May 9: Angel Reese’s superstar week; Kim Mulkey’s retooled team

Advocate columnist Scott Rabalais and LSU beat writer Reed Darcey joins sports editor Perryn Keys to recap what has already been a busy week for Angel Reese (with the regular season yet to come!), as well as next year’s LSU roster; potential LSU Olympians and the baseball team’s weekend trip to Alabama.

Last Friday, Angel played her WNBA preseason opener without a TV audience, prompting a fan to livestream the game from her seat — drawing nearly 200,000 viewers in real time and almost 1 million since the upload. Angel later flew out for the Met Gala on Monday and returned in time to score 13 points in 19 minutes of the Chicago Sky’s final exhibition.

The guys discuss how this will be the new normal — for international celebrities like Reese, but also perhaps for women’s basketball. And Rab notes that perhaps e double-standard has existed for women, as fans rarely criticize male athletes for dabbling into show business.

Reed then goes through LSU’s five new additions to the 2024-25 women’s basketball roster and whether the Tigers might have a more complete team (barring injuries).

Rab then takes us through the LSU athletes who have already qualified for the Summer Olympics, as well as who’s up next. We also break down the Tigers’ final six baseball games and whether they can sneak into the NCAA tournament for a surprise run.

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0:00-Intro
4:00-Angel Reese in the big leagues … and on the red carpet
29:00-Kim Mulkey’s new-ish krewe: who plays point guard?
37:00-Looking ahead to the Summer Games in Paris
47:00-LSU baseball with another crucial weekend at Alabama

[Music] welcome to the LSU sports Insider brought to you by the journalist at the advocat nola.com in the times pyun p and key here hanging out with h it’s a three-person panel we’re back back to our original format with Scott rabet our venerable long time columnist in the middle and of course Reed Darcy here our LSU women’s basketball writer and LSU beat writer uh two are far right on your screen uh gentlemen welcome in how are you guys doing today doing well thank you I’m uh I’m just going to start off this show by saying uh I’ve only on my ex account formerly known as Twitter uh you know there’s a mechanism by which you can mute certain words and terms uh and I only have you know maybe like a half a dozen uh one of them is Bachelorette and the bachelor I just don’t want to see any of that nonsense on my timeline if it’s for you great but it’s not for me uh a couple of musicians who I’m not particularly fond of don’t care about it’s just not for me if it’s for you that’s fantastic too uh but another one of those terms is Met Gala and it has been that way for several years and if you would have given me every dollar that is circulating out there in the United States economy uh to bet that we would never have brought up the Met Gala on the LSU Sports Insider podcast I would have taken that bet and um Watch What Happens now so here we are we’re going to we’re going to discuss uh sometimes I underestimate how famous Angel Reese is well we’re going to get into that right good point it’s hardas easy to forget that is the uh that is the top topic for this week we will also of course get into uh not only angel Reese’s big week but the LSU women basketball program uh retooling and revamping we’re getting close to the Paris games too the Paris Summer Olympics and as always Louisiana has a uh will likely have a pretty meaty contingent uh going to the Summer Olympics but uh LSU in particular already has a few athletes qualified for the summer games with a few more here to come and so we will get into that as well and of course LSU baseball at Alabama we know the Tigers have work to do they had a big big weekend last weekend taking two out of three from Texas A&M and they had a fight uh to Rally to beat Northwestern State in their final midweek game on Tuesday so Alabama’s coming up followed by Old Miss we’ll see what the Tigers can do in terms of making sure that they get into Hoover and possibly getting in to the NCAA regionals uh but first a little bit of business as always if you’re tuning in are listening you already know that The Advocates uh always been the number one destination for LSU sports coverage so please uh if you haven’t joined the party join a party now uh subscribe to The Advocate uh and to do that of course you go to the advocate.com ssubscribe cribe uh and as always uh as evidenced by our list of topics today there’s always something uh there’s always something and more than one thing usually going on uh on campus at LSU there’s always plenty to uh to try to catch up on and stay up to date with and uh so to do that you can uh you can do it all in one place by getting our LSU LSU newsletter uh to do that you sign up at the advocate.com LSU newsletter that way you get all our headlines set straight to your phone to your desktop to your inbox including breaking news uh when uh when it’s important to send out some breaking news alerts uh so we will see uh what happens next uh but U until then we will be here on the LSU sports in cider every Monday and Thursday as per usual here live every Monday and Thursday uh and we’re on all our social channels specifically the YouTube channel LSU Tigers on.com if you search for LSU Tigers on.com on that YouTube channel you should be able to find it should be able to subscribe uh and that way you’ll never miss an episode you’ll catch us live uh if you don’t catch us live you can always catch us after the fact so please subscribe to that channel uh and or if you like to get your podcast in a more traditional way you can find us on Apple podcast Spotify wherever other finer podcasts are found just search for LSU sports Insider uh okay so gentlemen uh Angel ree has obviously left campus um she’s gone on to bigger and better things uh selected first round of course in the WNBA draft draft by the Chicago Sky uh and she’s had a big week um her preseason opener her first game as a first exhibition as a pro basketball player was Friday on Monday she Jets out on a private plane to the Met Gala in New York where she Wows the crowd on the red carpet and then the very next night on Tuesday 13 points and 19 minutes against the New York Liberty uh so it’s been a big week already and she has not played an actual official game yet so uh you know first things first um just as you said re you know this is this is maybe it’s easy and we’ll get into this a little bit deeper later on too but maybe it’s a little bit easy to forget that angel ree you know I I keep going back to this term and I know I’ve probably overused it but International Superstar MH you said it man it’s hard to underestimate just what an international Superstar she has become she is part of you know American pop culture she really is yeah and you’re starting to see I think now that she’s um a professional and she sort of doesn’t have to worry about school or class you know it sort of frees up more time to do this kind of stuff for her like go to the Met Gala um you know she she’s talked a lot about how she wants to you know get into the fashion industry get into um do do more modeling and I think as as she progresses with her WNBA career she’s going to have more time to do that um I think she just announced today a partnership with um some sort of fashion brand um where she has her own line of denim clothing I believe something like that so she’s um she’s really starting to you know grow her off off the court brand um in addition to what she is doing in the W and it and the W um her her W season starts pretty soon she first game is Wednesday so we’re all we’re all looking forward to watching that and seeing how she does RAB what uh what did your uh Financial portfolio look like at 21 years old not like that this this really is extraordinary though isn’t it I you know she did this at LSU but uh you know one of the many many many reasons she was in the news what just Little Nugget of news but uh just going to make sure that all our teammates get uh get a set of Beats Beats headphones because that’s obviously a brand is she’s part with she did that L even with the men’s basketball team right yeah she yeah she sent some to the men too so uh being a good teammate just like Livy Don is of course making sure that everybody gets a taste of what she’s uh got to offer but listen to popularity of Angel and Kaitlin Clark and camil cardoo uh who incidentally her teammate who is Sky Team Sky teammate now who of course is U bad braak for her she’s injured she’ll be out for probably a good 10 12 13 games uh but nonetheless these are all superstars who have come into the WNBA uh and we we seemingly have entered a new era not only for the WNBA but but for players like Angel who as I said are part of Pop Culture pop culture yeah this is going to be the interesting part to me uh obviously they can they’re great basketball players but is the following the fervor the the intense interest in uh these young ladies like Angel and Caitlyn camil and you know whoever else you want to mention is I going to follow them from college basketball to the WNBA I think that’s one of the things we may have talked about in this podcast or I’ve written about or whatever he is like you you know is Angel going to go pro or not is Caitlyn going to go pro or not well it might you know a factor might be there’s more exposure in college basketball there’s more there more games there’s more chance to be on television the ratings have been better and we’ve seen early on with with some just these preseason games the intense interest uh so uh yeah yeah are they going to continue to have the same generate the same uh endorsement dollars in the WNBA that they did in with nil and college because was such a new thing right we’re like how is this going to keep working and early on it looks like it will and the int intense interest is there to that end let me say the WNBA has appears to have dropped the ball out of turned it over out of bounds we will get we will get to that yeah go ahead go ahead bring it up I’m just you know this uh the and I know it’s preseason games and all that but they seem completely under underprepared to offer up even the potential for people to to watch and pay more attention Angel Reese’s first preseason game some fans sat in the stands and streamed it and they got over what over 400,000 views just on Twitter just one fans live stream on one fans live stream just on Twitter it was 170,000 live while the game was going on subsequently it got bumped you know 3 days 3 days after the fact whatever it wound up being 44 440 perform here 434,000 views yep it’s they’re up that that one feed people have gone back I’m sure they haven’t watch the game start to finish but nonetheless somebody has checked in on it almost one million times now and and that’s great and that’s cool in its own way but the WNBA should have been better prepared for this eventuality I was like hey you lik him in college you’re going to love him in the WNBA Cardoza won a 23 National Championship Angel ree won a uh excuse me Cardoza won a 22 National Championship card um Angel won a 23 National Championship Oh no I got that right I got I cardo won this year and played for the last national champions I’m all over the place today but but uh yeah no these are two two you know back-to-back reigning national champions with huge social followings and things of that nature and tan Ramirez our our great Deputy sports editor she came in on Friday saying I can’t believe this game’s not on anywhere and I will be perfectly honest with you I just sort until she said that I just sort of assumed that I was going to be able to click on ESPN Plus or something like you know hey this is you know what the world we’re living in now it’s you know you can get North Texas volleyball on ESPN Plus or whatever so you just assume it’s going to be somewhere and sure enough it wasn’t and boy yeah sure it sure looks for everything like they dropped the ball and it sure looks for every based on a conversation actually I had uh with somebody who would seemingly be in the know if you can believe this about WNBA and inor markings and everything it sure sounded for everything like they’re saying the right things about being ready but behind the scenes um I think the term mad scramble would be uh would be certainly um certainly in play right now Friday night I I was covering a high school playoff baseball game in Santa and there were more broadcast broadcast streams for that game than there were for Angel Reese’s pre preseason debut there were two streams for that game in the Press Box two different broadcast Cru which doesn’t entirely surprise me that there are multiple ways people can watch a high school baseball playoff game you know in Louisiana where is it’s a big sport but just like you’re trying to you you’re trying to grow the sport and gain market share and improve everything and it’s like and and we’ve seen some of this some of the teams are like oh we need to move this game to the bigger Arena and I know the Las Vegas Aces we’re we Nikki right fargas LSU coach is the is the team president they moved from their traditional Arena to a bigger Arena t- mobile where the NHL arena when when Indiana and Caitlyn Clark com to play smart move right uh but but that’s by a team this is not this is I’m talking about the WNBA overall prepared angel I I uh there’s a story up on Angel and you know the the Whirlwind week she’s had it’s up at espn.com and she said I haven’t gone back to check this but she but Angel herself said that you know obviously Baltimore native and you know they call it the DMV DC Maryland Virginia that’s as close as is she’s going to get to home uh she said that when the sky go play was you know the Washington Mystics that they’re going to move to the Wizards Arena you know the what used to be called the MCI Center downtown so there it’s more than just one case of that happening so anyway I’m sorry go ahead yeah no no the those are good moves I’m not saying they’re doing everything bad but this seems like more moves by the individual franchises now the WNBA overall there should be a better cohesive overall strategy like hey remember remember them you can watched them here I mean I would have watched Angel Rees play I had no idea to go look s St for their phone and there has been some Intrigue as to whether you know her and Caitlyn you know all the Vets kind of want a piece of the young rookie and you know is she gonna is her offensive game developed and stuff like that so I I don’t mind telling you I was curious to see I you know I think she’s going to have a place in the game for a long time and for no other reason the fact that you always need a good rebounder and you know she one of the best offensive rebounders there is and just just to highlight some positive developments as well you know instead of piling on here WNBA they’re GNA have charter flights this season which which is a big deal it’s first time in League’s history that every team is going to um be using charter flights um that’s a real positive development for the players and the teams there are videos um you know videos from a couple weeks ago of kitlin Clark just walking through the airport of course she’s surrounded by security and fans are coming up to her like taking videos of her and it’s like all right this is not these players are too famous for this they’ve outgrown a flying commercial you know they they can so the charter flights is going to help a lot um they’re working on a new TV deal they’re trying to get um a new broadcast deal and then supposedly that’s going to be for a much larger sum of money than the previous one and that will help um you know raise the salary cap raise the level of pay for these players so there are positive developments you know in terms of expansion as well there there’s rumored to add a couple more teams in the next few years that will help the roster crunch you know the overall size of of of the league um so there are positive developments that players like Angel and Caitlyn are helping the league um get to that are sort of long long overdue that they’re sort of helping Drive the league forward and Disney ABC ESPN have noticed this you you know there for years and years and years you were never going to see a w even the finals you were never going to see the WNBA on ABC on big ABC and that does happen now too so and you’re right the the notion I mean I I don’t mind telling you guys I was kind of just shocked and amazed that ESPN and whoever else is catching Caitlyn Clark just coming out of the airp you know coming out of the airport you know you’re per walking your biggest you know your biggest superstar uh or one of your biggest Superstars and this you know let’s let’s let’s not do that right um so this is this is going to be interesting to watch I’m I think we’re all going to be at least keeping a half an eye on this as we go down the road I’ll certainly be tuning in uh and we’ll we’ll keep everybody up to date obviously on how Angel is going to do and um you know it’s it’s it’s something else and it’s not for nothing but it’s kind of nice to have somebody who’s got a local tie who’s back in the wa making ways because obviously LSU had Simone and Sylvia Simone Augustus and Sylvia FS all that time and uh there was always a reason to sort of keep tabs on the Minnesota links and whoever else uh and so now you’re you know as those careers are have reached their end uh you’ve got another another headliner PlayOn as well she won a WNBA title or to sorry Teresa playance Teresa playance Christy sides Louisiana native who’s coaching in the WNBA coaching Caitlyn Clark in the WNBA Louisiana Tech uh grad and incidentally uh that brings us to one of our NE next topics which is uh another latte Legend uh who is uh Angel Reese’s coach Teresa Weatherspoon uh I think we’re all pretty familiar with Teresa she obviously spent some time uh on the New Orleans Pelican staff and was one of the not for nothing but uh that was she was one of the players who uh excuse me one of the coaches who Zion really really respected and and wanted to uh wanted to make proud and things of that nature and again this probably should not come as any kind of surprise but Teresa Weatherspoon played for Kim Moi at latte uh WNBA Legend four-time Champion with the Comets five-time Allstar uh in the naith Hall of Fame you know says everything you you need to know uh and so that’s Angel’s coach up in Chicago and she has said that she feels right at home uh with Teresa feels like a mother and again this is not going to be a surprise because ter Teresa in many respects Teresa and Kim are kind of cut from the same cloth uh strict disciplinarian we’re not going to let you get away with any nonsense uh as our own our own former dep Deputy sports editor Raina Kemp can tell you Raina played for uh played for Teresa at latch and so um this feels like it’s it’s this feels like a you know she said it’s the perfect place for her to be she kind of has to say that because you’re not going to say I can’t believe what a what a short you know what a short stick I I got here but certainly on the surface this looks like a good place for her to wind up yeah and we’re going to have a story up on the advocate.com next week um just about Teresa Weatherspoon and and how um how she’s gotten to this point and how sort of she’s sort of been influenced by Leon barmore and Kim muli um keep in mind she followed Kim mili at Louisiana Tech it was her job to fill the shoes of Kim mki after Kimi graduated and so that was um no easy task let’s just say that um and so yeah she was sort of forged in the same fires that angel Reese you know was was formed in because um she played for kimok and Leon barmore and then so barmore Leon barmore influenc Kim Moi it’s sort of she she sort of coaches like as much as Leon barmore as she can today so Angel ree grew up in that same environment that sort of um that same coaching ethos that um Teresa Weatherspoon um was sort of coached in when she was at Louisiana Tech so they they both know exactly what to expect from each other I think because they were sort of raised in those same environments and so that that’s why I think it’s such a good fit uh and Teresa I thought it was you know listen Teresa in in many like himim uh yet again in in this respect where she’s as old school coach as there can possibly be Rana used to tell us all the stories about how you know she would just crush him in PL crush him in practice you know along the lines of like well you’re know you’re not going to die in practice you’ll pass out before you die keep going um and uh and so you know you’re not going to take anything off of Teresa um and um that’s you know seemingly Angel has responded to hard coaching from Kim Moy before um and um seems to thrive on that but also I think it’s a credit to Teresa and a Kim uh that they are they have found a way maybe because they recognize that angel is this is serious business basketball is still serious business to her she’s still trying to get this career uh off the off the tracks but she Teresa allowed Angel to leave practice early on Monday take a private playe to the Met Gala and come back and play a game a lot of Old School coaches and and you know maybe she understands that this is you know you kind of have this is sort of the deal this is the modern deal with modern athletes but nonetheless uh for her to have that understanding and for them to have that understanding already right away that she’s going to be doing multiple things and she is going to continue to be capable of doing multiple things I think that very very interesting and and certainly a good sign for Angel and Teresa for that matter I if people are put arms about that I think they’re not not taking me with the modern View and and and I’m I have to be drag Kicking and Screaming into the modern view sometimes myself but um it’s still it’s people criticize the angel for going to this it’s it’s still preseason for one thing and second of all uh she’s shown a great ability to compartmentalize at LSU you know to to the to do the the the modeling and the and the endorsements and the the photo shoots and and still you know play you if if you if you is there any question about whether Angel’s playing hard on the on the Flor or not you you know you sell if you sell her competitiveness short you do so at your peril because she you you can’t watch her play and see that ability to go for the the second the third the fourth rebound on one on one possession and and not think that she’s uh you know always playing hard so I I think I think people are kind of it’s it’s wrong to look at angel Reese through the through the old school lens you have to look at her through the new school lens and and I think uh they’re they’re they’ve shown that’s showing early on that they’re handling her in the right way and I think she’ll respond in kind you know with the kind of effort that you want to see when when it’s time to tip the ball up she’s going to be there you know 100% speaking of which uh you know you were discussing how this may be you know the it appears for everything that the WNBA is on the precipice of a you know a big sort of breakout um and we discuss how Angel really is that big of an International Celebrity uh well you know she said again also at this uh on the uh story that was uh up on espn.com uh she expects to see Usher Courtside uh they you know they they met at the Met G or they talked at the Met Galla they knew each other previously uh same with cardi B they obviously know each other uh having having worked together before um and so she expects that they’ll be Courtside that this is going to be you know this will be a place it’s this is not just uh the old the old time you know this is not like back in the 80s RAB which you remember where it was you know the celebrities only showed up for the Lakers game court side at the old Forum uh this is this is going to be a thing she said uh I know some people y’all might think I don’t know um which is OB I mean listen it’s obviously true she’s said the make but you know again in that same story I you know it was telling and it sort of goes back to what we say which is you know hey you hitting the clubs after you know you you know where you know where we partying after the Met gal like man I’m taking this plane back and I’m watching film on the way on the on the ride home I got stuff to do and Reed you you know you mentioned this you touched on this you had a great story during the season about fla J and about how she is every bit the multitasker she leaves gets on a you know bus that takes her to a plane to go do a show in Atlanta and comes right back this is this is a new day and you know so far these two young ladies are one are two of many who are showing that yes no I can have a career doing this and I can have a career doing that and I can be really really good at both of them yep and I’ve got the time and I’m going to make the time and like Angel said she’s going to maximize her 24 hours um you know it sort of like just shows you how hard they work you I don’t I couldn’t imagine doing all that having all that on my shoulders and um you know doing all that in a span of 24 hours but um it’s her moment and she’s going to she’s going to spend her time how she wants to spend it but doesn’t all this speak again to the challenge that women still face in in in in the sports world or the professional world that Michael Jordan going off doing a shoe commercial with [ __ ] Ley or a McDonald’s commercial with Larry Bird or something like that no one thought twice of it but oh my God he endorsed everything too yeah yeah but clutch the pearls Angel Reese Went to went to the Met Gala or Angel Reese did this and it’s like you know women can can multitask too and and still be effective competitors and still give their all to their team in a way that you never even thought about that with Michael Jordan or Larry Bird or or you know pick an athlete pick a male athlete and and it’s it’s all this stuff you know with you know with with you know with Caitlyn Clark and you know and Angel and Kim Moi and it’s like you know it’s like all of a sudden you know these are as prominent athletes you know as you said pop culture and in in society and the sports landscape as as there are you know rivaling any any and all men’s athletes you want to think about for for that kind of attention and uh and and and scrutiny certainly and that comes with it you know you know more scrutiny comes with you know more Fame come comes with more scrutiny but uh uh it’s like this is an adjustment period and these these women are at The Cutting Edge of this and of course people unfortunately kind of get beat up when they’re on The Cutting Edge of things like this um a RAB I got to say it’s an excellent point uh one frankly that I maybe did not all think all the way through until you said something about it but it makes all the sense in the world would you have been surprised nobody was surprised if and when Michael Jordan showed up at a you know Ringside at a prize fight or decked out in his Tu at the Oscars or some such you know whatever it is and to to take it a little bit farther this is a little bit apples and oranges but how many times we heard you know when you’re talking about a u a team an athletic team of male athletes um you know there’s there are two teams uh in Las Vegas now the in the Raiders and the uh Vegas golden knights uh well the golden knights might have got him you know got this visiting team and beat him and upset him because was especially in the golden kns first year when we didn’t realize how good they were because of the Vegas flu the visiting team came in that night had a good old time out there on the strip and paid the price for it the next day it didn’t exactly play in tiptop shape or the French Quarter flu you know which I’m sure the Pelicans have benefited from sometimes if not if not more than once so nobody really was surprised when something like that would happen and again we were talking about male athletic teams and oh well hey you know they got ripped you know last night nobody really knows about it but guess what well hey boys will be boys or something of that effect maybe I’m taking that a little bit too far but I’m not entirely sure that I am um the the party scene is Alive and Well in men’s sports and men’s leagues uh wherever we go and so uh really in in a double standard is what you’re saying yes that’s exactly right and in some ways you know in a lot of ways how is this different if anything Angel is showing that she’s more uh responsible or tending to be more responsible by not going out to party in New York after the Met Gala and taking that private plane home and not you know as I say getting ripped you know she she had business and she’s just getting a career started so good for her for for staying on business uh this is the LSU sports Insider brought to you by the journalist at the advocat nola.com in the times piun you know where to find all writers great work that’s at the advocate.com and nola.com Please Subscribe if you have not joined the party as I said uh we don’t get ripped either we we we bring it every day we’re professionals uh so please stay with us support your local journalists And subscribe if you haven’t have not uh go to the advocate.com ssubscribe uh whether that’s in print or digital please uh subscribe to the LSU newsletter uh it’s a daily newsletter RAB handles that personally three times a week uh you can get all the latest headlines delivered straight to your inbox to your phone to your desktop uh that way you don’t have to go searching all over the Internet for uh LSU headlines you get all the best coverage and the latest coverage sent straight to your inbox because who covers LSU better than us that’s correct more completely who’s got it better than us nobody nobody nobody covers The Advocate nobody covers LSU like The Advocate does and that’s always been the case of course uh so sign up for our LSU newsletter go to the advocate.com LSU newsletter uh here on the LSU sports Insider we are here every Monday and Thursday on uh we’re on Apple podcast Spotify wherever other finer podcasts are found just please search for LSU sports Insider And subscribe follow along uh and we’re uh we’re here on all our social channels specifically the YouTube channel LSU Tigers on nola.com please search for LSU Tigers on.com on YouTube should be able to find our Channel subscribe you can catch us live you’ll catch us catch us every episode uh and if you don’t catch us live of course you can catch us after the fact on that same YouTube channel uh so uh moving along a little bit um we’re still talking women’s basketball uh we talked about this uh I guess last week RAB uh but uh this is our first chance to to discuss it with you uh Reed LSU brings in three transfer guards yes in addition to having already had Jersey wolfenberger who they uh who they got committed during the season during the postseason and so that’s four transfers in addition of J reard who’s coming in from Lafayette Christian it’s a revamped look it’s not a completely it’s not a total rebuild but it is a you know as you would suspect every year u a a reshaping of the LOLOL uh and this may we don’t know yet but this may um because you don’t necessarily have Superstars you’re trying to force into a new position and things of that nature they may come out ahead on this we don’t know yet but uh if you would just sort of go down you know give us a you know 15 seconds on each of these uh three guards coming in and what they may or may not be able to do for LSU first one is sh cheyen day Wilson um she started her career at Duke then transferred to Miami spent one season there um and now she’s at LSU she’s a rising senior um she’s the most experienced guard out of the bunch she started 71 career games um that’s more than um LSU the other LSU guards combined um more career starts um she you know I think she’s probably you know if if I ran a sports book I I would probably give her the best odds to start right away um just because she’s got the experience um and she’s also a really good shooter last year she shot um around 37 38% on her three-pointers took about five a game um I think overall half of her total field attempts were threes um so that that’s going to be a positive thing for LSU to have a a point guard who can really space the floor and knock down catch and shoot threes um so so I think that’s probably what she’ll bring to the table and she’ll you know can sort of playmake and sort of space the floor off of [ __ ] Johnson and Michaela Williams and Ana moru um and just let them let them be the main engines of offense and sort of uh space the floor um so I think I think she I think LSU fans are going to going to like her she um her shooting mechanics are really clean really consistent base um you know really repeatable form um so yeah I think she’s going to be good Kaylin Gilbert um she is a rising Junior she spent two years at Arizona um she scored about 15 points a game but she shot only like 42% um she was she was Arizona’s leading scorer she she always had the ball in her hands um she she did a lot of her scoring off the dribble um you know LSU she’s going to have to tailor her game to become more of a complimentary scorer I think especially if she comes off the bench maybe you could see her um sort of lift up those bench units and provide that spark Off the Bench um then there’s Miracle Shepard she’s a rising sophomore from Mississippi State really long really active Defender yes um you can tell I I think kimok is is going to like how she defends um against LSU she had five steals I think when when Mississippi Mississippi State beat LSU in January um she had five steals in four games of her freshman year so she’s really long she’s really good at um getting in the passing lanes and then getting deflections and causing turnovers so it’s sort of like when you take the three of those guards they are sort of all bring a sort of a different type of game to LSU and so kimok and her staff when they sort of figure out the rotation closer to the season they’re going to have a lot of different tools to to work with there um and so there’s a lot of Versatility a lot of different skill sets that they provide so uh we know that uh four of five four of LSU’s five presumed starters next year are just about as good as you could ever hope for Ana Morrow fla J Johnson Michaela Williams Somaya Smith we presume somi Smith will be back in the starting lineup the big million-dollar question though of course is who plays point guard and how does that backourt shake out it certainly seems like it’s going to be a lot deeper uh and perhaps you know again just as you say maybe the roles are a little bit better defined you let’s just call it what it is you don’t have Haley Haley van lith playing out of position um an experiment that kind of work but kind of didn’t so what does the back court look like well I think like I said I think probably if I had to guess right now cheye Wilson is probably the favorite to start just because of her experience but you can’t forget about last year po last year PO is still on the roster um so it wouldn’t totally shock me if um she’s the starter from day one because she’s got the experience in Kim moi’s system right Kim Moi spent a lot of time talking about this year you know Haley van lith she she had a lot of college experience but she didn’t have experience in kimi’s system and that really comes into play when you when you really ask them um to defend you know and if if you can’t defend you know according to kimi’s principles and if you can’t fit into that sort of defensive approach um then it’s going to be tough for you to get a prominent role in the rotation and so I think last tier POA what she has working for her you know she’s not going to shoot the ball as efficiently as cheye Wilson um but she will defend you know and she does have the experience in kamoki system next year will be her third year in it so one of the most experienced players on the roster one of the only two or three players who are left from the national championship team so you can’t forget about her um she’s going to be in line for a big role whether she starts or or comes off the bench um and then I think she’ll have to compete with kayin Gilbert um and Miracle Shepard for for minutes such an interesting way LSU has uh filled the holes on this year’s roster compared to last year’s last year they signed the number one recruiting class in the country led by Michaela Williams and Elia Del Rosario and Angelica valz who’s now now transferred to Syracuse Syracuse thank you and uh and then of course you brought in the top two transfers in Hala vanith and Ana Morrow this year you got Jay Rashard who was the Louisiana gorade player of the year but they went after these top five players and didn’t get any of them the top five recruits in the country and everybody’s like oh they they got shot out and and and that’s true but they have stars returning not Angel ree obviously but but FJ Johnson who we saw just really played you could say she played better than anyone in the postseason yeah absolutely yeah on Els she’s team Michaela Williams who should be even better and let’s not forget Somaya Smith she was looking really good before she got hurt like she was just about to turn that corner in the pre-conference play and Anisa Morrow is is an All-American and so you have star power on the team so what did they lack last year well good good consistent point guard play and bench scoring how many games they get they got nothing or next to nothing Off the Bench offensively they’re going to go I mean read is it you think it’s is it is it um unrealistic to expect that they’re going to play eight or nine players next season yeah I think the rotation you know in terms of the number of players that they use is probably going to be about the same because kimuli wants to use eight or nine players regardless of you know the depth she has on a roster once you get an SEC play that’s how it’s going to shake out um but the hope is is that you don’t lose two of your scholarship players sort of at the start of the season right um so if which is what happens year yeah which is what happen last year so if if that doesn’t happen this year again then they’ll have a much deeper team um but again they’re they’re hovering right around the same number of scholarship players they had right at the start of last year so if you lose two of those players then you’re right in the same boat yeah c p is the other player he’s he’s we we’re referring to say yeah if everyone stays healthy and is able to you know keep keep going throughout the season uh you know there’s no reason this can’t be another you know final four contending team once again especially those players like I said FL particularly fla J and Michaela continue to to Blossom but just got to get some some score you know they never had a game they never had a game last year where you had oh they got 23 points Off the Bench or anything like that never right you know and and what was the big difference between them and South Carolina South Carolina just brought a second wave in of players and then just they just kept going so it’s going to be interesting to see in of course this newly expanded SEC where Oklahoma comes in as uh off a big 12 championship and Texas comes in off a final eight uh run as well um it’s going to be even news flash the SEC is going to be really tough this year in a sport in women’s basketball and South Carolina will probably will they be the preseason number one I would imagine so probably so yeah so but else you’ll be in the top 10 there somewhere I would imagine and and and deser because you start as preseason number one does not mean you finished there for sure that is for sure yeah well uh let’s uh as we continue to sort of you know go around the horn um between now and basketball season between now and football season there’s going to be a a fairly large event happening happening off uh in Paris France and um as usual LSU Andis I the Olympic fan Fair please no we’ll add that in later um as as usual LSU and Louisiana will have should have a pretty pretty healthy contingent uh of athletes who are going to the Paris games we know that Kristen n and Kristen nus and Taran cloth uh the the two uh beach the beach volleyball tandem uh from LSU they were already theyve already headed to Paris and as we’ve discussed they’ll be playing them you know with the best backdrop in the world maybe uh maybe even even of all time right behind the Eiffel Tower uh M deplis of course uh representing Sweden uh but obviously born and raised in Lafayette LSU guy um uh world record holder in the pole vault there is no chance that he won’t be in Paris uh and we assume uh as you rightly said RAB we assume Maggie mcneel from Canada the swimmer in the 100 fly attempting for a repeat gold medal she is not qualified yet but that is really just little more than a formality uh back home in Canada for her so who else is who else is on the who else is on the docket who’s coming up real quick Rob I don’t think you’re very excited for this you’re not you’re not looking forward to this not not excited at all just another trip no no no not at all no it’s it’s really cool I’m going to be covering the Olympics so we’re going to be focusing on the Louisiana contingent the LSU contingent of athletes and uh and and try to bring you all all those stories and and working on stories right now leading up to the games but yeah as you said Mond D PL just basically has to show up uh you he’s the world record holder uh he just broke his his own world record for the eighth time uh in in a meet in China 20 feet five and a half I interviewed his brothers my a side real quick uh uh uh Andreas who was also a PO alter at LSU and and Twan and Twan who is the LSU alltime leading hitter uh they both work for maruchi now and I went to talk to them with the maruchi headquarters down the street from us the other day and I asked Andreas how how high can he go do you think he said he could get to 21 feet which is just astounding I mean it’s mind-blowing it’s it’s it’s a Highwire act for sure an event so you but only twice in the Olympics has someone broken the world record at the Olympics Yeah you mentioned that stat to me the other day which really shot me I just assumed bka you know would have done it two or three times happened 19 19 20 and in 1980 um and 1980 it was a Polish it certainly wasn’t American we a pol it was an American in 1920 but there was a Polish po Walter uh whose name I I cannot don’t I cannot even attempt to pronounce on on the air but uh uh Christen nus and tan cloth they’re the number two team in the world they are not officially uh on yet but theyve amassed enough points where they are in so I don’t know why they don’t just make it official but that’ll come in about a month and they just finished second in a big Tournament down in Brazil Ayah fenan LSU gymnast who won the NCA floor title and of course was the anchor on beam that clenched the national championship for LSU she was going to represent the Philippines a similar situation to Mondo where she’s from the United States she’s from Kansas City but uh her mother is from the Philippines and so she is eligible to represent them uh at the games uh and then um a couple of other swimmers uh Jerry rebar I love that name from Croatia and uh yavon Lei from Bosnia and heroina they’re both L swimmers they’re going to go and hel tuxen uh wasn’t able to totally confirm that but she should be on the team a diver from Norway then now we got a bunch of Trials coming up and this is where it’s going to get interesting for some people Conor mlan another LSU gymnast the SEC beam Champion she was the US national champion two years ago in the the the biggest US meet that was the last time she competed in Elite um she’s trying to make the US team which is only the hardest team in the world to make in any in any sport uh then we have um uh uh you know a bunch of other track people Aaliyah Hobbs uh Javon Harrison of course Shakari Richardson again you assume Shakari Richardson the world champion in the hundred to make it but you got to make it on time that’s listen if the Olympic trials are going on and you have the flu yeah that’s a tough break but that’s or if you fall start twice you know coming out of the block and you geted you never know and and in an event like the 100 and she’s she’s also probably going to do relay she may try to run another four 4 by one right yeah and she may try to run the the 200 or something like that as well so multiple ways for Shakari to get on the team but um yeah it’s us us track trials are no joke yes that’s right it’s top three and that’s it so uh you know so a bunch of those athletes from elu we expect to to to make it through Maggie mcneel you mentioned she’s in the um Canadian swimming trials next week and then uh Brooks Curry we can’t forget about him for now former LSU swimmer who’s training professionally and Neil skupsky I’d throw his name in and Neil skupsky uh former LSU tennis player from Great Britain won The Wimbledon Men’s doubles title last year right and uh now that was with a with a teammate from another country so he’s got to find a British teammate to go to compete with in Paris but I I would expect that we’re going to see him at Roland Goos is that is that I didn’t occur to me but you know of course why else would why else why would it be anywhere else if you’re going to be Paris exactly well that’s uh so there’s plenty we got a we’ve got a u LSU baseball may or may not uh take us deep into the summer but if they don’t we’ve got plenty to look forward to uh in terms of stuff happening in a summer when it’s usually dead so everybody’s looking forward to the Olympics I know that uh some people don’t get jazzed up about it until it’s there and we can we can fill an airplane hanger with all the issues that we that anyone individual might have with the ioc but uh I’ll be the first to tell you that uh when when the games actually start up themselves uh particularly track which you know I’m a big track and field fan you get to the second week it’s tough to beat people pay attention it was a funny aside Antoine twani is he’s director of professional sales for maruchi so he had gone to Chicago recently where where another former El baseball player will be making his major league debut on Saturday Paul for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Chicago Cubs uh you like what took so long but uh he said he was on the plane talking to someone and mentioned he was you Mondo’s brother and stuff he said oh is he still competing and he said with with great restraint to yes he he just said a world record you know last week by the way you and I have talked about this but how would you like to be Antoine deanis alltime hits leader at LSU this is LSU the LSU baseball program it’s not some you know midlevel uh you know M baseball program how would you like to be antoan de planis and be the worst athlete in your family there all amazing athletes for people don’t know Mom and Dad Greg and Helena were were were track athletes at LSU is those three brothers andreus 20 and mondo and then their their younger sister is on the LSU track team right now she’s a PO vter right they can all pull Vault even an I said what’s your PR said H 145 or something like that that’s ridiculous it’s ridiculous not bad you know ridiculous oh they’re they’re an insane athletic family just it’s just off the charts yeah we’ll get to this certainly I’m sure as we go down to the summer games but you and I we’re talking off air uh about how you you until you actually really start thinking about it and then once you do you say absolutely yeah you’re right that sort of quietly pole vaulting you have to have the most the widest array of skills I think maybe more so than any you know you’ve got to be strong upper body lower body you’ve got to be fast you’ve got to have great hand eye coordination you got to have all these things to do everything just right concentration you got be flexible that’s right great concentration I I asked uh Andreas it takes the same number of Step 20 steps same same you you know you kind of figure that but you know you don’t really watch it but you same same number of steps on every run and then the pole lowering that PO run and and and uh we’re get right in the story I’m going to be doing next week on on mandoo his technique to try to keep the pole from oscillating too much he’s got a special technique that gives him I don’t know why more people don’t do it the way he describes it but anyway um yeah it’s uh no it’s it’s a tremendous number of SK and then just having the guts to get up there 20t off the ground you know climb a ladder that’s 20t high and then look down yeah and then look down yeah something else really is something else we should also before we get out of here we should also mentioned Haley van lith she’s got a chance to um got a chance to earn earn one of the four spots on the Team USA three 3 three sorry 3v3 um Olympic team that’s going to be headed to she was on the world team last year that won the gold medal in uh in Vienna and so you figured she’s got a great shot I think she was on the team with who’s the center from Stanford Cameron Brink camon BR and uh uh you know it’s it’s going to be interesting how so that’s got a play in her favorite she’s done everything they ask her of course she’s now at TCU but it’s going to be an interesting place and and if I can throw in one thing about about Paris you the city you know they’re blending the history and the culture beach volleyball is going to be right at by the Eiffel Tower their Stadium uh three on3 basketball will be on an outdoor court at the plasa Concord which happens to be where Marie andette was beheaded no kidding yes that’s where they’re going to compete let them be cake let them let them win a medal and then they’ll be cake after the battal round yes moving on um before we get out of here we we do have to discuss LSU baseball at Alabama we we’ve obviously we had K Riley here on the podcast several times the last couple weeks uh huge weekend for LSU uh couldn’t couldn’t finish off the sweep they ran out of they ran out of pitching pretty fast there on Sunday but uh two big big big wins over number one Texas A&M which gives them a shot it gives them a shot uh you know it depends on who you listen to and depends on which which uh selection committee projection uh projection and and you know which year which you know well you look at this year you know yeah a certain Year’s selection committee they valued this over that and things of that nature but I I would for everything I would I would sort of M we talked about 13 is the absolute minimum 13 Conference win is the absolute minimum you can have uh and and have decent hopes of trying to get into the NCAA tournament uh they need to go uh what six uh excuse me four- two over their final six games to get to 13 wins would really be good if you could get to 14 wins and then you feel really good about your prospects but if you get to 13 maybe make a you know Make Some Noise once you get to Hoover in the SEC tournament then you know by the way you’ve got a pretty decent RPI it’s in the 20s now and your LSU and that that does count for something in college baseball so uh listen they go to Alabama this week Alabama’s no joke they’re in the top 25 RPI uh 630 p.m. thir uh excuse me 6:30 6 o’clock Friday 4 o’clock Saturday 1 o’clock Sunday uh and then they finish up with old Miss which is in a very similar position at their end um it’s they’ve got to win four out of six probably well they have to win four out of six for sure to get to 133 uh five out of six would be something that they haven’t done to this point this season uh but that would put them in great shape uh you know RAV you saw these guys last weekend what do you make out of all this how do they how do they how do they Stack Up what are their chances the they’re playing better of late for for sure and obviously the A&M win is uh that was at home but it was a good series win as you said they ran out of pitching on on Sunday and lost 14 to4 but U still still a serious win against against the uh a team that’s a lock to be a top eight National seed in Texas A&M but uh you know it yeah I mean it’s it’s do out as Jay Johnson said going into the series they’re in playoff mode already and that included uh there was a big wins they just scraped by against Northwestern State on Tuesday night where they got the two-run home run from Jones uh from beay Jones late in the game to pull that one out because that’s that would have been a bad loss to a team with whose RPI is in the 170s or something like that um yeah you mentioned 13 wins and then 13 wins in the SEC is no guarantee that you only about 40% of the time maybe not quite that the team with 13 wins makes the NCA tournament but they have the RPI and now they’ve got some quality wins to to put on the wall if they don’t get to 13 wins they have to win the SEC tournament and I give them no shot of that with with the the the lack of pitching that they can depend on so uh it’s yeah it’s two out of three at Alabama and or and if you only take one at Alabama you got to sweep Old Miss which they haven’t swept anyone this year so it’s uh most of the projections we’re talking about U have LSU first four out or right on the cus not in so they’ve got have work to do and sometimes I wonder if LSU the name LSU helps them or is like so much is expected of LSU in baseball that that they might be held to a higher standard by MERS yeah I might be found to be wrong completely wrong on this but I happen to think that in a in this particular situation um that the name LSU does them good because if you’re the NCAA you want them in you want them traveling to Regional X and spending a little bit of money and and and you know there for for whatever this means for TV and online streaming you know they all see the SEC network was surprised by the number of people who you know the first year that they did streaming you know SEC network plus they were surprised by all the LSU fans who tuned in found a way to start working their Smart TVs and things of that nature so the fans travel as well they travel that’s right so it wouldn’t surprise me I mean you remember listen it’s a small stadium and everything this is going all the way back to 2010 when they went to UCLA had to go to the UCLA for the Regionals and you know I’ll be damned if there wasn’t a a small but strong contingent uh traveling all the way out to Los Angeles which must have just blown away the UCLA fans who used to putting 200 people in his stands righta but they but they were there you know and then Jackie Robinson Stadium they had to install extra porta potties and stuff like that if I’m not mistaken and temporary stands and all that so if you’re the NCAA selection Community or the NCAA in general I think you want to give them the benefit of the doubt uh but I hadn’t thought about that that RAB that maybe if you’re you know in a given year if you’re LSU and you’re sort of on the on on the bubble in terms of Hosting or on the bubble getting an NCAA Super Regional or something like that being one of the top eight seeds it’s it’s I hadn’t thought about that but I would still think that they would probably get the benefit of the doubt because you know NCAA doesn’t want to say no to money I would think but maybe you’re right maybe maybe they and the flip side of that is they do get in um you know it’s it’s not the team they had last year obviously but if you’re Indiana State or East Carolina or somebody else who’s hosting one of these 16 first 16 regionals you there’s going to be a collective grown yeah great they sent LSU to here as a three seed thanks a lot and of course the the the rally and cry for LSU and its fans uh should they make it into the Regionals the rally and cry of course would be hey look what om Miss did that one year you know barely made it in they were the last team in and went all the way to Omaha and won it do we expect that to happen no uh no but hey look that’s that’s that is I haven’t caned my rooms yet in Omaha cancel the rooms just looking looking forward to a nice fat steak I know you uh well I’m sorry but we have to keep RAB G fully employed and that’s that’s one of the things that we have to deal with is his travels and his food recommendations and things of that nature I will not allow you you if you go to incidentally if you go to Paris and you go to the damn Cheesecake Factory you’re getting fired Cheesecake Factory don’t I did make him go to one in Albany though we did go to one in Alban New York you go get some food or something Easter Sunday nothing was open so I was like all all right we give you half a pass on it I can’t you know what I can’t say anything cuz I met my wife uh on a Fourth of July uh there was nothing else open so we went to Chili’s and she was working there next yeah next thing you know we’re cool married 20 years so uh we we will wrap it up there because I’m sure nobody cares about our Al lives and our eating habits so uh we will leave it at that we will come back Monday with a fresh episode of the LSU sports Insider uh again as always please join the party please subscribe to The Advocate to do that you go to the advocate.com Subscribe uh and sign up for our LSU newsletter uh you know as we say there’s always something going on at LSU even in the summertime when it’s starting to get slow while we have the Olympics this year so there’ll be plenty to catch up on uh get all the headlines delivered straight to your inbox uh sign up for the LSU news newsletter at the advocate.com LSU newsletter we are here every Monday and Thursday as I say on the LSU sports Insider on all our social channels specifically the YouTube channel LSU Tigers on.com uh if you search for LSU Tigers on.com on YouTube should be able to find it you should be able to find the uh Channel subscribe to it you’ll never miss another episode you will catch us live on Mondays and Thursdays and if you don’t catch us live you can always catch us after the fact and of course we are also on Apple podcast Spotify wherever other finer podcast are found give us a festar rating on Apple if you like if you would and please tell a friend uh that’ll help us find more LSU fans it’ll help more LSU fans find us uh again LSU sports Insider on Apple podcast and Spotify re Dary Scott rabet it’s been a pleasure gentlemen and for ailia cotton behind the glass parent Keys here this is the LSU sports Insider