LSU's Seimone Augustus to be enshrined into Naismith Hall of Fame on Sunday
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – LSU assistant coach Seimone Augustus will be officially enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Augustus’ basketball journey, which started as a kid on her family’s gravel driveway in Baton Rouge, has led her to three halls of fame this year. In addition to this weekend’s enshrinement into the Naismith Hall of Fame, Augustus was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in April and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in June.
Enshrinement Weekend will tip off at Mohegan Sun on Saturday, October 12, starting with the always-popular autograph session, followed by the headlining Tip-Off Celebration and Awards Gala.
The Hall of Fame Class of 2024 will be formally enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in a nationally televised ceremony on NBA TV on Sunday, beginning at 5 p.m.
In May, Coach Kim Mulkey (Naismith Hall of Fame Class of 2020) announced she would hire Augustus to join the LSU Women’s Basketball staff. LSU’s season begins on November 4 against Eastern Kentucky in the PMAC. The Tigers also have two exhibitions that will be free for fans to attend against Xavier (New Orleans) on October 24 and LSU-Alexandria on October 30.
Augustus helped transform the LSU Women’s Basketball program to a national power during her playing days and in joining Coach Mulkey’s staff, will look to continue to enhance the program on a national level. As a player at LSU, Augustus led the Tigers to their first three Final Four appearances (2004, 2005, 2006) before going on to star in the WNBA and on the world stage.
Former LSU Athletics Director Skip Bertman called her “the single most important recruit in the history of LSU Athletics.” The date was April 30, 2002. The nation’s top high school prospect, 18-year-old Seimone Augustus of Capitol High School in Baton Rouge, pledged her commitment to the LSU Tigers. It would forever change the landscape of LSU women’s basketball as the ensuing four years would forever put the Tigers on the national scene as Augustus would establish herself as one of the greatest players in NCAA history.
In her first season as a Tiger, Augustus brought the Tigers to the Elite Eight and became just the second player in school history to be named National Freshman of the Year. One year later, LSU broke through to the Final Four to start a string of five straight Final Four appearances for the Tigers. Augustus had back-to-back 29-point games against Texas and Georgia.
As a junior Augustus had one of the finest seasons in LSU history. She won the State Farm Wade Trophy, the Naismith Award and the John R. Wooden Award as the nation’s top player, a first for any LSU player. She became the 23rd player in school history to reach 1,000 career points and the eighth to accomplish the feat in two seasons or less as LSU reached another Final Four.
Augustus continued to improve going into her senior season where she won even more National Player of the Year honors en route to another Final Four. She earned the Wade Trophy, Naismith Award and John Wooden Award again, and she was recognized as the Associated Press National Player of the Year in 2006. She closed her career as a starter in 140 games, a school record at LSU. She also led the nation in points per game with 22.7.
In each of her four years, Augustus received All-America honors. Today, she is still the only player in school history to earn State Farm Coaches Association All-America honors three times.
Augustus ended her career with 2,702 points — second most in school history – and she became just the fourth player and first since 1995 to reach the 2,000-point plateau. She rewrote the record books at LSU as she scored in double figures in a school-record 97 straight games. Augustus reached double digits in 132 of 140 career games, the most in NCAA history.
Beyond the statistics, was the bond she built with the fans, the community, the coaching staff and her teammates. On Feb. 23, 2003, LSU would play before a crowd of 15,217 against Tennessee, a record at the time. By the time her career was over, all of LSU’s top-five crowds came during her time at LSU; attendance numbers that were not touched until the previous two seasons where LSU’s brand has soared under Coach Mulkey, catapulted by the 2023 National Championship.
Nearly eight years after her signing day, Augustus became the first woman in school history to have her jersey retired. On Jan. 24, 2010, her No. 33 jersey was unveiled in the Maravich Center rafters hanging proudly next to the likes of Pete Maravich and Shaquille O’Neal. And then on January 15, 2023, Augustus became the first LSU female student athlete to be honored with her own statue with Maravich, O’Neal and Bob Pettit’s in LSU’s Plaza of Legacy.
The No. 1 pick of the Minnesota Lynx in the 2006 WNBA Draft, Augustus took her game to even further heights as a professional, quickly winning WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2006. She won four WNBA Championships and was named MVP of the 2011 WNBA Finals. Augustus earned All-WNBA first team honors in 2012 and was a second team selection five times. She was an eight-time All-Star. In 391 regular-season WNBA games, Augustus scored over 6,000 points and ranks among the league’s Top 10 all-time scorers.
Augustus and her former teammate Sylvia Fowles became the first United States Olympians in LSU women’s basketball history as the two helped the Americans claim gold in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The 2016 Olympics were played as Baton Rouge suffered from catastrophic flooding.
The Class of 2024:
North American Committee (in alphabetical order): Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter, Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Bo Ryan, Charles Smith
Women's Committee: Seimone Augustus
Men’s Veteran Committee: Dick Barnett
Women's Veteran Committee: Harley Redin
International Committee: Michele Timms
Contributors Committee: Doug Collins, Herb Simon, Jerry West
Curt Gowdy Award Winners (in alphabetical order):
Debbie Antonelli – Electronic Media Award Winner
J.A. Adande – Print Media Award Winner
“NBA Inside Stuff” – Transformative Media Award Winner
SLAM Magazine/Dennis Page – Transformative Media Award Winner
John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award Winner:
JoAn Scott