Kim Mulkey’s LSU Tigers were eliminated in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament this year by the Duke Blue Devils. Despite the loss, Mulkey realized that it was a great season, and not winning the title doesn’t erase everything else they did in this run.
Since the ultimate goal still is to win championships, Mulkey will now start building her team for the next season. The first thing that she had to do after the loss was have individual conversations with her players.
The NCAA transfer portal is set to open in four days, and Mulkey needs to know what her team would look like. During a recent interview on WAFB, Mulkey talked about her process.
“It’s so different now,” she said. “When the season ends, you’ve gotta hurry up and have your individual meetings because transfer portal is around the corner and you don’t know in this day and age who is coming back, who is leaving.” (From 6:09)
Mulkey said that earlier coaches didn’t have to hurry. They were allowed to have some time to get over the season-ending loss and give the same space to their players before having these conversations.
The LSU head coach said that everything is done in a hurry now. Since that’s the demand of the modern day college basketball, she also follows the same routine. Mulkey has had her individual conversations with her players, and she knows who is coming back next year and who plans on entering the transfer portal next week.
Kim Mulkey on LSU’s Transfer Portal Situation
Mulkey told WAFB-TV’s Jacques Doucet that all the players from this season’s roster are coming back next season, except Divine Bourrage. She is a former five-star recruit who played 24 games this season, averaging 2.1 points per game.
Other than Bourrage, LSU will lose someone like Flau’jae Johnson, who will join the WNBA this year. Milaysia Fulwiley, Mikaylah Williams, Jada Richard, Kate Koval, Grace Knox, ZaKiyah Johnson, Bella Hines, and Meghan Yarnevich are all expected to return with the Tigers next season.
“You cannot understand the value of having all of them come back,” she said. “That’s how you build it. That’s how you get over that hump of an Elite Eight. When you look at those that are coming back, freshman, freshman, sophomore, junior, sophomore, and look how much they did this year.”
The LSU core will be largely unaffected by the upcoming transfer portal. Mulkey will sign some new players to her team, adding more strength to the existing roster.
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