NCAA title. Popularity. And deep storylines. These were the LSU Tigers when Angel Reese represented them for two years. Hence, with her departure to the WNBA, it was predicted that the program would lose its relevance. Currently ranked seventh in the AP women’s basketball rankings, the Lady Tigers have kept the hopes of their fans alive, who have reciprocated in a special way.

On Saturday’s broadcast of WBRZ, Kim Mulkey shared one of the latest updates from the Louisiana-based program’s upcoming game that excited all its fans. “I’ve just heard today that we have now sold out the arena. And that’s just so good. It’s so good for our players and school and our program. It’s gonna be fun, I’ve got a lot of depth at the guard spot. And got just enough post to create a little havoc. And we’re still relevant and that’s what I came here to do,” Mulkey stated.

The Lady Tigers will be battling against Eastern Kentucky in the first matchup of the regular season on Monday at 7 PM CT. The game will be played at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. This is the second year in a row when the season tickets for LSU’s women’s basketball have been sold out and currently, only the single game tickets are available.

Plus going by the previous three seasons, the Baton Rouge team has recorded an increasing number of spectators, and they would be hoping for the trend to continue this season. Meanwhile, three of the previous year’s starters will play this season.

While Reese has departed, her ex-teammates Flau’jae Johnson, Aneesah Morrow, and Mikaylah Williams will look to live up to the same standards set by the forward during her two-year stay. Other than that, Mulkey will have to help Sa’Myah Smith, Last-Tear Poa, and Aalyah Del Rosario reach their potential, and fans have responded. Although Mulkey and her mentees have won both the exhibition games with blowout margins, it remains to be seen if they will be able to get going after what happened last year.

Flau’jae Johnson & Co. want to make a gritty comeback

After a phenomenal 21 years with the Baylor Bears, Mulkey resigned from her position to take up the coaching title at Baton Rouge. The 4x NCAA winning coach was clear that she wanted to win a title at LSU since day one. Therefore, she recruited players such as Reese from the Maryland Terrapins during the 2022-23 season and accomplished her dream. Next year in the 2023-24 season, they were tagged as the favorites.

However, the seventh-overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft had to be kept out of 4 games due to ‘locker room’ issues. The season was marred with controversies for the Lady Tigers with their core players’ mothers, Reese and Flau’jae Johnson, involved in heated exchanges. All this certainly affected their performance as the Tigers could only reach the Elite Eight where they were defeated by the Iowa Hawkeyes, a team that the Lady Tigers had decimated during the 2022-23 Championship Finale.

Hence, this season is their redemption season. The Kim Mulkey-coached team needs to pull up its socks and prove that they are no lesser than the team that caught hold of the hardware. The preparations for that have started as Johnson is eyeing the leadership role in Reese’s absence.

“Four goals that I have for myself is to be consistent, to be a good defender, to get more in my bag, and to like leave my team… I think you know my role is different now and you know I have to be a leader and I have to be consistent in that so that’s what I’m really trying to do. I have high high high expectations from me,” Johnson revealed in a recent episode of her podcast Best of Both Worlds. And it remains to be seen if Mulkey will be able to clinch the glory once again with the Tigers.