April 15, 2023
GOD BLESS UKRAINE AND THE USA!!!!
FOR THE SPORTS-CRAZY FAN
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TODAY’S COLUMNS:
Kim Mulkey as MEN’S Basketball coach at LSU revisited. Please scroll down to see FINE IDEAS below… Scott unusually pats himself on the back. See WIZARDRY OF OS BELOW.
JULIE MESSAGE FOR DSAA
This year we were able to spotlight all of our teams by March so we will be able to cancel our April meeting. Be sure to mark your calendars for our May 15th meeting where we will recognize all of our student athletes who be playing at the next level.
A few things before our May meeting…
• Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates on spring teams and their playoff announcements.
• The DSAA Golf Classic is less than two months away and we are in full swing lining up teams, sponsors, auction items, door prizes and all the good things. PLEASE let me know as soon as you can if you plan on having a team in the tournament this year. We have a limited number of teams that we can take and the teams are starting to sign up quickly.
• DSAA Golf Classic is Saturday June 10th at Carter Plantation with a 1pm tee time. The information sheets are attached.
• If you or someone you know would like to get involved in sponsorship for the DSAA Golf Classic, please let me know. I'd be more than happy to help and answer any questions they may have. You don't have to golf to get involved.
See you on May 15th at Big Mike's for our final meeting of the school year. Whew… that went by fast!!
Julie D. Jacobsen
Denham Springs High School
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FINE IDEAS
A sports fan bets on one college football and one NFL game with his bookie in the fall. He loses every bet, going 0 for 36 for the football season. His bookie calls him up in December asking if he wants to bet on basketball. His customer astonishingly responds, “Basketball? What do I know about Basketball?”
Sometimes I wonder if that person is me when it comes to making predictions in these 2 sports.
I’ve had such doozies as the Colts should select Ryan Leaf over Peyton Manning. (Must have watched too many Tennessee-Florida games during Manning’s career?). Curley Hallman was a great hire for LSU. (This was before anyone knew that Brett Favre was a generational player?)
Meanwhile, I felt that Michael Jordan should have been selected #1 overall by the Houston Rockets, or, if not, by the Portland Trail Blazers with pick #2. Even though the Rockets and Blazers were all set at guard, Jordan was so good, these teams would be making a big mistake by eschewing his selection in the NBA Draft
LeBron James was extraordinarily hyped going into the McDonald’s All-American Game in 2003. After watching him play, I stated that I felt LeBron was underrated.
Now I’ve gotten a few right on football and a multitude of things wrong on basketball (and baseball too!) But at least I try to make predictions before things happen, not using the benefit of 20-20 hindsight in my analysis. (I’m one of the few that don’t blame Pete Carroll for throwing the ball and not handing off to Marshawn Lynch at the end of the Super Bowl.) Yet, overall, my crystal ball often is proven cloudy. I’m guessing I’m batting south of the Mendoza line.
Which takes us to a relatively recent assessment of who LSU should hire as its men’s basketball coach after firing Will Wade after the 2021-22 season.
From the column written on 3/22/22:
Wade’s successor? LSU athletic director Scott Woodward doesn’t have to look to South Bend (as he did for Tigers Football coach Brian Kelley), Waco (as he did for Women’s Basketball coach Kim Mulkey), or Tucson (Baseball coach Jay Johnson). In fact he doesn’t have to leave Baton Rouge at all to find the best person to be LSU’s next coach. All he has to do is leave his office and walk down 4 flights of stairs.
Kim Mulkey is the most qualified person for the job. The Mulkey resume includes championships as a player, assistant coach and head coach. In fact, that would be 3 national championships as a head coach at Baylor. Her extraordinary skill-set is not gender-specific. She knows the game of basketall. She can recruit basketball players. She can build a basketball program and sustain success. She is a winner. She has excelled at the highest level in the women’s game. She could do the same in the men’s game… if given the opportunity.
Crazy Days at LSU 2? At present, you have a former associate AD for recruiting who has filed a lawsuit against LSU. Sharon Lewis alleges several irregularities, including sexual harassment and now might have a strong whistleblower claim. A former football coach, Les Miles, who allegedly had the want to secure the horizontal services of an LSU female student. I almost forgot--their football and basketball programs are about to be hammered by the NCAA—which has leveled the dreaded “lack of institutional control” violation against the Tigers.--Probation is imminent. So, what better way to change the narrative about LSU athletics than to hire a woman as your new Men’s Basketball Coach? If there was a metric for Title 9/Gender Equity, LSU would make an exponential leap.
Yet, all of this is irrelevant. Kim Mulkey should be the next LSU Men’s Basketball Coach because she is the best person for the position. There should be only one reason why Kim Mulkey is not LSU’s next Men’s Head Basketball Coach… She turned down the job.
Postscript: LSU hired Matt McMahon as their men’s head basketball coach. The 2022-23 Tigers went 14-19, 2-16 in the SEC and did not advance to the post-season.
Coach Mulkey’s Tigers went 34-2, 15-1 in the SEC, winning the national championship.
In all fairness to coach McMahon, he was hired late and had to, literally, cobble together an entire roster in an inordinately short period of time. Mulkey had already had one season at LSU under her belt.
Recruiting for 2023-24? Mulkey has the top-rated recruiting class, including the #1 prospect in the country in Mikaylah Williams and 3 others in the top 75.
LSU Men’s Basketball? The Tigers have added some nice transfers through the portal. But you will not hear LSU’s name mentioned when it comes to the premier high school players in the country.
Ultimately, we will never know how Mulkey would do as LSU Men’s Basketball coach, because this is a position for which it is extremely unlikely that she will ever be hired. And McMahon may end up being a Hall of Fame coach. —He clearly deserves a lot more time to resurrect his program.
But I hope this opinion will, at least, make people think.
Next month, we will break down Pete Maravich vs Antoine Davis vs Caitlyn Clark.
THE WIZARDRY OF OS
I really, really do not like to brag, especially in writing. Mostly, because I know what is going to happen as a result of the bragging and there is a record. Maybe I can get away with it one time though. After all, as Walt Whitman said, ”If you done it, it ain’t bragging.”
Last month, I was writing about LSU’s chance of winning the women’s basketball national championship and I said, “Carson is going to need to have a game or two where she hits some threes.” Of course, Jasmine Carson gets more credit for actually doing it in the national championship game rather than writing a sentence in an article. That first half was amazing to watch and the momentum coming from it feels like a tidal wave wherever Kim Mulkey and the Tigers go.
The path the Lady Tigers took to a championship is a wonderful reminder of how a regular season puts a team in position for a postseason run, but that is all. The regular season is a journey in itself.
Look at the LSU gymnastics team. They started the year ranked sixth. They entered the postseason ranked sixth. In between, it was a rollercoaster that started with injuries and disappointing scores. Most observers thought this team would fall apart. Instead, Bryant and Finnegan carried the team until less experienced Tigers got their feet wet and others returned from injury.
As I write, LSU is headed for the Final Four of gymnastics. Florida, Oklahoma, and Utah have the ability to score over 198 which would be a stretch for LSU. Considering the Tigers have already gone further than expected, the pressure is on the other teams and hopefully LSU will go out and let it fly like Jasmine Carson did.
In contrast, the baseball team started the year as hot as anyone in the country and had Tiger fans imagining the most dominating baseball season possible. Of course, it is never that easy, especially in baseball. The offense has exceeded even the lofty expectations that came to start the season. Skenes has also exceeded expectations.
Unfortunately, two transfers, Hurd and Little, who were thought to be weekend starters have struggled. Meanwhile, injuries have struck down a number of pitchers who appeared to be the most reliable. Despite remaining number one throughout the season, LSU has shown its vulnerability.
As we have learned from women's basketball and gymnastics, there is a very long way to go before the story of this team is written. The competition in the SEC over the last month and a half does appear to ease. All this means is that LSU looks good for a national seed, which unfortunately means very little.
What is important from now until the end of May is that LSU figures out some key roles in their pitching staff. Skenes is always going to have a high pitch count because he strikes out so many batters. As a result, who is going to get the last 7-9 outs in a close game that Skenes starts? Ty Floyd has been solid enough as a starter, but even his best starts barely get LSU to the sixth inning. LSU needs relievers to get the last 9-12 outs of his starts. Furthermore, will LSU find a third starter before June? The answers to these questions are most likely going to determine if LSU plays to late June.
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