The LSU women's basketball season begins in just a few short weeks when the Tigers host Houston Christian on Nov. 4. Kim Mulkey is set to enter her 5th season in Baton Rouge, and has her team primed for another deep run in March Madness. The Tigers return key playmakers in senior Flau'Jae Johnson and junior Mikayla Williams, who earned All-SEC honors last season. Both players earned Preseason All-SEC honors heading into the 2025-26 season, with Johnson being named to the Preseason All-SEC First Team and Williams being named to the Second Team.
The 2025-26 SEC Preseason Media Poll has been released, and the Tigers are once again being doubted. Coming off a second straight Elite Eight run last season, LSU was picked to finish 3rd in the league by the SEC media. The South Carolina Gamecocks took the top spot, with the Texas Longhorns coming in 2nd. But Mulkey has proved the doubters wrong plenty of times before, and is aiming to do it once again in 2025-26.
Kim Mulkey gearing up to prove the SEC media wrong once again
In four seasons at the helm of the LSU women's basketball program, Mulkey's teams have finished better or equal to their ranking in the SEC Preseason Media Poll three times. In her first season at LSU in 2021-22, Mulkey led the Tigers to a 2nd place finish in the SEC after being picked to finish 7th by the media in the preseason. They were picked to finished 3rd in 2022-23 and went on to finish 2nd en route to winning LSU's first women's basketball National Championship in school history. Last season, the Tigers were picked to finish 3rd and came in 3rd.
The only time Mulkey failed to meet or exceed the media's preseason ranking was in 2023-24. That year, LSU was picked to win the league but ultimately finished 2nd. The Tigers still made a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, going to the Elite Eight following their national title in the year prior.
The start of the season is right around the corner. Prior to the 2025-26 regular season getting underway, LSU has a pair of exhibition games on the docket this month. The Tigers take on Mississippi College on Oct. 23 and Langston on Oct. 30. Both games will be held at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.