Just how good is the LSU women's basketball team?
If all that the Tigers are being judged by is the results, you have to say exceptional. LSU is off to a 17-0 start for just the second time in program history. The other time the Tigers did that, two seasons ago, they started 23-0 and won the program's first NCAA championship.
There have, however, been a number of close calls along the way. LSU needed a last-second shot to beat Washington 68-67 in The Bahamas. The Tigers needed overtime to outlast Stanford 94-88, a Cardinal team that has lost four of five since. And against Albany, a solid mid-major out of the America East Conference but no Southeastern Conference front-runner, LSU trailed by one with 7:41 left before sprinting away on a 25-2 run to close out a 83-61 victory.
Charlie Crème, ESPN's women's bracketology expert, has given LSU the respect you'd think a 17-0 Kim Mulkey-coached team would deserve. He has them as a No. 2 seed in the Spokane 1 Regional, hosting first weekend NCAA tournament games in Baton Rouge before a potential matchup down the road against No. 1 UCLA, which the Tigers vanquished in last year's Sweet 16.
But Crème basically put an asterisk by LSU's name in this week's seeding summary, asking the aforementioned question about the Tigers' quality.
"LSU is the most enigmatic team in the top 10 for a third consecutive campaign," Crème writes. "With a nonconference schedule that once again lacked punch -- although this season's version was better than in 2022-23 and 2023-24 -- it's hard to assess the Tigers."
Mulkey didn't disagree with her team being labeled an "enigma."
"That's fair. I'm an enigma," Mulkey said, dipping into her well of wry humor at a Tuesday news conference to preview LSU's game Thursday at Tennessee. "That's not a bad thing.
"I like to say we're a program that has built a solid foundation in a short period of time. But we can still be an enigma. We've been called worse. We puzzle people."
People who include Mulkey.
There's no question LSU has talent. Senior forward Aneesah Morrow has thrived in the low post in the post-Angel Reese era, just 14 points and 33 rebounds shy of becoming just the seventh woman in Division I history with 2,500 career points and 1,500 career rebounds (including her stats at DePaul). She leads the nation with 14.0 rebounds per contest this season, one of just three players averaging over 18 points and 11 rebounds a game.
Flau'jae Johnson is a coast-to-coast thrill ride with the ball in her hands, Euro-stepping past opponents to the basket or nailing long jumpers, a classic three-level scorer. And no one on the team is a bigger threat to fill up the basket from mid to 3-point range than Mikaylah Williams. Tuesday, Morrow and Johnson were named to the midseason Wooden Award watchlist.
LSU also has depth at the guard position, able to go six or seven deep. And it has the added benefit of size inside with both 6-foot-5 Jersey Wolfenbarger from Arkansas and 6-2 Sa'Myah Smith.
Still, the enigma persists. At times LSU turns the ball over in bunches, yet to identify a rock solid starting point guard like Alexis Morris was during that championship run. There are times when LSU's shooting just fades out like a long-distance radio signal (the Tigers were 0-for-6 from 3-point range in Sunday's 73-63 win over Auburn). And even though LSU leads the SEC in field-goal percentage defense (34.3%), the Tigers often seem to allow an inordinate number of drives to the basket or a barrage of 3-pointers.
"Some quarters we look really good," Mulkey said. "Some quarters we just coast."
There won't be much time for coasting in the weeks to come. Four of LSU's next six games are against SEC rivals that currently reside in the top 20 of the NCAA's NET rankings: No. 17 Tennessee, No. 20 Vanderbilt, No. 1 South Carolina and No. 11 Oklahoma.
"The talent is obvious," Crème writes, "and the Tigers belong in the top 10. But we won't have to wait ... long to find out just how good LSU is relative to a deep SEC."
It's an important stretch, to be sure, but not the be all, end all of the entire season. Like any college basketball coach, Mulkey wants her team building toward March and April, not being the best version of itself in early January.
"Every game matters," Mulkey said, "but every game is not going to make or break you."
I get the impression Mulkey knows she has a really good team, a team that is perhaps not the best version of itself just yet. Perhaps the tests to come will turn out to be the best things for a talented squad, even if it ends up with a couple of stubbed toes along the way.