With LSU star forward Angel Reese, a Baltimore native, missing in action and little explanation forthcoming from coach Kim Mulkey, the seventh-ranked Tigers are attracting unwanted scrutiny at the outset of their national title defense.
Recent drama involving not just Reese's absence, but critical comments by some players' parents on social media, began not long after a surprising season-opening loss for what on paper.
LSU women's basketball program spokesman Grant Kauvar said he couldn't predict how soon Reese might return, adding that people would just have to "come to the game and see."
Mulkey's reticence regarding Reese — one of the most popular and commercially successful athletes in all of women's college sports — has presented a public relations challenge for LSU and opened perhaps more room for speculation than LSU might have liked.
Brooks' specific refence to Reese's grade-point average has not been corroborated. Universities do not release transcripts without permission from the student in question and Mulkey has declined to comment on the parents' posts.
It would be highly unusual for a player to begin missing games because of academic eligibility after the basketball season started but before the end of the first semester of an academic year.
Mulkey offered no further explanation and didn't take any additional questions about Reese. No LSU players were made available for postgame interviews.