BATON ROUGE – LSU men’s and women’s basketball media day is set for Thursday at the LSU Basketball Practice Facility and fans can watch head coaches Trent Johnson and Nikki Caldwell address the media live on LSUsports.net.
Caldwell, who enters her first season as head coach of the Lady Tigers, will take the podium at 12:45 p.m. Johnson, who is in his fourth season with the Tigers, follows at approximately 1:15 p.m.
Video interviews with players will be posted on LSUsports.net following the event which is closed to the public.
Fans can follow media day coverage on LSU’s social media outlets:
LSU Men’s Basketball
Twitter: @LSUBasketball
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball
Trent Johnson Twitter: @LSUCoachJohnson
LSU Women’s Basketball
Twitter: @LSUwbkb
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/LSUwbkb
Nikki Caldwell Twitter: @NikkiCaldwell
Caldwell arrives at LSU after turning UCLA into a national power in just three seasons. The 2010 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, Caldwell compiled a 72-26 record with the Bruins to go along with a pair of Pac-10 runner-up finishes. She won national championships as both a player and assistant coach at Tennessee.
The Lady Tigers return 10 letterwinners and five seniors from a squad that just missed earning an NCAA Tournament berth. LSU, ranked 24th in a Sporting News preseason poll, takes on Xavier (New Orleans) in an exhibition contest on Nov. 2 in the Maravich Center. The official home opener will pit the Lady Tigers against No. 8 Georgetown on Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.
Coach Johnson is in his fourth year at LSU and his Tiger team has both talent and depth inside and outside as it prepares for its season opener on Nov. 12 at the PMAC against Nicholls State.
The Tigers are led by returning SEC Freshman team member Ralston Turner, the leading scorer for the Tigers a year ago. The Tiger team in 2011-12 features Iowa State transfer 7-0 Justin Hamilton, McDonald’s All-American Johnny O’Bryant III and Kentucky Mr. Basketball Anthony Hickey. After having no seniors in 2011, the team will have the leadership of three in 2012 – Chris Bass, Storm Warren and Malcolm White.
The Tigers begin preparations for the season with a closed practice Friday evening in the Maravich Center practice facility.