Grace Under Pressure

For Bob Starkey and the LSU Lady Tigers, Selection Monday was finally a chance to show everyone that no, they will not fade away from the NCAA Tournament without a fight. While reports have surfaced that some in their own athletic department want them to lose early so they are away from the media glare and the "bad" publicity that comes each time the Pokey Chatman saga is placed on the news, the Lady Tigers are showing true resiliency and look poised to make another run in the NCAA's.

Three players were made available to the media on Monday and while they didn't have to speak to the controversy at hand, star player Sylvia Fowles made one thing clear: what Pokey did does not involve them and will not affect them in the tournament. She also made it clear no matter what happens, Pokey will still be a part of the LSU program.

"Pokey's always been a great person, she's like my mom and it's going to stay that way from here on out," Fowles said. "No matter what people say, I'm not going to look at her any different."

Fowles said losing Chatman meant losing "her demeanor that she brings to the team, but a lot of people don't know that Bob [Starkey] also brings the same things to the table even though he was always behind the scenes."

Rashanta LeBlanc also made it clear that the team is tight and focused on the goal of making their postseason run count.

"As a team, we've come to the conclusion that's something we're not going to talk about. We're going to focus on playing basketball, hopefully trying to make it to the Final Four. So as long as that's our focus, we have no problem."

For fans of the Lady Tigers, Monday was a good night to finally see how the team was dealing with the scandal, and at least on the surface it appears that it is business as usual for the team, as Coach Starkey has seemingly distanced the team from what Pokey Chatman did and how LSU's administration has bungled the handling of every facet of the public release of the information since the start.

While Skip Bertman, Pokey Chatman and the institution of LSU might be forever damaged from the fallout, it seems clear that the LSU Lady Tiger Program is in good shape and might become the surprise of the tourney.