'It's just different at LSU': Why Kim Mulkey says playing at LSU isn't for everyone
The scenes last season following Kim Mulkey and her LSU women's basketball squad were a sight to behold.
Whether the Tigers were playing inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on campus in Baton Rouge, or in Oxford, Mississippi, Auburn, Alabama, or Albany, New York, fans were decked out in purple and gold, pleading Angel Reese, Flau'jae Johnson, Aneesah Morrow and the rest of the team for autographs courtside or by the team bus.
Mulkey likened the seam-bursting crowds to the Beatles Invasion in the 1960s.
LSU, picked to finish third in the SEC this season by the media and returning stars Johnson and Morrow both selected as preseason co-Players of the Year, expect much of the same this season. Mulkey said at SEC Media Days on the Paul Finebaum Show that the program is nearly sold out of season tickets for the second straight year.
"I think we have 200 more to sell and that's it. We're cutting it off," Mulkey said. "That speaks volumes again and that would be the second year in a row that's happened."
The Tigers, despite losing Reese to the WNBA, remain a hot ticket and a show that those around women's basketball want to see and follow.
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Johnson, who has won a national championship with Mulkey and LSU and was in the Elite Eight last season, said that all of the eyes do not bother her nor her teammates but rather motivates them to prepare to be the show that everyone wants to see.
"For me, I think it adds more of a will to prepare because you know you're going to get everybody's best shot," Johnson said. "You know you can't take an off day. You can't in the SEC anyway, it's so many great teams and every night is a dogfight. So it makes me want to be more prepared."
Morrow transferred in from DePaul before last season, a smaller mid-major school that doesn't have the following like LSU. She said initially it was eye-opening to her but she always wanted a role on a stage like what she's on with the Tigers.
"Seeing how you could hug somebody or sign somebody's shirt and they're literally crying over you, I feel like it's very eye-opening. You never know how much of an impact you can have on society or the younger generation," Morrow said.
The attention and the environments it creates give Mulkey and her staff a good jumping off point in who they recruit.
Because, as Mulkey put it, "it's just different at LSU."
"I say this all the time: If you don't want the spotlight on you, and you don't want to be a part of a big brand and branding, then LSU is not the place for you," Mulkey said. "Because not only women's basketball but in other sports as well, you can't run from it, you can't hide from it. We're the flagship university in the state. I've never seen anything like it.
"It's just different at LSU."
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Kim Mulkey says playing for LSU women's basketball isn't for everyone
