LSU to open defense of last season’s crown
As far as LSU star Angel Reese is concerned, the third-seeded Tigers’ prospects for repeating as national champions will hinge more on their mindset than their evident abundance of talent.
“We didn’t have the most talented team last year,” noted Reese, whose Tigers (28-5) open play in the women’s NCAA Tournament against 14th-seeded Rice (19-14) today in Baton Rouge, La.
“This year we have one of the most talented teams in the country,” Reese continued. ”It’s a different shift to understanding, like, what it’s really going to take to win this thing.”
Also facing off in Baton Rouge today are No. 6 seed Louisville (249) and 11th-seeded Middle Tennessee (29-4). Today’s winners will meet here on Sunday in the second round, with the winner of that game advancing to the semifinals of the Albany 2 Region.
Reese’s scoring and rebounding numbers have dipped somewhat this season — but that’s arguably by design. This season’s LSU starting five features two high-profile transfers — guard Hailey Van Lith (from Louisville) and forward Aneesah Morrow (from DePaul) — as well as high-scoring wing Mikaylah Williams, who was recently named SEC freshman of the year.
Like Reese, Morrow is a scoring and rebounding force inside. She ranks second on the team — behind Reese — in both categories.
But Reese still averaged a double-double (with per-game averages of 19 points and 13.1 rebounds), and was named an All-American and SEC Player of the Year.
“I don’t really care about points and stuff like that,” Reese said. “Being able to do whatever it takes to win is always something that has been important to me.”
While LSU’s roster includes some of the most famous and highest earning players in women’s basketball, Rice has emerged from relative anonymity.
The Owls lost their final five regular season games before stunningly winning four straight in the American Athletic Conference tournament to capture an automatic bid.
STANFORD LOOKS TO AVOID ANOTHER
EARLY EXIT » Last spring, after a heartbreaking, stunning, early exit from the women’s NCAA Tournament at home, Tara VanDerveer gathered her coaches and players together for a series of debrief sessions to both regroup and reassess so Stanford could make sure this season is a special one.
The Hall of Fame coach wanted to establish a new, solid foundation to forge ahead when everybody needed a fresh focus from the forgettable finish. Three players had departed in the transfer portal, too.
VanDerveer held calls with each woman to get to know her even better, she brought in a leadership specialist, changed things up ever so slightly.
“Right from that spot, people were all in,” VanDerveer said. “We did a lot of different things, just maybe little things that added up. We did small group exercises, we worked with two other people, just to establish a great foundation of trust and respect and optimism and to move away from kind of the disappointment. And it was fabulous.”
The Cardinal were the top seed when they lost to eighth-seeded Ole Miss on their home floor — a defeat that still stings but also has served as motivation for months now. A year later, they are back on the big March stage for another shot in front of the home fans.
“The last time I was sitting up here was not a fun time,” VanDerveer said from the press conference podium. “It was very disappointing to not get out of Maples. We have learned from that.”
A mantra was born: “Best year ever.”
Stanford (28-5) is coming off a 74-61 defeat in the Pac-12 Tournament title game to USC as it prepares to host 15th-seeded Norfolk State (27-5) tonight.
Freshman Jada Williams had 17 points, Helena Pueyo scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half and Arizona (1815) earned its fourth straight opening win in the NCAA Tournament with a victory over Auburn (20-12) in the First Four.
ARIZONA 69, AUBURN 59 » HOLY CROSS 72, TENNESSEE-MARTIN 45 »
Cara McCormack scored 23 points and Holy Cross (21-12) easily beat UT-Martin (16-17) won the other First Four game Thursday.