There is turmoil right now within the LSU women's basketball program.
There is turmoil within the LSU women's basketball program, and while you never like to benefit from another team's turmoil, that's exactly what is set to happen for the University of Connecticut women's basketball program this season.
Let's walk you through what's happening and how it impacts the Huskies.
Foreign war takes toll on Tigers
One of the top programs in the country under head coach Kim Mulkey, LSU went 29-6 overall and 12-4 in SEC play a season ago. They lost in the Sweet 16 to No. 3 Duke.
The Tigers are a regular in the NCAA Tournament, having made 31 NCAA Tournaments and six Final Fours. They won the national championship in 2023 with Angel Reese as the centerpiece of the roster.
Kate Koval was a 6-foot-5 sophomore on last year's team. A transfer from Notre Dame, she played 35 games for the Tigers, earning 17 starts and averaging 8.3 ppg. In addition, she also averaged 6.3 rebounds per game and 1.2 blocks. She was clearly set to be a big part of the roster this season as a junior.
Instead, she left the program, just one day before the start of academic classes. Why? Because Mulkey signed a Russian recruit.
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and the war continues to this day. Russia has been banned from international competition in several sports and Ukrainian tennis players continue to not shake the hands of Russian players. Koval clearly does not want to play with a Russian player in the future, and doesn't want to be associated with a program that has Russian players.
“For me, this war is not distant or abstract. People close to me have been killed and wounded in Russian attacks, and places where I grew up and first began playing basketball have been destroyed by missile strikes," she said on social media.
Koval also said that her father serves in the Ukrainian military. She said the decision was not easy.
Koval is trying to be given permission to play at another school this year.
Impact on UConn
Well, the Huskies are set to play LSU on Dec. 20 as part of a very difficult non-conference schedule. The Tigers have gotten worse without Koval on the roster, and that will be to UConn's advantage.
But again, given the serious nature of this global situation, this isn't really the way you want to gain an advantage.
The Huskies will begin their season on Nov. 2 at home against Cornell. The game time has not been released yet as of this posting.
