| Bob Starkey knew it before anyone. In the summer of 2021 I interviewed Starkey when he was an assistant at Auburn. My call was to ask him about Sylvia Fowles on the eve of her last Olympics, but we soon got on the subject of how the then just-hired Kim Mulkey would do at LSU. I won't tell you here what Bob predicted exactly. The point of our newsletter is to get you to read our stories. Fair's fair. But I think you have a pretty good idea where this is going from the man who has been on the staff for all six of LSU's Women's Final Four appearances. We now know who LSU will play in Friday's national semifinal in Dallas at 6 p.m. on ESPN. Virginia Tech knocked off Ohio State 84-74 in Seattle in the Elite Eight on Monday night to fill the last slot in this year's Final Four. South Carolina and Iowa play in the second semifinal. The LSU team only got back from Greenville, South Carolina, in the wee hours Monday morning after being Miami 54-42 in the Greenville 2 Regional final, but they're off again for Dallas on Tuesday afternoon. The Tigers are hosting one last pep rally before they go, and you can get the details here. What are the odds on LSU winning in the Final Four? As you can imagine, probably a little long, but maybe better than you might have expected. Leaving March Madness for a moment, baseball coach Jay Johnson had an update Monday on injured players Javen Coleman and Grant Taylor. Meanwhile, LSU's' Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes took home national player of the week honors, though Crews was only good enough to get a three-way tie for SEC player of the week. Meanwhile, find out what you need to know about the No. 1-ranked Tigers' home game Tuesday against Grambling. The LSU gymnastics team is about to head off to Denver for its NCAA regional this week. Our talented intern Reed Darcey is here with an information-packed notebook. Speaking of the top of the rankings, that's where the LSU track and field teams find themslves this week. Click here to find out just how high the men's and women's teams rank. That's all for now, folks. Stay with us this week as we have tons of content on LSU's trip to the Women's Final Four, baseball's big weekend series with Tennessee and spring football. Until next time, Scott Rabalais | 
