Kim Mulkey's Offseason Report: Injury Updates, Newcomer Reviews and LSU's Outlook

Mulkey and Co. kicked off practice for the 2024-25 season on Monday, pleased with roster construction this offseason.

Apr 2, 2023; Dallas, TX, USA; LSU Lady Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey reacts while cutting down a piece of the net after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes during the final round of the Women's Final Four NCAA tournament at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Kim Mulkey and the LSU women's basketball program began offseason practice on Monday with the 2024-25 group getting Day 1 under their belt.

Mulkey and Co. have a myriad of fresh faces in Baton Rouge after the departure of Angel Reese and others following last season.

Now, it's full steam ahead to the upcoming year with the Tigers' roster construction providing significant balance after bringing in new pieces.

Mulkey addressed the media on Monday prior to practice where she provided an injury report, discussed the newcomers and more.

Everything Mulkey Said on Monday:

The Injury Update:

“Sa’Myah [Smith] has been cleared to go full speed and should be on the floor [Monday]. Aalyah [Del Rosario] will not. She had her ankle cleaned out. It kind of just kept swelling on her. Also, Izzy [Besselman] won’t practice today. She’s got to get cleared by the cardiologists, something is going on with her heart, so you’ll see those two sitting out today.”

The Newcomers (Transfer Portal Additions):

“What you’re gonna notice is good guards, quickness, kids that can get up and down the floor. I recruited Jersey [Wolfenbarger] out of high school when I was at Baylor and she played in a great program for Ricky Smith and she went to Arkansas and she didn’t finish the year and I contacted her. She came on a visit and she’s here. We’re excited about all the transfers. I think it’s a good mix of transfers, older players with experience, then you add it to the ones that have the experience, and then you look at Jada [Richard], our local young lady. She’s really the only freshman that we have. We’ve got a good little mixture of experience and new players and one young one.”

Transfer Portal Approach:

“We were looking at players at all positions that can play. Players that want to be here. Players that value defense. Players that understand we’re gonna push you hard. We just didn’t limit ourselves to numbers. We signed quite a few, but you have to remember the program can’t exist or sustain success if all you get every year for transfers. You gotta keep getting those freshmen. The hard part is, you just don’t know every year when you step on the floor if you’re gonna have the same team that you had that finished the year. And that’s what runs a lot of coaches out of the business. It’s like you could get a freshman class and say they’re gonna be good when they’re juniors and they’ve got all this experience. It just doesn’t work like that anymore. So whatever roster you have out there, you gotta go to work right out of the gates. 

Roster Construction:

“I hope it’s athletic. I hope it’s speed and quickness. I think we have more depth of the guard spots. I hope when we get everybody healthy, the post will be just as good as you expect them to be. You know, when Sa’Myah went down, she was almost average in double double. You hope that she can give you that and more. You saw the value of Aaliyah, particularly in that UCLA game when we had to go against Betts. You know what Marrow gives you. You got a senior in Amani and then you add Jersey in there and you can move Jersey and you can move Marrow outside if you need to. So I’m gonna be curious in a month to tell you more based upon what I see every day.”

True Freshman Guard Jada Richard "Surprising" People:

“Wouldn’t surprise me. I saw that young lady score almost 40 against Mikaylah's team in high school. She comes from a great high school program. She understands the point guard position as well as anybody I’ve coached. She’s not afraid to be a leader, so it won’t surprise me. I think what you’re referring to is that she didn’t play on the EYBL circuit and I just don’t get caught up in that. I’m more of just watching young people play and you don’t care if they spend all that money playing on all these national teams. If they can play, they can play and nothing I have seen uh from her surprises me. It was everything I expected.”

Flau'jae Johnson's Development:

"I will tell you of her all around game. And I think,  when you’re a freshman, you’re scared to put freshmen on the better player on the other team, because they’re freshman. There were moments last year on the perimeter where we could putageé on the better players, but then you had to realize she still a sophomore, and I think now on the defensive end of the floor, I wanna be able to look at her and go, you go guard anybody in our league. and those kinds of responsibilities that I would like to see her say, let me do it, Coach. Can absolutely she can. And she’s done it sparingly in the two years that she’s been here offensively? You saw what she can do.  she’s a a long, lengthy guard that can get your rebounds as well."

Life Without Angel Reese:

“I don’t think there was ever any pressure even when Angel was here. She had a different personality and I told you many times I coached some big personalities and somebody in this bunch will have the big personality. It might not be in comparison to Angel, but the personalities just kind of rise to the top when they get comfortable and it comes with confidence and it comes with being older, but we’re gonna always play with emotion, we’re gonna always play excited and those personalities will surface.” 

The Next Step for Mikaylah Williams:

"Just leadership. When you’re a freshman, you’re kind of afraid to lead and just go play. She had a great freshman year, SEC player of the year, and we just challenge her to take it to the next level and to be more of a leader, not just by how you play because she does play hard. If you watch us practice, that kid practices hard. She now has to be a leader and that’s probably not fair because she’s just a sophomore, but under the circumstances of what we have on our team, she may have to do more than at an earlier age.” 

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