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MiLaysia Fulwiley will play PG for Kim Mulkey, LSU women's basketball. Why it'll work
- Story byThe Daily Advertiser
- MiLaysia Fulwiley will play PG for Kim Mulkey, LSU women's basketball. Why it'll work
BATON ROUGE — Kim Mulkey isn't downplaying what she and her coaching staff were able to pull off out of the transfer portal this offseason.
Superstar MiLaysia Fulwiley stunned the women's basketball world not only with her decision to transfer out of her hometown school South Carolina, a place where she captured a national championship as a freshman and played for another last season, but the guard's choosing to play for LSU women's basketball and Mulkey was just as jarring to the nervous system of the sport.
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"She's beaten me too many times for me not to have taken her into this program," Mulkey, the LSU head coach, told reporters before the team officially opened preseason practice Tuesday inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
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"A big shot, a big steal, a spectacular move."
With her hometown Gamecocks and coach Dawn Staley, Fulwiley was one of the team's biggest stars in her two years with the program averaging 11.7 points and 2.1 assists per game over that span, but she failed to crack more than 19 minutes per game.
Believe it or not, Fulwiley garnered just three starts in 77 games played.
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Fulwiley has said that she was looking for a fresh start after two years at South Carolina. And the junior, with a wealth of college experience, found what she was looking for in Baton Rouge.
Mulkey has a plan for Fulwiley and it's going to require plenty of learning. But in this situation, another year of adding a bona fide star, a scorer and player that has already established a large bulk of her identity and game, the LSU coach has taken from those previous instances.
"We're gonna challenge her to learn the point guard position. But we're not gonna take away her ability to play the off guard either," Mulkey said. "A lot of that will depend on how quickly she catches on to what we need her to do as a point guard. A lot of that will depend on Jada (Richard's) development, (freshman point guard) Divine (Bourrage's) development."
Much like what Mulkey asked of former LSU guard Hailey Van Lith, Fulwiley will be tasked with running the offense as well as the team's operation on both ends of the floor. Knowing what her teammates are doing on any given set or defensive scheme is where, Mulkey said, the development and work with Fulwiley starts.
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"You've got to basically be the coach on the floor and as you have seen, that's hard to do in just a year. All players played every position growing up but I'm going to really focus on trying to develop her because I just think Richard can shoot the perimeter shot if I need her to play the off guard," Mulkey said. "If I need Lay, Mikaylah (Williams) and Flau'jae (Johnson) on the floor, they can play together, we'll do it."
The beauty of the matter is as Fulwiley grows at the point, she can still be highly effective with other aspects of her play and can win games. To those outside of the program, questions remain about how it all comes together with LSU overloaded on the perimeter.
"She's fitting in. Hell, ballers want to play with ballers," Mulkey said. "She's gonna be fun to watch. I think the fans, they already know how good she is and all the spectacular things she does.
"Now, LSU fans get to cheer for her instead of booing her."
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com .
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: MiLaysia Fulwiley will play PG for LSU women's basketball
