As everyone knows, this is a big weekend in college basketball, especially around here. For only the 7th time in NCAA history, a single school has placed a team in the Final Four in both the men's and women's tournaments. That school, of course, is LSU.
Unfortunately, the unexpected success of George Mason in the men's tournament has stolen some of LSU's thunder. The Tigers have great stories of their own, however. First, the women's team is led by Simone Augustus, a Baton Rouge native and unquestionably the best player in women's college basketball. Augustus, who led the NCAA in scoring this year, was the National Player of the Year as a junior, and a lock to repeat this year. She is probably the best athlete ever to come out of Louisiana in any sport. If Simone plays like she can, the Lady Tigers have an excellent shot at the championship. Even if you are not a fan of women's sports, take my advice and check out the best basketball player you have never heard of as the Tigers take on Duke on Sunday.
On the men's side, the big story is that LSU's 4th seeded Tigers are a true homegrown product. The 7 players with the most minutes this last season all grew up within 60 miles of the LSU campus. Most of the players knew and played against each other in high school. In a sport where big schools recruit nationwide, a team with such deep local roots is an anomaly. The men's team starts 3 freshmen, 1 sophmore, and 1 senior, and was not expected to make it past the second or third round. Instead, it beat the number 1 seed in the entire tournment when it dispatched Duke, and then defeated a top ten team in Texas to advance to the Final Four.
This past year has been a rough one for sports fans in Louisana. The Saints had a miserable season (the second-worst in the NFL), and the New Orleans Hornets skipped town for the entire season and now say they will not be back next year, either. LSU is our hope, and it aims to do something very special: only once (UConn, 2004) has a school won championships in both men's and women's basketball.
This weekend, forget George Mason. The real underdogs, the people of New Orleans, are pulling for LSU. We could use a ray of light down here.
Geaux Tigers!