Randy Smith: LSU Is Easy To Dislike

I watched my alma mater play basketball on Sunday afternoon. Middle Tennessee's Blue Raiders took on defending national champion LSU in Baton Rouge in round two of the Women's NCAA Tournament and despite the fact that MTSU led 36-32 at halftime, the Bengals dismantled the Blue Raiders in the second half to the tune of 51-20. LSU won the ball game 83-56 ending MTSU's amazing season with a record of 30-5. During the game I realized that I really don't like LSU.

They're easy to dislike I've discovered. My disdain for the Bengal Tigers began last year in the women's tournament when LSU defeated Iowa and the Hawkeyes star guard Caitlin Clark. Now I'm not a huge Clark fan, even though I really appreciate her abilities but her actions on the court in that game, flashing her hand in front of her face as if she was saying, "You can't look at me," was totally unnecessary. Of course LSU star Angel Reese retaliated as the game neared its end by holding her hand up and pointing to her ring finger while looking at Clark. In Sunday's game, when MTSU center Anastasia Boldyreva fouled out of the game, Reese waved bye-bye to her which was completely unnecessary. By the way, LSU shot 37 free throws to only 9 for Middle...the results of a lot of flops and good acting jobs. (Guys act much better for the most part.)

LSU Coach Kim Mulkey is perhaps the most disliked coach in the country and her players copy her flamboyance and arrogance. They play rough and occasionally take a cheap shot or two. You need only to look at the way the SEC Championship ended with disqualifications and suspensions, though Angel Reese wasn't one of them. It reached a peak when South Carolina's Kamilla Cardoso shoved an LSU player to the floor. When her team and her league needed a peaceful and more warming response after the game concluded, Mulkey stoked the fire a bit by saying, "I wish she (Cardoso) had pushed Angel Reese. You're 6'8" don't push somebody that little."

Mulkey's fiery comments were followed by a more tempered apologetic response from South Carolina's Dawn Staley. However the controversy surrounding Mulkey is continuing as this past weekend she threatened to file a lawsuit against a reporter for the Washington Post for supposedly writing an "untrue" story. She called it a "hit piece" and she seems to be afraid of what the story might say.

The women's game has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years and it doesn't need a "bad girl" image from any team. Yet it seems that LSU is willing to provide it...needed or not.