The LSU women’s basketball team saw its season come to an end thanks to the hot hand of Caitlin Clark and Iowa in Monday night’s Elite Eight, and there are plenty of folks on social media happy about that.
And it is for a reason you might not expect because it didn’t have a thing to do with basketball.
So, what has folks upset?
Well, the Tigers were not on the court for the playing of the national anthem. It’s a scene that has played out countless time in American sports across the past several years, but LSU coach Kim Mulkey said this postgame this was no protest.
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“Honestly, I don’t even know when the anthem was played,” she reportedly said. “We kind of (have) a routine where we’re on the floor and then they come off at the 12-minute mark. I don’t know … we come in and we do our pregame stuff. I’m sorry … Listen, that’s nothing intentionally done.”
Interesting, too, is that the Tigers seem to have drawn the most attention when, per Nola.com, neither USC or UConn were on the floor when the national anthem was played prior to their game Monday night.
That fact has not stopped the attack on social media, though.
“I am embarrassed for LSU!,” one person wrote. “You should have been present and stood respectfully for the National Anthem!”
“If LSU is never on the court for the National Anthem, they need to be!!!” another person wrote. “The NCAA should fine them, very disrespectful.”
Even Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry chimed in with a suggestion for forced patriotism.
“My mother coached women’s high school basketball during the height of the desegregation, no one has a greater respect for the sport and for Coach Mulkey,” Landry wrote on X. “However, above respect for that game is a deeper respect for those that serve to protect us and unite us under one flag!
“It is time that all college boards, including Regent, put a policy in place that student athletes be present for the national anthem or risk their athletic scholarship! This is a matter of respect that all collegiate coaches should instill.”
There were some folks, though, who came to the Tigers’ defense.
“LSU has never been on the court for the National Anthem,” one person wrote. “Angel Reese does not deserve the hate she gets. This team is full of personality and likeability. A lot of y’all are sexist and racist. Y’all really are just reaching at this point. Hating young, talented women for what??”