By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Kim Mulkey, beginning her 26th year as a college head women’s basketball coach and her fifth season at LSU, constantly adapts to the sport’s changing landscape.
Like annual roster-flipping, made possible by the powerless NCAA transfer rule, which is a year-to-year auction of players jumping from school to school for more cash and playing time.
Mulkey opened preseason practice on Tuesday with a 13-player roster featuring eight new faces (five freshmen, three transfers) and five returnees off LSU’s second straight NCAA regional finals team.
It’s the second-highest number of new players since the Tigers’ 2023 national championship team. LSU’s returnees are led by All-SEC guards Flau’Jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams of Bossier City’s Parkway High School.
“The one thing I can tell you is I like their disposition,” Mulkey said of her team before the first practice on Tuesday. “They’re here to play basketball and to get an education. I like the way that they almost all have that Flau’Jae joy about them. They’re all excited.”
The giddiness should evaporate by the time LSU grinds through the preseason, opening its regular season on Nov. 4 vs. Houston Christian. It’s the first of 14 non-conference games, including five home, four away, and three on a neutral site.
Mulkey will lean on the leadership of Johnson, the only remaining player from the 2023 national title team, and Williams, who has started for two consecutive regional final squads.
Johnson, a 5-10 senior, has started 104 of 106 career games and is averaging 14.8 points and 5.7 rebounds. She has matured from a defensive specialist as a freshman into the team’s top scorer.
“I want her to put it all together and just be grown,” Mulkey said of Johnson. “Don’t have any melting moments. Don’t let a bad call or a bad play affect you.
“Sometimes, she allows things to bother her, and I don’t want to see that anymore. Go out in a blaze of glory.”
Williams, a 6-foot junior, is one of the nation’s most versatile and fundamental stars. She has started 70 of 71 games, has played every position in the lineup, and is averaging 15.9 points and 4.6 rebounds.
“Mikaylah can score (from) anywhere she wants,” Mulkey said. “I want to see her continue to get better defensively. I want to challenge her to take great pride that the coach put me on the best player on the other team. I’ll guard them for you, and then I’ll also be able to be productive on the offensive end.”
Mulkey and her staff signed the nation’s No. 1 high school recruiting class, led by forward Grace Knox and guard ZaKiyah Johnson.
Knox, a 6-2 Las Vegas native, was ranked by ESPN as the nation’s sixth best recruit. Johnson, a 6-0 Shelbyville, Ky. Native, was No. 10 nationally.
In her time at LSU, Mulkey has signed 17 transfers and has had 21 players transfer, including five off last year’s team.
The prize gems of this season’s transfer class are South Carolina junior MiLaysia Fulwiley and Notre Dame forward Kate Koval.
Fulwiley averaged 11.7 points in 18.7 minutes, starting just 3 of 77 games as she emerged as the SEC’s Sixth Woman of the Year last season. She averaged 13.3 points in 14 minutes in her three career games (all wins) vs. LSU, including 24 points in the 2024 SEC tourney finals when she was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
“Lay has beaten me too many times for me not to have taken her into this program,” Mulkey said. “She’s just a big shot, a big steal, a spectacular move. The LSU fan already knows how good she is and all the spectacular things she does on the floor. Now, the LSU fans get to cheer instead of booing her. “
After LSU redshirt sophomore center Sa’Myah Smith averaged 13.8 points and 10.3 rebounds in last year’s NCAA tournament, she cashed in her hot streak with a stunning transfer to Virginia.
That’s when Notre Dame’s 6-5 Koval, who played in 32 games (started in 10) and averaged 5.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game, became a needed asset for LSU.
“When she got in the portal, we felt like we had a really good chance to get her, and we did,” said Mulkey, who originally tried to recruit Koval as a high school senior. “She kind of reminds you of a mother hen.
“She’s going to help the young ones, and she’s young herself, but she’s going to help the young ones, but she’s also going to demand the basketball and make sure that she’s getting better. And I like her demeanor. I like how she involves everybody, and she’s very confident.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com