Kim Mulkey Shares Unsatisfied Stance on LSU Advancing to Sweet 16 in NCAA Tournament
The LSU Tigers women's basketball team produced an impressive 101-71 win over the Florida State Seminoles on Monday, which sends them to the Sweet Sixteen round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
This marks the third consecutive season that Kim Mulkey has led LSU to the Sweet Sixteen. Of course, her team won the 2023 NCAA National Championship and then made it to the Elite Eight in 2024 before losing to Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes squad.
Monday's win also means that Mulkey has been to 18 NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteens in her iconic head coaching career. However, Mulkey isn't content with this milestone, which she conveyed when speaking with the media after Monday's game.
"In our locker room... there is five players that have never been to a Sweet Sixteen," Mulkey said, per an X post from WDSU's Farrah Yvette. "Five players that contribute. And I explain to them, this is why you came here. We don't play to get to a Sweet Sixteen at LSU women's basketball anymore.
"Not that we take it for granted," she added. "But our goal every year is to just make a run and see if you can get to another Final Four, and see if you can upset somebody you're not supposed to upset. We weren't talked about at all when we won it two years ago. So let's go see what we can do."
.@KimMulkey: “We don’t play to just get to a Sweet 16 at LSU Women’s Basketball anymore.”
— Farrah Yvette (@farrah_yvette) March 25, 2025
Kim Mulkey has elevated the standard at LSU. Postseason runs are expected. Fans are packing the PMAC for games. She’s recruiting elite players. @LSUwbkb pic.twitter.com/0cRyHAmO83
Those are powerful words from Mulkey, who now expects nothing but the very best with each passing season for her LSU Tigers.
And with her team now fully healthy and firing on all cylinders, a return trip to the Final Four this season certainly seems possible.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.