‘It needs to be at the Final Four’
Only downside to big rematch: Comes earlier than hoped for
ALBANY, N.Y. — Iowa and LSU would rather not be playing each other on Monday night.
It’s not that they don’t relish the challenge of a rematch of last year’s national championship game, but both teams wish the stage was just a little bit bigger.
“We talk about growing the game,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. “Didn’t that national championship game have the highest ratings ever in women’s basketball? You’re probably going to anticipate this one will, too, but it needs to be at the Final Four.”
The storylines are plentiful. It’s not just a rematch, it’s last year’s champion against a No. 1 seed. And it’s two of the game’s biggest and most competitive stars in Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark going head-to-head — again.
“You’ve got two very talented players that have brought a lot of attention to our sport,” Mulkey said. “They both trash talk. They both make their teammates better. They both have their teammates’ back. They have both elevated our game to where we have people watching that never watched women’s basketball before.”
But these are, of course, different teams from those that played last April in the Tigers’ 102-85 win.
LSU no longer has its three top scorers from that game. Forward LaDazhia Williams (20 points) and guards Jasmine Carson (22) and Alexis Morris (21).
In their place are forward Aneesah Morrow (16.5 pointer per game), a transfer from DePaul and guards Mikaylah Williams (14.4), a freshman and Louisville transfer Hailey Van Lith (11.7).
“I just think they shoot the 3-ball; they rebound so well,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “You’ve got five people averaging in double figures. That’s really hard to guard when you have that kind of balance.”
And Iowa is more than just Clark, who had 15 assists addition to her 29 points in the Hawkeyes’ blowout win over Colorado in the Sweet 16.
Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin, who each had 14 points against the Buffaloes have stepped into bigger roles this year. And 6-foot-2 Hannah Stuelke has replaced Monika Czinano as the team’s second-leading scorer.
“I really like Hannah’s game,” Reese said. “She’s a strong post player. She’s more versatile than Czinano, so I know I’m going to have to guard her much higher.”
Clark said she’s learned some lessons from the loss a year ago and plans to be more aggressive this time around.
“I think I took 19 threes and 22 shots total versus LSU the last time we played them,” she said. “So not settling and falling in love with my 3-point shot, being able to get into the paint, drive into the paint, I think that allows my teammates to get open.”
Morris had the unenviable assignment of guarding Clark last year, but Morris now plays for the Harlem Globetrotters. That leaves sophomore Flau’jae Johnson to take the job this time around, albeit with a lot of help from her teammates.
“I want to compete at the highest level, and right now Caitlin is the highest level,” she said. “So if I can defend her, try to contain her and get the win, we’ll be fine.”
Stepping up
Iowa is again expected to be without starter Molly Davis, who suffered a knee injury on March 3 against Ohio State.
Sydney Affolter, a junior, has moved into the starting lineup in her place and is averaging better than seven points and six rebounds for the Hawkeyes. She had 15 points in the Sweet 16.
Off the court
The Los Angeles Times edited a column it published last week about the LSU women’s basketball team ahead of its game against UCLA following criticism from Tigers coach Kim Mulkey, who blasted it as sexist and hurtful.
Mulkey defended her players after they were referred to as “villains” and “dirty debutantes” in a piece first published Friday that likened the Sweet 16 game between LSU and UCLA as a battle of good versus evil.
“How dare people attack kids like that?” she said Saturday. “You don’t have to like the way we play. You don’t have to like the way we trash talk. You don’t have to like any of that. We’re good with that. But I can’t sit up here as a mother and a grandmother and a leader of young people and allow somebody to say that.”
The Times removed those references late Saturday as well as one comparing UCLA’s team to “milk and cookies” and republished the column with a note that said: “A previous version of this commentary did not meet Times editorial standards. It has been updated.
Mulkey reiterated Sunday that she would not read another newspaper article over which she threatened to file a defamation lawsuit.
She was the subject of a profile published Saturday in The Washington Post in which family members and former players are quoted about her personality and how she runs her basketball program.
Mulkey’s father and sister are quoted as saying they have not talked to Mulkey in years while others suggest she was uncomfortable at best with the LGTBQ+ community, including some of her own players.
“The lawyers will review it, and when this season is over, they’ll give me a call and say, this is our next step,” Mulkey said Sunday. “I’m not reading that stuff.”
Days before the story was published, Mulkey threatened to sue the newspaper for what she said would be a “hit piece.” Instead, it was a wide-ranging profile that examined both positive and negative aspects of her life.
After her team beat UCLA 78-69 on Saturday, she responded with false surprise when a reporter told her the article had come out an hour before the game started. (She had been asked about it on ESPN before tipoff.)
“Imagine that,” she said. “Must have thought y’all would look at it, get some clicks or be a distraction. No, ma’am, I haven’t read it and I probably won’t read it.”