Women’s Basketball Earns 3 Seed for NCAA Tournament

Tigers play the 14-seed Hawaii 4:30 on Friday

For the second year in a row, the LSU women’s basketball team is a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The full field of 68 was announced Sunday and LSU is in the exact same spot they found themselves in last year: a three-seed with the chance to play two games inside the PMAC.

LSU comes into the NCAA Tournament at 28-2 overall but the last time we saw the Tigers they blew a 17-point lead to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament semifinals. That loss almost definitely bumped LSU down from a No. 2 to a No. 3 seed.

LSU was placed in the Greenville 2 Region. They will begin their tournament journey Friday afternoon as the Tigers will play Hawaii. Should LSU win they’ll play the winner of (6) Michigan-(11) UNLV on Sunday March 19 at a time to be announced later.

Don’t pencil in the Tigers for a Sweet 16 berth just because they’re a top-four seed playing at home. LSU was in the exact same situation last season only to be knocked out in the Round of 32 by Ohio State. And LSU admittedly hasn’t fared well against teams with talent comparable to LSU.

LSU’s strength of schedule was 83rd in the nation and its non-conference schedule was even worse, ranking 309th nationally. The Tigers got blown out by South Carolina (though to be fair the defending champion Gamecocks do that to everyone) and as mentioned above the last time we saw LSU they blew a 17-point lead to Tennessee.

“I want y’all to understand the fans get excited, but they also lose perspective,” Kim Mulkey said Sunday. “They think we’re suppose to go to a Final Four. Give me a break. Now give me a break. Can we? Yeah…that’s why you play the game but we’re not supposed to be Final Four in year two here. We’re just hoping to win one more in the playoffs and let the chips fall where they may.”

“We are on a fast track,” Mulkey continued to say “and I think the fast track blinds the media and it blinds the fans on what we really should be achieving. It doesn’t blind me. I know what our strengths are, I know how hard it is to build a program, and we are way ahead of schedule.”