Kim Mulkey couldn’t have made the news seem more perfunctory.
“Angel’s back, Kateri’s not, Sa’Myah’s done for the year,” Mulkey said in her news conference the day before No. 7 LSU’s marquee matchup against No. 9 Virginia Tech to close out the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge.
After two weeks of speculation following Angel Reese’s curious benching and subsequent four-game absence from the Tigers, the 2023 preseason All-American was back, and Mulkey had as little explanation for her return as she did for Reese’s original departure. LSU was ready to move on, to build on its seven-game winning streak and to continue its defense of its first-ever national title.
As for the drama that surrounded the program since the start of the season? There was nothing to it.
“Angel is back, and we are happy, happy, happy. And she is happy, happy, happy,” Mulkey said Thursday night.
It was easy for the Tigers to be happy in an 82-64 rout of the Hokies. And if Reese’s return to the court continues to result in such dominating performances for LSU, the Tigers might be able to shift the focus back to basketball, because the team that took the court Thursday in a rematch of last year’s Final Four looks ready to return to that stage in Cleveland in 2024. (Even as Kateri Poole’s…
