SEC WBB Tournament: LSU's path to a conference title

LSU ended its regular season with a win over Mississippi State on Sunday and now looks ahead to the postseason, but first comes the SEC Tournament. At 12-4 in conference play, the Tigers were locked in to the no. 4 spot, behind three teams they lost to this year in 1. South Carolina, 2. Vanderbilt, and 3. Texas.

LSU is set to play on Friday at 2:30 p.m. ET against the winner of Oklahoma vs Florida/Mississippi State on ESPN. As the No. 4 seed, the Tigers would likely face No. 1 South Carolina on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 with a win. Here is a look at the bracket. All games are in Greenville, South Carolina.

Mulkey’s team likely can’t fall out of the two-seed line for the NCAA tournament, but in theory could make a run at the final one-seed with wins over Oklahoma and South Carolina this week. Head coach Kim Mulkey has made it clear that she does not care about seeding in the NCAA Tournament and does not care about the SEC Tournament. Her team will likely play hard, but she continues to not see the purpose in this event.

“My viewpoint has always been what is the purpose of conference tournaments for the Cinderellas? How many Cinderellas do you really have in women’s basketball?” Mulkey said. “Is it some of them need just one more win? They are on the bubble. I do not know. But I know that throughout my career, I have always wanted to go from the regular season conference to postseason. I have always said the regular season means much more than a conference tournament championship.”

The Tigers have won four in a row and have maintained incredible depth and balance across the roster. Mikaylah Williams was excellent on Sunday and MiLaysia Fulwiley has been a star over the past four games as LSU is beginning to click on all cylinders.

“When all of them are playing really good, it is fun,” Mulkey said. “This game can humble you. I think ever since the Ole Miss come-from-behind win, I think MiLaysia’s confidence has just gone up. I think a lot of it also is Jada on the floor with her and allows her a little more freedom at the off-guard versus putting her always at the point where she has got to be responsible for everybody on the floor. I think that has helped her. She is just extremely quick and when a lot of things break down, she can improvise and do some things to get by people and sometimes she might throw that sucker up in the stands, but then she may come back and do something spectacular. So she is playing with a lot of confidence. What you want to do is you want all of them to be playing with a lot of confidence as you head into postseason play.”