After defeating Miami 54-42 on Sunday to earn a berth in the Final Four, the LSU women’s basketball team headed home that night from Greenville, South Carolina.
The team, band, cheerleaders and administrators headed to the airport, where they ended up sitting on the tarmac for three hours in their chartered plane, waiting for a storm to pass. They didn’t end up in Baton Rouge until 4 a.m.
By mid-Monday morning, coach Kim Mulkey still had not slept.
At 10:30 a.m. Monday, on her way back from dropping off her daughter’s family at the airport to head back to Waco, Texas, Mulkey was tired but still going strong.
“We had seven kids on that plane under the age of 4. You know how they get delirious when they get so tired?”
There was one consolation.
“I said, ‘Well, I sure am glad we won,’ ” Mulkey said. “That would have been much worse.”
She said she would make time for sleep — but more than resting, she was focused on her son being home with her. Kramer Robertson is still in the minor leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals organization. She had arranged for a chartered flight for Robertson to get to Sunday’s night game against Miami as soon as baseball allowed for him to travel.
“Kramer got there at the beginning of the third quarter,” she said. “He doesn’t report to Memphis until Tuesday at 5. He said he’s planning to sit on the patio, eat crawfish and drink Barq’s Root Beer.”
She plans to be right there with him.
Mulkey described herself as “deliriously tired, but a happy tired,” saying she’s happy for a variety of people.
“Happy for LSU. Happy for Louisiana. Happy for the players — they’ve never been to the Final Four. Happy for the coaches, especially the ones who are experiencing a Final Four for the first time,” Mulkey said.
For Mulkey, the Final Four is familiar ground. She has been four other times as a coach, and she most recently led Baylor to a national championship in 2019.
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