LSU a three-seed in NCAA Tournament, full region revealed
On Sunday night it was announced that LSU will be a three-seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. In the first round, the Tigers will face 14-seed Rice in the PMAC. Also in Baton Rouge will be six-seed Louisville and 11-seed Middle Tennessee.
LSU ended the conference tournament losing in the championship game to South Carolina, dropping them to 28-5 on the year. The resume for LSU includes road wins at Ole Miss and Tennessee, with a home win over Virginia Tech and another win over Ole Miss on a neutral court. There are also wins over Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Texas A&M, who are projected to make the tournament.
LSU has Iowa as the one-seed in its bracket, making a potential path to the Final Four for the Tigers as Rice, Louisville, UCLA, and Iowa.
As the reigning national champions with ample star power, there’s ample excitement for the Tigers entering the postseason, especially as they appear to be playing their best basketball of the season. The week off has helped them recover from a physical SEC Tournament and now the hope is that momentum picks up right where it left off in the big dance.
“We can see where our team is right now, how tough we are,” senior forward Angel Reese said after the loss to South Carolina. “We can’t put our heads down because of everything that we have been through this weekend. But again, I’m not going to make that an excuse. We’re going to go back. We’re going to rest up and have these, what, a week, week and a half to see where we’re going to be placed for the NCAA tournament. So we’re in a great place right now. We’re going to look back and see what mistakes we made, of course. But I think we’re happy at where we’re at right now.”
Before the loss to South Carolina, LSU had won ten straight and begun to settle in on the defensive side of the ball. Reese knows better than anyone that it’s about hitting your stride in March and it feels like her team is doing that after playing in the SEC.
“I mean SEC is what one of the best if not the best conference in the country and I think seven to eight teams should be in the tournament,” Reese said. “There’s so many teams that we face this year that have held us tight or have beat us this year that should be in the tournament so I’m happy for the SEC. That helps build us to get ready to play these other teams in these other conferences, but I’m just proud of our team and where we’re at right now to finish in the championship where last year we fell short to Tennessee and didn’t get there. LSU as a program, we’re happier where we’re at.”
