You'd have to have been sleeping under a rock the last two Saturdays if you're a Tiger Fan and didn’t know about LSU’s take down of Alabama in overtime (32-31) in what is now an instant SEC Classic football game. 

Then this weekend the Tigers wrapped up the SEC West Division Title with their 13-10 victory at Arkansas and Bama’s win at Ole Miss.

 

So the LSU team picked to finished 5th in the West this summer at the SEC Media days behind Alabama, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Texas A&M is now 8-2 overall, 6-1 in the SEC West and headed to Atlanta as Champions of the West! 

The Tigers have proven everyone wrong. In two weeks LSU has the opportunity to finish off the sweep by beating A&M on the road at Kyle Field. LSU is on its way to a 10-2 record if they continue to follow the process by crossing their t’s and dotting their i’s as I talked about in a previous feature article of this website.

 

Brian Kelly is just the fourth head coach to lead an SEC team to their respective division titles in his first season as head coach. He’s the second LSU coach joining Les Miles (2005) who took over for Nick Saban. Miles had the pleasure of doing it with quite a few of Saban’s great recruiting classes. Not to mention a National Title just two years before taking over the helm.

The other two SEC coaches were Auburn’s Gus Malzahn (2013) who followed Gene Chizik and Jim McElwain at Florida (2015) who took over for Will Muschamp.

 

The football team is not the only reason IT’S GREAT TO BE AN LSU TIGER. 

 

Basketball season is underway and both the men’s and women’s teams went undefeated in week one. Both teams are figuring out how to play together as a team. The men have a little further to go as they played to games that were closer margins than they should have been. We’ll get to that in a moment.

 

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

 

The women are the story for last week. The Lady Tigers played three games and out scored their opponents 343 to 125. The women are averaging 114 points a game while holding their opponents to an average of 42. They have an average game winning margin of 70+ points. They are the first LSU women’s basketball team to score 100 points or more in three consecutive games. Total domination for a team still getting to know one another on the court.

 

Kim Mulkey’s 2022 Lady Tigers return only three players from her 26-6 inaugural season. 

Last year the Lady Tigers finished a surprising second in the SEC to National Champion South Carolina. This season only one of the four returners was a starter last year. Alexis Morris is a fifth year Senior who transferred prior to last season. The other three Ryann Payne, Emily Ward and Amani Bennett came off the bench. Payne, Ward and Bennett will still be in backup roles this year. The rest of the team is made up of transfers and true freshman. Mulkey, refortified this years team with some tremendous transfers. The number one transfer for 2022 is Sophomore Angel Reese from Maryland. Reese (6-3, Forward) is averaging 21 points and 14 rebounds a game. Ladazhia Williams, Flau’jae Johnson, Jasmine Carson, Kateri Poole and Sa’Myah Smith are a fantastic mix of top Freshman and transfer portal recruits brought in by Coach Mulkey.

Tiger Fans, these Lady Tigers are worth the ticket price to see this year. Mulkey’s Lady Tigers have sold over 5000 season tickets but in reality the Maravich Assembly Center should be sold out for each home game these Lady Tigers play. They are fun to watch. There is no quit in these Tigers no matter the score.

 

If the first three games are not enough to get you excited about what Coach Mulkey and new but old Assistant Coach Bob Starkey are doing right now on the court with these players, then the signing of the number one recruiting class (according to ESPN) for 2023 this past Wednesday ought to get you fired up. 

The Lady Tigers reeled in the top player in the country in Bossier City native (Parkway HS) Mikaylah Williams (6-0 guard). Joining her from The Webb School in Tennessee are teammates Aalyah Del Rosario (6-5 forward) and Angelica Velez (4 start guard). Geaux Lady Tigah’s!!!

 

MEN”S BASKETBALL

 

The LSU men’s hoops team is going to be just as fun to watch. They are taking a little longer to gel as evidenced by their 11 point victory over Kansas City and nine point margin of victory over Arkansas St. last week. But, the Tigers are undefeated at 2-0 in Head Coach Matt McMahon’s first season leading these Tigers. McMahon took a decimated team that literally had zero players on the roster when he said yes to being LSU’s next Head Coach. McMahon went to work putting together a formidable roster that started by re-recruiting three players to return. Guards Justice Hill and Adam Miller along with forward Mwani Wilkinson. 

The rest are either Freshmen or transfers from the portal. This Tiger basketball team will be fun to watch if they play like any of Coach McMahon’s prior Murray State Racers teams. Coach McMahon’s philosophy is that his players are tough, work hard, unselfish, accountable and joyful. He believes that if his players embrace these words and make them a way of life, then winning games and winning at life will be the end result. 

It’s the PROCESS.

 

Where have you heard that term before? 

 

Reading the bios and seeing the philosophies of the coaches for all the sports teams at LSU you get a similar picture. They all believe in a process and a plan. They all have a track record of winning for those who question whether or not they will have success at LSU. Mulkey proved her process works in her inaugural year last year. Kelly is proving it right now in his year one.

Why would anyone doubt Matt McMahon’s ball club won’t achieve success this year?

 

Just for good measure, throw in gymnastics and their number one recruiting class and the PMAC is going to be a rocking place this winter.

It’s time to get your season tickets to all three sports. Where is there a better place to be fired up on a winter day or evening than inside the PMAC cheering on the basketball teams or the gymnastics squad? These teams are sure to keep the fire stoked that the football team ignited on our passions as LSU TIGER FANS!

 

I say ... IT'S GREAT, TO BE, AN LSU TIGER