Angel Reese concluded her college basketball career with the LSU Tigers following the 2024 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, following a remarkable journey to stardom.
After overcoming a foot injury during her time at Maryland, she transferred to LSU under Coach Kim Mulkey, which gave her the catchy nickname “Bayou Barbie” for her unique style, and she ran with it. As one of the top-earning student-athletes in the NIL era, Reese secured lucrative sponsorships with major brands. Her exceptional performance on the court helped LSU clinch its first NCAA basketball title in 2023, where she was recognized as the tournament’s most outstanding player. Notably, a memorable trash-talking moment during the championship game, towards Iowa star Caitlin Clark, garnered widespread attention, catapulting her to viral fame with a record-breaking viewership of 9.9 million.
“Of course, I like to do everything big,” Reese told Vogue magazine a week before the start of the NCAA Tournament. Her collaboration with Vogue magazine to tell this news speaks to her nature: trendsetting. Uncommon. Truly unique. Of course, she could have done the common thing by calling up a major media outlet to break the news, but in Bayou Barbie fashion, she ran to one of the leading fashion and culture websites to break the news, in fashion––literally.
“I didn’t want anything to be basic,” said Reese, who was inspired by Serena Williams to break the news with a photoshoot. “I’ve done everything I wanted to in college,” Reese says: “I’ve won a national championship, I’ve gotten [Southeastern Conference] Player of the Year, I’ve been an All-American. My ultimate goal is to be a pro—and to be one of the greatest basketball players to play, ever. I feel like I’m ready.”
“You don’t really realize it in the moment,” Reese told Vogue. She recollected waking up the next morning after winning the NCAA National Championship as a celebrity. Subsequently, Reese won the Breakthrough Athlete award at the ESPY Awards, was on the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, and bought herself a Mercedes-Benz for her 21st birthday before going to Jamaica. She also made a cameo in Cardi B and Latto’s “Put It on Da Floor Again.”
Of course, coinciding with any confident Black woman in America, that came with criticism. The words I witnessed surrounding Reese’s name over the past year were “cocky,” “entitled,” “ghetto-fabulous,” “too-boisterous,” and “flashy” just to name a handful, leaving out some of the more derogatory terms.
Here’s a clip of Emmanuel Acho on April 2 criticizing Reese.
We’re still in the pioneering days of NIL deals, allowing college athletes to monetize off their name, image, and likeness. Television personalities like Acho have spoken their minds on this, skeptical of how well young adults, mostly under the age of 22 years old can manage the money and fame, while still performing to the best of their ability.
“I wrote down: ‘People are going to doubt me thinking I got too Hollywood, I got too big-headed,’” Reese told Vogue. “But I said I was going to be SEC Player of the Year, and I was SEC Player of the Year.”
Reese has handled her fame masterfully and better than the majority of us would have been able to, even as adults. Reese ends her college career owning several NCAA records, including the single-season record in double-doubles.
Excellent article with a profound definition of a strong Black athlete and woman!