Previewing the LSU Women's Basketball team ahead of their season opener

Coach Kim Mulkey and the LSU Tigers will look to begin their season with a smooth home victory over Eastern Kentucky.

The Tigers will tip off the season with a preseason Top 10 ranking and the expectations to go with it. The Angel Reese era ended last season with an Elite 8 loss to Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes in a rematch of the previous year's National Championship game. Now Flau'jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow will look to take on the leadership void left by Reese and elevate this team back to the top of the sport.

In addition to Johnson and Morrow, who were named Co-SEC Players of the Year in preseason media awards, Mikayla Williams and Sa'Myah Smith also return from last year's team. They will look to mesh with new teammates Shayeann Day-Wilson (transfer from Miami) and Kailyn Gilbert (Arizona transfer) in LSU's non-conference schedule in the first half of the season.

Although the Tigers begin their season with a relatively easy non-conference schedule, their difficult SEC schedule includes away games at the defending champions South Carolina and at new SEC member Texas. Barring a huge upset, the Tiger are expected to remain high in the rankings and enter SEC play in January ready to compete.

Head Coach Kim Mulkey worked diligently on the recruiting trail in the offseason and brought on program icon Seimone Augustus as an assistant coach ahead of her fourth season at LSU. In an interview over the weekend, Mulkey talked about the depth of her team this year and the progress in integrating her new players into the system and managing player injuries early-on in the season.

The Tigers' season kicks off tonight against Easter Kentucky at 7 PM CST on ESPN+.

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