It’s official! For the second year in a row, coach Kim Mulkey and the LSU women’s basketball team will enter March Madness as a No. 3 seed. In the 2024 version, the Tigers will take on Rice in the first round of what is already shaping up to be one of the more difficult regions: Regional 2 in Albany.
First round matchup for Coach Kim Mulkey and LSU women’s basketball
The regular season is over. The SEC Tournament Championship came and went. Now, only one thing matters as far as the women’s college basketball season goes. It’s time for the 2024 Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament.
As the Selection Show slowly comes to a close this evening, we can now end projection season and begin prepping for the the No. 3 LSU women’s basketball March Madness matchup against the AAC Champion No. 14 Rice (19-14) for the first round of the Regional 2 in Albany.
Rice – led by head coach Lindsay Edmonds and talented forward Malia Fisher – managed to win the AAC in just their first season with the conference to go along with a 19-14 final record.
While the Owls don’t necessarily have much in terms of a signature win, they are currently on a four-game win streak and are certainly battle tested, having come out on top in their conference tournament.
Furthermore, junior forward Malia Fisher is the big name to know, as she not only leads the team with 13.1 points per game, but she’s also the leader in rebounds, steals and blocks, showing the ability to do it all for her team.
Best of the rest for the Regional 2 in Albany
Well, Tiger fans, we certainly have some familiar faces in this region. Maybe most notably, coach Kim Mulkey and LSU have the potential to see Iowa (29-4) once again, as they have officially been named as the No. 1 seed in the region.
The Hawkeyes are once again led by Caitlin Clark and have consistently looked like one of the most dominant teams in the country from a scoring standpoint.
Interestingly enough, despite the Tigers being the only SEC team in the region, they do have the potential for a rematch. Obviously the two must keep winning in order to make it happen, but at some point down the line, we very well could see an LSU vs. Colorado matchup, similarly to what we saw in the first game of the season.
The Buffaloes (22-9) were named the No. 5 seed in the region, and while they’ve had some up and down games throughout the year, they’ve already shown more than enough ability to beat the purple and gold when given the chance.
Finally, one of the more underrated programs in the entire bracket very well could be No. 2 UCLA (25-6). Led by 6-foot-7 sophomore center Lauren Betts, the Bruins have Final Four potential written all over them.
March Madness always has the potential for some unpredictability. Add in the fact that LSU might have just found themselves in one of the more difficult regions in the entire 2024 bracket, and it’s safe to say we could be in for some serious chaos. You can check out the full Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament bracket on the official NCAA website.
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