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February 1, 2011Thursday, Feb. 3
February 3, 2011
LSU woman’s basketball coach Van Chancellor got to the podium following LSU’s 53-45 loss to Arkansas Thursday night and struggled to figure out exactly with what to say.
That’s a rarity for Chancellor, who has done everything there is to do in basketball, rolling out a Hall of Fame resume in his several decades in coaching, as well as a loose tongue that makes him a favorite to every local media he encounters.
But things were different on Thursday night and none of that mattered to Chancellor.
The only thing on his mind was the way LSU played against the Lady Razorbacks – the same way they’ve played all season: inconsistently.
So when the words finally came to the Hall of Famer’s mouth, he did the thing he felt in his heart was right.
He apologized to everyone in the LSU community for the way the Lady Tigers have performed this season.
“I want to apologize to every player who has ever put on a Lady Tiger uniform,” Chancellor said. “Second of all, I want to apologize to every person who has ever bought a ticket or come to a Lady Tiger game. We have some unbelievable fans. It’s been the most impressive thing since I’ve been here. I’ve let you down. When a team is not any more ready to play than we were tonight, it’s nobody’s fault but my own. I’m going to hold myself totally, 100 percent responsible.”
The apology isn’t the first of its kind for Chancellor this season.
Following LSU’s drubbing at the hands of Auburn on Jan. 16, Chancellor had to put his ego to the side again and say he was sorry for the way the Lady Tigers had performed.
“I want to apologize to the Lady Tiger family for this performance,” Chancellor told reporters following that game. “This game was not as close as the final score. We didn’t take care of the ball like Lady Tiger fashion. We have got to find a way to get it fixed. We can’t miss easy shots and turn the ball over and expect to win. This was a disappointing performance.”
But despite the virtual doom and gloom prognostications, LSU’s really not too far back in the SEC standings with their 5-4 conference record.
The Lady Tigers are currently in sixth place in the conference, but are just a game and a half away from being in second place.
“It’s like a pillar and we’re taking steps,” junior forward LaSondra Barrett said following a recent game. “We’re up two steps and we can’t take steps backwards.”
For LSU to make that wish a reality, the Lady Tigers will need more consistent offensive play, especially out of Barrett and the team’s post players.
In recent wins, Barrett has been dominant, earning SEC Player of the Week honors after a 2-0 week that saw the Lady Tigers beat Ole Miss and Florida.
During those wins, the junior averaged 16.5 points, 9.5 rebounds per game and 7.5 assists per game.
But in the losses to Auburn and Arkansas, Barrett is just 5-of-23 combined from the field.
Those struggles affect the entire makeup of the Lady Tigers’ team because they pride themselves on using the inside game to spark outside success.
“We got a lot of our 3’s off of working inside first and working inside-out,” senior guard Katherine Graham said. “That is one thing we want to establish. Sometimes we can be trigger happy with the 3-pointer, so we want to stay on course.”
When Barrett was rolling, LSU did just that and shot a combined 17-of-39 from the 3-point line against Florida and Ole Miss.
In the two losses, those numbers dipped again to just 5-of-29 from behind the arc.
That inconsistency has Chancellor and everyone else wondering what will be needed to make things go right down the stretch to get the Lady Tigers into the postseason.
“When things are going our way, we have a nice, little team,” Chancellor said. “But when things aren’t going our way, we’re going to struggle.”
With time running out on LSU’s hopes of clinching an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, it looks like the Lady Tigers will have to do some major legwork on the road.
The Lady Tigers will play road tilts against Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Arkansas in the next two and a half weeks.
Like everything else with LSU this year, being on the road has sometimes been good and sometimes been bad.
LSU defeated previously unbeaten UCLA on their home floor in December, but have also been beaten soundly by Northwestern and Auburn away from Baton Rouge.
Time will tell, but for now, the fault is on Chancellor.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
That’s arguably the only thing that’s been consistent about LSU in the past month.
LSU forward LaSondra Barrett and Arkansas’ Lyndsay Harris get tangled up during the first half of the Lady Tigers’ recent game against Arkansas. AP PHOTO
