“The greatest athlete ever to come out of LSU sports” – Shaquille O'Neal lauds Angel Reese, calls her better than Joe Burrow
The NCAA Tournament may be over, but Shaquille O'Neal isn't done with giving Angel Reese her flowers after winning the national championship. Because of how Reese carried LSU to the championship, O'Neal didn't hesitate in crowning her as the best athlete to come out of the school.
O'Neal isn't shy about saying when someone is better than him. On his podcast, Shaq said that Reese, a first-team All-American and the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament, is the best athlete to come out of LSU, including himself.
The former LA Lakers superstar gave a valid reason why he chose the college star to be the best out of the galaxy of talent the school has produced.
"She's probably the athlete to ever come out of LSU sports. You heard it here first. Male and female," O'Neal said. "Because, guess what? She delivered. She delivered that package. See, a lot of us got that package and we still got the package in our truck. She delivered that package.
"So, you know, it's a lot of names you could throw around, men and women. But she's probably the greatest athlete. Some people are gonna exclude it to women athlete. I'm not doing that. She's the greatest athlete to ever come out of LSU because she got it done. Joe Burrow got it done a couple of years ago, but she's way more athletic than he is."
Shaq with some high praise for a fellow LSU athlete 👀
(via The Big Pod) https://t.co/oR5AmC19rR
This was Reese's first year at LSU after transferring from Maryland. It was amazing to see how she was able to lead the team to a title victory in just a year. The college star led the Tigers to a 102-85 win over Iowa with breakout star Caitlin Clark.
Winning the title was already enough for Reese, but Shaq's compliment must look like a cherry on top for Reese.
Burrow led LSU to the 2019 national championship in football, the school's first. He was the school's second Heisman Trophy winner and six other national trophies while being named the national player of the year.
As it is, O'Neal is putting Reese ahead of two Tigers legends in women's basketball alone: Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles, who led LSU to five straight Final Fours.
Augustus, a two-time national player of the year at LSU, was a four-time WNBA champion and three-time gold medal winner. Fowles, on two Final Four teams with Augustus and then two of her own, was a WNBA MVP, a two-time WNBA champion and a four-time gold medal winner.
Along with O'Neal, Burrow, Augustus and Fowles, the school boasts Bob Pettit, Pete Maravich, Alex Bregman, Aaron Nola, Lolo Jones, David Toms, Albert Belle, Justin Jefferson, Odell Beckham Jr., Tyrann Matthieu and Sha'Carri Richardson.
LSU has produced 50 national championships in team sports and hundreds of individual national champions, many on the strength of its elite men's and women's track and field programs and its gymnastics program. Thirty-four former Tigers have also combined for 45 Olympic gold medals.
LSU has had two No. 1 NBA draft picks (Shaquille O'Neal and Ben Simmons), with one in the WNBA (Augustus), three in the NFL (Joe Burrow, JaMarcus Russell and Billy Cannon) and one in the MLB (Ben McDonald). There are six Tigers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and three in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (Shaquille O'Neal, Bob Pettit and Pete Maravich).
You might also be interested in reading this: "Shaquille O'Neal would be a more dominant version of Giannis Antetokounmpo” – Isiah Thomas on 4x champion playing in modern NBA
Taking a look at the stats of Shaquille O'Neal at LSU
Before his legendary NBA career, people knew Shaquille O'Neal as the man in the middle for LSU. He spent four years in college before pursuing his dreams of becoming an NBA star. We won't be talking about his career in the pros, instead, we'll take a look at his stats from his college years.
As a freshman, O'Neal averaged 13.9 points, 12.0 rebounds and 3.6 blocks. Those numbers are already impressive, but he took it to another level in his sophomore year. Shaq averaged 27.6 points, 14.7 rebounds and 5.0 blocks in his second year, becoming a first-team All-American, the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and the national player of the year.
Before declaring for the NBA draft, the 7-foot-1 center averaged 24.1 points, 14.0 rebounds and 5.2 blocks as a junior, repeating as a first-team All-American and SEC Player of the Year. From there, he took his talents to the big leagues and added to his legend.
Also read: “He would not let me be down on myself” - Shaquille O'Neal on the influence of his stepfather on his legendary basketball career