Louisiana State Coach Kim Mulkey had been trying to temper expectations all season.
She had added nine new players. Who knew how they would jell? In her second year coaching at L.S.U., nobody should expect a national championship, she argued.
But there was Mulkey in Sunday’s national championship game, clad in a sequin pantsuit that looked like something between a disco ball and an exploded glitter bomb, leading the third-seeded Tigers to their first women’s basketball championship with a convincing victory, 102-85, over Iowa and its superstar sharpshooter, Caitlin Clark. The Tigers’ 102 points were the most in a Division I women’s title game. Iowa’s 85 was the most in a loss.
The Tigers, behind the towering, smack-talking forward Angel Reese and a surprise shooting spark from Jasmine Carson, brought Clark and college basketball’s most exciting show to a screeching stop, ending one of the most electrifying individual runs in recent tournament history.
Clark, the consensus national player of the year, had caught the attention of the country with her N.B.A.-range shooting, her crisp passing and her visible emoting in celebration, frustration and competitive passion.
The Tigers celebrated at midcourt while freshman guard Flau’jae Johnson, who also raps, had one of her…
