LSU survives second-round March Madness scare just a day after Kim Mulkey threatened to sue the Washington Post

The LSU women’s basketball team survived a March Madness scare in the second round, just one day after head coach Kim Mulkey threatened to sue the Washington Post over a “hit article” in an incredible rant.

Lady Tigers star Angel Reese once again showed up to get her teammates out of trouble after they trailed, 36-32, at the half against Middle Tennessee, while putting together a double-double performance (20 points and 11 rebounds). The final score was 83-56 in favor of LSU.

On Saturday, Mulkey attacked the “sleazy tactics of the media” after it was rumored that the Post would publish a story about her, just a year after she led LSU to win the women’s NCAA Tournament, although it is unclear whether what the article is about. would be treated.

“The lengths he’s gone to in trying to put together a successful piece,” Mulkey said of award-winning Post reporter Kent Babb, whom he did not mention by name. “After two years of trying to get me to sit down with him for an interview, he contacted LSU on Tuesday as we were preparing for the first round game of this tournament with more than a dozen questions, demanding an answer by Thursday. , right? before we are scheduled to give notice. Are you kidding me?

“This was a ridiculous deadline that LSU and I couldn’t meet, and the reporter knew it,” Mulkey continued. “It was just an attempt to stop me from commenting and an attempt to distract us from this tournament. It’s not going to work, man.

Babb confirmed to several outlets, including The Associated Press, that he is working on a profile of Mulkey, but declined to comment further. The Post declined to reveal the nature of Babb’s work. After Sunday afternoon’s game, a photo of Mulkey comforting Middle Tennessee’s Savannah Wheeler went viral as she placed her hands on the player’s cheeks, and fans quickly turned it into a meme.

An X user made a joke and captioned the message in which Mulkey asked Wheeler: ‘Do you work for the Washington Post? YOU?!?!?’

Babb has worked for The Washington Post for 14 years. Three times, her feature films have been named the best in the country by The Associated Press sports editors. Babb has also written two books: ‘Across the River: Life, Death, and Football in an American City’ and ‘Not A Game: The Incredible Rise and Unthinkable Fall of Allen Iverson.’

Mulkey is in her third season at LSU, which signed her to a 10-year, $36 million contract extension after she won her fourth national title as a coach last season. She also won three with Baylor, along with two as a player at Louisiana Tech and a gold medal as a player on Team USA in the 1984 Olympics.

Mulkey said he told Babb two years ago that he wouldn’t interview her because he “didn’t appreciate the great work she wrote on Brian Kelly,” the current LSU and former Notre Dame football coach.

“I’m fed up and I’m not going to let The Washington Post attack this university, this wonderful team of young women I have, or me without a fight,” Mulkey added. ‘I have hired the best defamation law firm in the country and I will sue the Washington Post if they publish a false story about me.

“There aren’t many people who are in a position to hold these types of journalists accountable, but I am and I will,” Mulkey said.

Mulkey accused Babb of trying to trick his former assistant coaches into speaking with him by giving them the false impression that Mulkey had agreed to be interviewed.

“When my former coaches talked to him and found out he wasn’t talking to the reporter, they were distraught and completely misled,” Mulkey said.

Mulkey added that former players told him the Post “contacted them and offered to remain anonymous in a story if they said negative things about me.”

“The Washington Post has called disgruntled former players to get negative quotes to include in their story,” Mulkey said. ‘They are ignoring more than 40 years of positive stories.

But you see, journalists who put up a megaphone for a one-sided, embellished version of things are not trying to tell the truth. “They are trying to sell newspapers and feed the clicking machine,” Mukley continued.

‘This is exactly why people no longer trust journalists and the media. It’s this kind of sleazy tactics and hatchet job that people are simply tired of.