By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – The second act for a defending national champion is always harder than the first.
The first ride to the title is almost magical, usually unexpected. It’s usually a hungry team with something to prove that plays with an enormous chip on its shoulder. There’s little or no adversity, such as extended or season-ending injuries or players being suspended or dismissed from the program.
Say hello to LSU, the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball national champions.
The second time around is vastly different with personnel changes due to players graduating, transferring, or entering the pro draft. There might be injuries, suspensions and dismissals that were dodged in the previous season.
The biggest enemy, after reaching the mountaintop and reaping all the fame, celebrity and endorsements, is complacency and facing every victory-starved opponent like you were a year ago.
Meet LSU head coach Kim Mulkey’s current 16-2 Tigers (3-1 SEC), which fell from No. 7 to No. 10 in AP and coaches’ polls after Sunday’s 67-62 SEC loss at unranked Auburn.
LSU plays at Alabama on Thursday night, followed by home games Sunday vs. Arkansas and next Thursday vs. No. 1 South Carolina.
At this point last season, LSU was 18-0, 6-0 in the SEC after hammering Auburn by 40 points. Aside from one starting lineup experimentation and a minor knee injury. Mulkey had used just three different starting lineups.
While last year’s preseason theme was “Piece It Together,” the Tigers had one returning starter, five new transfers and two freshmen in a steady eight-player rotation.
Then-senior Alexis Morris, the lone returning starter, was a solid point guard and team leader. Everyone was comfortable in their roles. It felt good to be the hunter instead of the hunted.
Because last year seemed to flow so effortlessly, it may have been a given it would be easier this season. LSU was a no-brainer No. 1 nation preseason pick with two returning starters, including All-American Angel Reese surrounded by the nation’s best recruiting class including the top two players in the transfer portal.
But no two seasons are ever the same.
Mulkey has used seven different starting lineups because she suspended Reese for four games, tossed veteran backcourt reserve Kateri Poole off the team, lost starting post player S’Mayah Smith with a season-ending knee injury and was without new starting point guard Hailey Van Lith for four games because of plantar fasciitis.
Because of the disruptions, the Tigers’ current starting lineup of returnees Reese and Flau’jae Johnson, transfers Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow and freshman Mikaylah Williams has started just seven games as a unit, including the four SEC contests.
It’s a talented but imperfect lineup.
Reese is leading the team in scoring (20.1) and rebounding (11.5) but is responsible for missing the bulk of the Tigers’ point-blank range layups. In the four SEC games, LSU has made just 71 of 125 (56.8 percent layups.)
She compensates for missing by averaging 5.4 offensive rebounds and by leading the nation in free throws made (106) and free throw attempts (144).
“You might stop Angel’s first shot but she follows her misses hard,” Mulkey said. “That’s where she forces a lot of fouls from her opponents.”
Morrow, who averages 18.3 points and 9.7 rebounds and has 54 career double-doubles, begins games notoriously slow. Maybe it’s the DePaul transfer’s style of feeling out a game since she always finished strong with excellent second halves.
“I try to be as consistent as I possibly can every day,” Morrow said. “I’m a walking double-double machine. I can perform on any level.”
There’s little to fault with Williams, the SEC’s second-leading three-point shooter (44.6 percent) who averages 16.3 points and 4.9 rebounds. Her most frequent freshman mistakes are turnovers.
“I don’t view Mikaylah as a freshman,” Mulkey said. “She has a college ready body, a mindset and a confidence. When you’re a baller, you figure it out on the floor.”
Though Johnson averages 13.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.5 steals, her weakness is she needs to be more selfish. She’s the only player on the team with the quickness and the athleticism to drive past any defender.
“Flau’jae got so many minutes as a freshman last year that it’s allowed her to mature and become more comfortable,” Mulkey said. “We want her to become a great all-around player and for her to understand she’s not going to play a perfect game.”
Van Lith, a former Louisville star who was the No. 1 rated player in the transfer portal, is doing her best transitioning from shooting guard to point guard.
Her scoring and shooting suffered through non-conference play but she’s now averaging 11.3 points as her outside shot has warmed. She throws the quickest and most accurate entry passes on the team, but often gets defensively overwhelmed when facing more physical, aggressive guards. “For a while there, I was trying to fit in a mold that wasn’t necessarily my game,” Van Lith said. “I’m looking for ways to be a playmaker and making the right read when I’m taking a shot.”
Freshman center Aalyah Del Rosario and junior guard Last Tear-Poa, LSU’s top two reserves in a seven-player rotation, are combining to average 10.1 points in 34.4 minutes.
“It starts on the defensive end,” Mulkey said of Tear-Poa, one of the SEC’s best defensive guards. “She’s going to take the defensive angles to keep in front of quicker players and keep them out of the paint.”
The 6-5 Del Rosario is still taking baby steps in her aggressiveness.
“When I came here, I was not in the best shape,” Del Rosario said. “Now, I feel like I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been. It (Smith’s season-ending injury) changed my perspective. I knew I was going to have to step up and play big-time minutes.”
The lack of an eighth player in the rotation is concerning.
“I want to play more players,” Mulkey said. “But earning that playing time comes in practice. That playing time comes making me confident in you.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com