSUโs future? Last year, the Tigersโ closest NCAA tournament game was their Sweet 16 matchup with No. 2-seeded Utah, a 66-63 victory.
Thereโs danger aplenty out there. For LSU and for everyone. From LSU and for everyone, too.
Fun, isnโt it?
Bring on the madness.