'We comin': How Kim Mulkey took LSU women's basketball back to top with NCAA championship
DALLAS – Freshman Flau'jae Johnson laughed it off at first.
"The expectations is probably the natty every year, right?" she joked.
But as confetti rained down to conclude LSU women's basketball's season as it hoisted the NCAA Championship trophy after dominating Iowa, 102-85, inside American Airlines Center on Sunday, there was no more laughing.
Kim Mulkey completed the unthinkable by leading the Tigers (34-2) to a national championship, the program's first, in her second season as head coach.
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As LSU racked up a 23-game win streak to start the season, finishing second in the Southeastern Conference behind then No. 1 South Carolina, with Angel Reese consistently breaking program and national records, Mulkey cautioned that the team hadn't done anything yet.
"Nah, y'all can keep us below the radar because I like how you guys had us off the radar," Reese said in LSU's victorious locker room. "We got the 3-seed, we had a perfect bracket. I'm cool, y'all can do it again next year.
"I'm sure it's going to look different in the preseason next year, and with all the All-Americans we got coming in. Just know we comin'."
LSU women's basketball has a proud history. Before this trip to the Final Four, the last time it made it was 15 years ago — the fifth of five straight appearances in the national semifinals.
The program is still very much in rebuild mode. Mulkey's only had two signing classes, the most recent of which was the top-rated class in 2023.
"We're still going to play like we got a chip on our shoulder," Tigers guard Kateri Poole said. "Just knowing that we're going to have a target on our backs again next year, we really have a reason why. Knowing that we're capable of what we did this year with what we had.
"It's still rebuilding."
Mulkey credited her first team last season with helping launch this year's team's improbable national title run. Nine new players joined this season's Tiger squad, all looking for different things like fresh starts in Reese.
But most of all, this group only wanted to win.
"A lot of people counted us out, they didn't even think we could make it this far," freshman forward Sa'Myah Smith said. "A lot of people thought we'd be gone in the second round. We continued to prove them wrong every game.
"If they don't look at us now, we're national champs."
Now, the players know a new bar has been set. And as long as Mulkey is at LSU, the Tigers will be on the top tier of women's basketball.
"I wouldn't expect nothing less from coach Mulkey," Johnson said. "I came here to be great. She's greatness. She just won a national championship in her second year. You wouldn't expect nothing less from the GOAT."
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Kim Mulkey returns LSU women's basketball to top of women's basketball
