Seimone Augustus said she will try to hold back the tears on Sunday. "But I am not saying if I can or not," said Augustus, a guard for the Lynx the past four seasons.
At 4:30 p.m. Sunday, her No. 33 Louisiana State jersey will be retired before the LSU-Tennessee women's basketball game.
It will hang from the rafters at the Maravich Center along with the jerseys of four male basketball players, Pete Maravich, Shaquille O'Neal, Bob Pettit and Rudy Macklin.
"It will be emotional," said Augustus, who was born and raised in Baton Rouge, La., and stayed home for college. "The community is all excited. They are calling me, calling my mom, being supportive. There is a great buzz. It is a great thing for our community."
Augustus was named a college coaches' All-America three times while at LSU and selected the nation's Player of the Year as a junior and senior.
Her college choice came down to LSU and Tennessee. "Of course, with all the success Tennessee has had, it was hard to say no to them," Augustus said, "but I have no regrets. We were successful."
Augustus led the Tigers to their first Elite Eight as a freshman in 2003 and then to three Final Fours in a row. She is second in career points in LSU women's basketball history with 2,702.
"I just hope [my career] inspired [other Tigers] to want to do better than I did," Augustus said in a news conference this week. "Everybody says it's a tough act to follow, but it's not impossible. Somebody can come along with the right work ethic and the right mindset, and they could come through and possibly do bigger things than I did. I didn't get a national championship while I was here, so that's a feat that some of the other young ladies that will follow behind me can attain."
Augustus also appreciates the historic aspect of this honor for her. "To be the first female athlete to have her jersey retired is ground-breaking, a big thing," Augustus said. "It will be emotional."
As was last year for both her and her family. Her father, Seymore, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in late May. She tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee on June 17, ending her season, and had surgery July 7.
She said her father, unable to walk for a while, is doing much better. He is walking with a cane.
Seimone Augustus' rehabilitation is going well, too. "I'm doing 1-on-1 [drills]," she said. "Maybe in two, three weeks I will start scrimmaging. I will be completely 100 percent for the WNBA season. We don't report to camp until late April."
She expects to be a little rusty at first but not for long.
"I know the game," said Augustus, a free agent who can't sign until Feb. 1. She expects to re-sign with the Lynx.
Augustus is a little upset, though, with the revised starting time of the LSU-Tennessee game. "It was supposed to be at 2 p.m., then ESPNU wanted to do the game and it got moved back to 5 p.m.," Augustus said.
She is a huge fan of the New Orleans Saints and the NFC Championship Game with the Vikings starts at 5:40 p.m.
Augustus, of course, expects her Saints to win. After the Vikings routed Dallas on Sunday, Augustus sent this text to a Lynx official: "You about to feel the WHO DAT Nation! I'm wearing Saints gear all week."
