Louisiana State University is one of the most hallowed higher education institutions for the immense talent that has sprung from under the famed willow trees in Baton Rouge. Athletics is always at the forefront of the school’s mythology. With so many stars that have come from the institution, the debate on who is the greatest athlete to emerge from the Bayou has a new perspective, and it comes from one of LSU’s most famous alums, Shaquille O’Neal.
Shaq Diesel’s pick is surprisingly not himself or past notables but a current LSU star, 2023 women’s basketball champion Angel Reese.
Bold Claims
“She’s probably the greatest athlete ever to come out of LSU sports. You heard it here first,” Shaq said recently on “The Big Pod.” “Male and female. Ever.
“See, a lot of us got the package, and we still got the package in our truck. She delivered that package,” O’Neal continued. “It’s a lot of names to throw around, men and women, but she is probably the greatest athlete. Some people are going to exclude it to ‘woman athletes.’ I’m not doing that.”
Across all sports, LSU has won 50 NCAA championships, mostly in men’s and women’s track and baseball. This year’s women’s basketball championship was the school’s first, and the men haven’t won an NCAA basketball championship since 1935. Before Angel Reese and the Tigers won this year, Joe Burrow led the team to a title in 2019, and he is now a top-tier NFL quarterback that has played in one Super Bowl.
Based on Shaq’s Reese claim, NBA legend “Pistol” Pete Maravich, an LSU alum, is apparently second to Reese.
Better Than “Pistol Pete”?
Maravich is the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer with 3,667 points scored and an average of 44.2 points per game.
For Shaq, Reese bringing the school its first championship in the women’s ranks is enough to cement her athletically as the school’s best. Burrow brought the fourth football championship to LSU, and he was a transfer like Reese, who came to LSU from the University of Maryland. Burrow transferred from Ohio State to lead the football team to a national championship and got the Heisman trophy. O’Neal is bullish on Reese.
“She is the greatest athlete to ever come out of LSU because she got it done,” Shaq said. “Joe Burrow got it done a couple of years ago, but she is way more athletic than he is.”
The usually overconfident and hyper-competitive O’Neal also was clear when asked if he placed Reese over his own Tiger accomplishments with a resolute “yes.”
O’Neal played for the LSU Tigers from 1989 to 1992, winning many honors. He became a two-time SEC player of the year and two-time All-American, leading the nation in rebounds. O’Neal joined Billy Cannon, Bob Petit, and ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich as the only jerseys LSU retired in 2000 when his No. 33 jersey was canonized in the rafters. Still, Shaq did not deliver a championship to the Tigers.
From defending Reese against pundits like Keith Olbermann, who tweeted disrespectfully after Reese’s taunting during the championship game toward Caitlin Clark, to now having her as LSU’s best active player, Shaq is sold on Angel Reese.
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