TO: Fans, Friends, and Supporters of LSU Athletics
FROM: Skip Bertman, Athletics Director
Two Final Fours. Two SEC Champions.
No other school in the United States placed both their men’s and women’s basketball teams in the Final Fours this year. Only six schools in the history of college basketball have done it.
No other school in the history of the Southeastern Conference has won both the men’s and women’s basketball titles outright in the same season. Until this year.
We can all be proud of our Tigers and Lady Tigers. But they have done more than just win games. They’ve won the hearts of people who never before followed the Purple and Gold.
These LSU teams have proven the true worth that athletics can represent for a University. Their parades through March Madness electrified our community. At every grocery store, gas station and coffee house we could overhear conversations that mentioned “Tigers,” “Final Four,” “Big Baby” and “Seimone” as our fellow citizens anticipated the next game.
Not only did their success hearten and rally our state, it caught the attention of the nation. And it did so in a manner rarely enjoyed by a University.
Besides the usual exposure a Final Four team receives through the sports media, our Tigers and Lady Tigers became a national story as a result of their unique personalities and participation in the recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina.
Louisiana State University received good-news coverage by way of stories about the men’s basketball team on the CBS Evening News and CNN. Our band and cheerleaders also appeared on the CBS Morning News live from Indianapolis.
Seimone Augustus, under the banner headline “Eye of the Tiger,” was featured on the front page ? not the sports page, but the front page ? of USA Today on March 14. Think of how many USA Today newsstands you have seen on street corners and in front of convenience stores, as well as in airports and hotels, and consider the positive exposure our University received all across America by this single news story.
Similar stories appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times and the LA Daily News.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco addressed each of the teams prior to their appearances in the Final Fours and expressed her appreciation for the roles they have played in bringing enjoyment to the people of our state during a most difficult year. Our players and coaches were humbled by her remarks, and they recognized the unique significance of their success in this particular athletic season following the devastating hurricanes of 2005.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers did many great things on the basketball court this season, and it earned them trips to the Final Fours in Indianapolis and Boston. But you can also be proud of the way they represented LSU and its fans, and the positive exposure it afforded Louisiana State University on the national stage.
TOP FIVE SUCCESS
LSU is the only school in America to place its football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams in the Top 5 in the nation in the final polls for those respective sports in this athletic year.
LSU football finished No. 5 in the USA Today Poll, men’s basketball finished No. 3 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll and women’s basketball finished No. 4 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll.
It takes committed and talented student-athletes, dedicated and hard-working coaches and great fans to reach this level of excellence.
NCAA ACTION ON CAMPUS
“March Madness” now turns to “April Action” on the LSU campus Friday night when the LSU gymnastics team plays host to the 2006 NCAA Central Regional Gymnastics Championships in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The meet begins at 6 p.m.
April is not just the new month, it is the name of the most decorated gymnast in the rich history of Tiger Gymnastics. April Burkholder will be competing in her final meet at the Maravich Center after a stellar career that has earned her nine All-American honors and two SEC Gymnast of the Year awards.
April is one of three seniors on a talented Tiger squad that will be competing against five other teams to reach the NCAA Championships to be held in Corvallis, Oregon, later this month. The top two teams in Friday’s meet will advance to Corvallis.
Joining seventh-ranked LSU will be No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 16 Penn State, No. 20 Kentucky, Michigan State and Ohio State. I hope you will come out Friday night to see some of America’s best collegiate gymnasts in action.
AND MORE ACTION
Catch our 11th-ranked softball team in action this weekend when the Tigers face Auburn in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday at Tiger Park, followed by a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. Also, the Lady Tiger tennis team is in SEC play against Alabama at 4 p.m. Friday at the Dub Robinson Tennis Stadium, and again on Sunday versus Auburn at 1 p.m.
We welcome your comments, so write to us at LSUvision@etigers.net. Although we cannot promise a response to every e-mail we receive, please be assured that every letter will be read. Thank you for your continued support of Tiger Athletics.