Last Season: 18–12, NCAA Second Round

	Johnson it out to prove last season was no fluke.

Though Sue Gunter has 651 wins in her career, the 61-year-old coach has never made it to her sport's biggest stage. But oh, is she close. LSU returns everyone from the six-player rotation that beat Tennessee to reach the SEC title game, including 5'3" junior PG Temeka Johnson (11.1 ppg, 7.5 apg). And these Tigers should go even farther because of two key additions: fifth-year senior F DeTrina White (9.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg two years ago before missing last season with a foot injury) and freshman sensation Seimone Augustus, who chose her hometown school over Tennessee and Duke after an intense recruiting battle. "I've had every conceivable type of pressure except this one," Gunter says of the lofty ranking. "And I like this one the best."

One Step Ahead: Maybe because her teams have never had a true do-everything phenom, Gunter teaches a simple motion offense in which only three things matter: execution, execution, execution. Exhausting to defend, the system leads to victories without superstars. But watch out -- Augustus is a superstar in the making.

One Step Behind: Expectations are sky-high in Baton Rouge, but experience is low. Only one Tiger (White) has ever started a Sweet 16 game (a win over Duke in 2000). Nobody knows how LSU will handle a high seed come March. What we do know is that Gunter's bunch shot only 36.1% in their 2002 Tourney loss to Colorado.

2002-2003 NCAA PREVIEW
WOMEN
1. Duke Blue Devils	5. LSU Tigers
2. Tennessee Volunteers	6. Texas Tech Red Raiders
3. Kansas State Wildcats	7. Texas Longhorns
4. UConn Huskies	8. Stanford Cardinal

This article will appear in the November 25 issue of ESPN The Magazine.