"They don't care what we think": Kim Mulkey doubles down on SEC tournament "cinderella" criticism

The LSU Tigers under coach Kim Mulkey lost 56-49 to the Texas Longhorns in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals on Saturday evening. The loss was the Tigers' third in their last five games and also coincided with the absence of influential star Flau'jae Johnson who was stood down from the tournament due to a shin injury.

During her postgame news conference, the outspoken Mulkey spoke out against conference tournaments and accused administrators of not taking coaches' inputs seriously when it came to format concerns (6:27).

"I've won a bunch of conference tournaments," Kim Mulkey said. "Everybody loves to win, everybody loves to get a trophy. But at the end of the day I've also been in those tournaments where I've had injuries and those kids couldn't go and play in that, the most important tournament, the NCAA Tournament. I don't know why we play them to be honest. I know sometimes you have a Cinderella on the men's side.

"But very rarely do you see a Cinderella on the women's side at a Power 5 level. But, you gotta play. But I have never been a fan of conference tournaments and then to me, it's too long. If we have conference tournaments do we really need all 16 teams? They don't care what we think, right? Administrators make all the decisions. We just give an opinion and they either like it or they don't."

Kim Mulkey addresses tragic news

Kim Mulkey did not coach the LSU Tigers on Friday night when they beat the Florida Gators 101-87 to advance to the SEC Tournament semifinals because she was dealing with a death in her family. Assistant coach Bob Starkey took over the reins ensuring the win.

Despite being on the bench against the Texas Longhorns on Saturday evening, Mulkey once again handed the reins to Starkey and during her postgame news conference, she addressed the tragic circumstances (1:30).

“My week was awful. My mind still isn’t good. I don’t feel good, first of all. But we all deal with death,” Kim Mulkey said. “I’ve dealt with a stillborn grandchild, but I was prepared for that. We’re prepared for our parents, for our grandparents. It’s the unexpected deaths that throw you for a loop.

“I was where I was supposed to be. I’m very, very proud. But as I told our team many times, I’ve told them many times, we could drop dead on that sideline and you should be able to coach yourselves. So I was very confident.”

After crashing out of the SEC Tournament, Kim Mulkey will lead the inconsistent LSU Tigers into March Madness, with uncertainty looming over the status of injured stars, Aneesah Morrow and Flau'jae Johnson.