LSU leans into underdog narrative ahead of Sweet 16 with Jayden Daniels-narrated hype video

LSU may be the defending national champions, but they've embraced a Cinderella mentality ahead of the Sweet 16.

The LSU women’s basketball team may be the defending national champions, led by a coach in Kim Mulkey with four career titles under her belt.

But they certainly don’t want you to know that. As far as the No. 3-seeded Tigers are concerned, they’re the underdog heading into a Sweet 16 matchup against UCLA on Saturday — which is true from a seeding perspective, though LSU is, in fact, the favorite.

Regardless, Mulkey’s team is embracing a Cinderella mentality, and that was reiterated on Friday evening when the team posted a hype video narrated by 2023 Heisman-winning quarterback and likely top-five draft pick Jayden Daniels.

That team LSU vs. everyone else

That Kid Jayden @JayD__5 pic.twitter.com/j0pdHB4STt

— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) March 29, 2024

The video and caption wasn’t the first attempt LSU has made to convince us it’s an underdog.

On Friday, Mulkey said the Bruins were “supposed to win” Saturday’s Sweet 16 matchup, per Yahoo Sports’ Cassandra Negley.

“Look, [UCLA is] supposed to win the game,” Mulkey said at MVP Arena on Friday ahead of a Sweet 16 meeting in the Albany 2 regional. “They’re the 2 seed, we’re the 3 seed. But we’re not going to go away. We’re going to fight hard.”

Those sentiments were echoed by point guard Hailey Van Lith.

“We’re choosing to focus on how a lot of people think they can knock us off because that gives us the underdog edge, and we perform better with the underdog edge,” Van Lith told reporters in the locker room after their first practice in Albany. “That’s just the makeup of our team and that’s how we respond.”

…

“We’re playing the mind game with ourselves a little bit that everybody wants us to be knocked off,” Van Lith said. “Everybody thinks they can beat us. Everybody doesn’t think we’re going to win. So that’s what we’re choosing to put our energy into because ultimately that’s going to motivate us to get the best result.”

If Mulkey’s team — which is favored by 2.5 points as of Friday night per BetMGM — can pull off the “upset,” it could set up a national championship rematch in the Elite Eight against Iowa and superstar Caitlin Clark.