GREENVILLE, S.C. — LSU coach Kim Mulkey walked off the court barefoot, pieces of confetti sticking to her heel.
Her security guard held her silver high-heeled shoes for her, and for just a moment, Mulkey turned back to wave to the smattering of LSU fans who stayed behind to watch players cut down the nets — a triumph not many thought possible this season.
Mulkey herself said two days ago she had no playbook for how to take a team to the Final Four only two years into a job. But after a 54-42 win over Miami on Sunday in the Elite Eight, she clearly had become the one to write it.
“It will hit me tonight when we’re on that plane going back to Baton Rouge, and I’m sitting with my feet propped up tomorrow eating crawfish and go, ‘I’ve got to go back again,'” Mulkey said. “I didn’t put parameters on the team. I didn’t say anything except at the press conferences. I want to put a championship banner up there some day.”
Someday could be a week from today, though LSU will no doubt be an underdog once again. Mulkey has been there, done that. She is now the third coach to reach the Final Four with multiple schools, joining C. Vivian Stringer (Cheyney, Iowa and Rutgers) and Gary Blair (Arkansas and Texas A&M). Before coming to LSU, she went to the Final Four with Baylor four times,…
