DiDi Richards and her former Baylor coach, Kim Mulkey, the new boss at LSU, find themselves in a similarly pressurized situation — parts of a newly formed superteams.
Richards, a 24-year-old guard/forward, is entering her third season with the Liberty, who arguably had the most successful offseason in the WNBA.
They acquired three of the best veteran players available: signing Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot in free agency and aquiring Jonquel Jones in a trade from Connecticut.
The Liberty now boast a star-stacked roster that is heavily favored to win its first WNBA championship.
With rosters needing to be finalized before the season opener on May 19 against the Mystics, Richards has more talent pitted against her to earn a roster spot.
Last season, the 6-foot-2 Richards appeared in 14 of the team’s 36 games, averaging 2.3 points and shooting just 30.6 percent from the field.
Similarly, LSU’s recent first NCAA tournament championship win over Iowa helped bring exposure to the university, and Mulkey is now fitting together the pieces of her team, with the addition of the top two players from the transfer portal — Aneesah Morrow from DePaul and Hailey Van Lith from Louisville.
“Go freakin’ Kim Mulkey, like what!” Richards said at the Liberty’s media day.
Mulkey needed to reload her team to remain in championship contention, with star point guard Alexis Morris off to the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun and LaDazhia Williams signed to play in the Israeli Female Basketball Premier League.
Now, she has built a women’s college superteam.
The Tigers will be led by Final Four Most Outstanding Player Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson.
With Van Lith and Morrow, one of the nation’s top scorers and rebounders the past two seasons, by their sides, LSU’s threat only increases.
Richards is on the hunt for her first WNBA championship ring and Mulkey after her fifth national championship.
The pair won one together in the 2018-2019 season when Baylor defeated Notre Dame, 82-81.
It was Mulkey’s third title win. Richards scored six points in the championship game, going 3-for-5, along with six assists and two steals.
In Richards’ Baylor career, she averaged 6.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.3 assists over 131 games.
She was known as a defensive specialist, earning three Big 12 All-Defense awards and the 2019-2020 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.
Richards is thrilled to see current college women’s basketball players finding success in NIL deals, outside branding opportunities she had no access to while at Baylor.
“Oh, my gosh, it’s so important. I’m so happy it’s happening. I’m a little jealous. I wish it would have happened while I was in college, but I’m really happy that it’s happening,” Richards said about the significance of building a brand before arriving on the WNBA scene.
Since the summer of 2021, when the Division I Board of Directors approved the policy, a number of the top women’s basketball players have profited greatly, such as Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Reese and Johnson.
“I got dropped in New York City where everything is, the lights are big here,” Richards said. “The world is big here and I had no idea what my brand was and how I wanted to build a brand. …
“They have that now. So, whenever they get to the big leagues, they have nothing to worry about. So, I’m kind of excited that they were able to do that … at such a young age.”