It’s not uncommon for coaches to show high level of emotion or place blame following a tough loss, especially when said loss comes against an in-conference rival. With that said, Kentucky coach Nick Mingione did exactly the opposite, showing immense respect for coach Jay Johnson and LSU baseball following their 2024 SEC Tournament loss to the Tigers yesterday.
Kentucky coach Nick Mingione shows immense respect to coach Jay Johnson following 2024 SEC Tournament loss
It wasn’t long ago that LSU baseball looked like they were just going to be the latest case of a significant drop off falling a national championship run. Starting conference play with an abysmal 3-12 SEC record, things were going about as poorly as one could possibly imagine for the Tigers in 2024.
With that said, coach Jay Johnson and his squad never gave in, and now they have quickly become one of the hottest teams in the entire country, most recently defeating No. 3 Kentucky in the 2024 SEC Tournament. Notably, yesterday’s win over the Wildcats might have been one of their most impressive of the season, as Kentucky coach Nick Mingione managed to get his team to a regular season 2024 SEC title to go along with a ranking of No. 2 nationally.
Still, the Kentucky head coach wasn’t too phased by the loss, and instead took the time to give props to coach Jay Johnson’s work, saying, “It’s really hard to repeat. It’s really hard to repeat. Look at what’s happened to the two previous national champions. They didn’t even make our conference tournament the last two years. It’s just a real challenge.”
Two years ago, the Mississippi State Bulldogs won the 2021 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament, but followed it up with a 26-30 record, failing to make the postseason in 2022. That same season, the Ole Miss Rebels were crowned national champions for the first time in program history, but won just six conference games in 2023, finishing last in the SEC.
“Talking with one of the other coaches in the league, I thought he said it great. This league is like the greatest, most intense tug of war. It’s like the greatest match of tug of war, and there’s just heavy weights.”
It’s never been easy to win in the SEC. Notably, the 2024 season is no different, as 11 out of the 14 teams in the conference could end up making the NCAA tournament this season. In turn, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that the Tigers had to work through some growing pains following significant losses from last season’s roster.
“They lost a lot of pieces off that previous team,” coach Nick Mingione continued. “They had to figure out and get some guys in some new roles and move them around, and some guys are just not there anymore. And then all of a sudden, you have a new pitching coach come in, and there’s just so many moving pieces that have to happen, and by the way, the whole time you’re trying to figure stuff out, everybody else just keeps pulling really hard.”
Now, following two straight dominant 2024 SEC Tournament victories – including an 11-0 win over Kentucky – it’s probably safe to say that coach Jay Johnson and LSU baseball have officially figured things out, and they’ve somehow turned themselves into one of the hottest teams in college baseball.
“This is what I know, I will say this, and I believe this with all my heart. Jay Johnson is one of the best coaches in all of college baseball. And if there was somebody who was gonna figure it out, it was him. And sometimes, it just takes longer. Is it easy? No, but I think we can all agree that when you look at their team, and you look at their arms, and you look at their positional players, they have plenty good enough players, and they are clearly one of the best 64 teams in the country.”
The purple and gold are now on a five game win streak, and have come out on top in 16 out of their last 21. Even if the NCAA Tournament committee didn’t want to include the Tigers in their 64-team bracket, Jay Johnson has officially made it nearly impossible for them to do so.
There’s still work to be done, and they will need to keep the hot streak going if they want to continue surprising people this postseason. With that said, all eyes are currently on the task at hand, as No. 11 LSU baseball will soon take on No. 10 South Carolina today in the 2024 SEC Tournament at 4:30 p.m. CST on SEC Network.
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