Four Louisiana teams to appear in men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments

(WVUE) - March Madness kicks off this week and four Louisiana schools are heading to The Big Dance.

LSU coach Kim Mulkey said that Louisiana basketball is “on the rise”.

First, the Lady Jaguars from Southern University will play Sacred Heart Wednesday in the play-in round.

On Friday, the No. 3 LSU tigers will take on 14th-seeded Hawaii and the No. 15 Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions will go head-to-head against No. 2 Iowa.

LSU’s resume landed them a high seed in the Big Dance despite losing to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament. They are led by Maryland transfer Angel Reese who is averaging 23.4 ppg, 15.5 RPG, and 2.2 ast. Reese is also a semifinalist for Player of the Year.

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SLU Lady Lions punch ticket to NCAA Tournament for first time in program history

Three years ago, the Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions were set to appear in their postseason appearance in 8 years but minutes before tipoff the Southland Conference Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 at the beginning of the global pandemic. Now, they will enter a National Championship Tournament for the first time in program history.

Southeastern will face Iowa in Iowa City on Friday. The Lady Lions have the nation’s 13th-best scoring defense but they’ll have their hands full with the Hawkeyes, who are led by star point guard Caitlin Clark. Clark is the second leading scorer in the nation with an average of 27 ppg.

Leading the way in scoring for the Lady Lions is former Ponchatoula High star Hailey Giarantano (12.3 ppg). They are coached by Hammond native Ayla Guzzardo.

Then on the men’s side, the 13th-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns are taking on the Tennesse Volunteers Thursday in the first round.

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