Why Kim Mulkey's LSU women's basketball can – and can't – reach March Madness' Final Four

BATON ROUGE – Kim Mulkey maintains that her rebuild of LSU women's basketball is far ahead of schedule.

A week after falling in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament to the Tennessee Lady Vols, she and her Tigers (28-2) learned that they were a No. 3 seed hosting No. 14 seed Hawaii inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center during the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Friday. LSU's reveal on Selection Sunday marked the second straight season in March Madness as a No. 3 seed for the program.

After being upset at home in the second round by Ohio State last season, the biggest question is how far will the LSU Tigers advance in the NCAA Tournament this year?

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LSU women's basketball has Angel Reese. She can take over games in March Madness

Especially early in the NCAA Tournament, teams greatly benefit from having a special talent. LSU sophomore star forward Angel Reese is just that.

Reese, in her first season in Baton Rouge, has helped carry the team to one of its best seasons in program history. The majority of LSU's opponents this season did not have an answer for the 6-foot-3 relentless rebounder. Reese also is one of Kim Mulkey's top defenders, highlighted by her perimeter guarding where she can get steals.

For the year, she's posted 23.4 points per game, good enough for fifth in women's college basketball, as well as 15.5 rebounds, the second-best mark in the country.

Kim Mulkey has championship pedigree to return to Final Four

There are only four active women's basketball coaches that have won at national championship. Mulkey is among that super elite group.

The three-time title winner has guided her teams to 21 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including coaching her first LSU team last season to the second round. And before Ohio State upset the No. 3 Tigers at home last year, Mulkey's teams had advanced to at least the Elite Eight eight of the previous nine seasons.

If any coach possesses the blueprint to get to the Final Four and knows what it takes to get there, Mulkey certainly does.

LSU Tigers' lack of consistency from rest of starting five outside Angel Reese, Alexis Morris could keep them from Final Four

Reese is going to get you a double-double. Senior point guard Alexis Morris has played her best basketball over the final stretch of the season, scoring 15.8 points per game during SEC play.

But the rest of the Tigers' starting lineup is where the questions reside. Will senior Jasmine Carson knock down shots? She's averaged just 33% from the 3-point line and managed just 8.5 points in league play.

How much responsibility on both ends of the floor can be placed on freshman Flau'jae Johnson? Johnson is recording 10 points per game but the bigger guard has had plenty of games where she's completely disappeared for long stretches.

Senior forward LaDazhia Williams has been playing better of late but she hasn't kept the consistency much at all this season.

NCAA Tournament is all about matchups. Indiana women's basketball is a bad one

Plenty of people following last season's upset have asked how LSU lost to a lower seed on its home floor. The NCAA Tournament is all about matchups. And for Mulkey's team last season, without Morris who was injured, the Buckeyes were a bad matchup with its near-40 minutes of press with longer perimeter players.

One team legitimately stands in the Greenville 2 region of keeping LSU from Dallas. And that's the region's top seed, Indiana.

The Hoosier are led by one of the country's top players in senior forward Mackenzie Holmes. And she's complemented by consistent perimeter players in graduate senior Grace Berger at guard and junior wing players Sydney Parrish and Chloe Moore-McNeil.

More important than the stats is the chemistry and experience Indiana coach Teri Moren's squad has as the core of the team has played together for three years now.

Prediction: LSU makes the Elite Eight

No. 6 seed Michigan (19-12), who LSU could see in the second round in Baton Rouge, has struggled to stay healthy as its "big three" in Leigha Brown, sophomore Laila Phelia and Emily Kiser as they've all missed time this year due to injury. They don't have as much time together on the court as LSU and others, like No. 11 UNLV (31-2).

The Rebels have a great record but they play in the lowly Mountain West Conference.

No. 2 Utah (25-4) could await the Tigers in the Sweet Sixteen in Greenville. But LSU matches up pretty well with the Utes, despite the fact they've played almost twice as many Quad 1 games than LSU.

Junior forward Alissa Pili leads the Pac-12 in scoring this season at 20.3 points per game but that conference isn't heavy with efficient bigs outside of Stanford. Reese can pose a formidable presence against Pili to get the Tigers to the Elite Eight, where they'll ultimately fall to Indiana.

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: March Madness prediction: Why LSU women's basketball makes Final Four