NBA -- and LSU -- legend Shaquille O'Neal said Angel Reese was the greatest athlete ever to come out of the school after she led the Tigers to the school's first NCAA Championship in basketball, men's or women's, earlier in April. But despite the high praise, Reese feels it's too soon for that kind of statement.
"I called him after that. I was like, 'you know how much pressure you just put on me? You know how much?' He was like 'I don't give a f---.'" Reese said on Monday's episode of "The Breakfast Club."
The sophomore, who transferred to LSU from Maryland a year ago, was the school's leading scorer and rebounder through the 2022-23 season. She registered a single-season NCAA record of 34 double-doubles and was one of the strongest national Player of the Year candidates.
Still, Reese says she has not "done enough" to warrant the title Shaq gave her.
"I feel like I haven't done nothing yet so I told him don't even say that yet," she said on the podcast. "I won a championship but I just don't feel like I've done enough. I don't think I've done enough."
O'Neal was a two-time All-American, two-time SEC Player of the Year, and received the Adolph Rupp Player of the Year award during his time at LSU. However, the four-time NBA champion said Reese deserved the title as LSU's best athlete because she helped the school win a national championship -- something he wasn't able to do.
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow also won a national championship for LSU just a few years ago, but O'Neal said Reese is more athletic than him. Reese, Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase -- a now famous NFL wide receiver who won the 2019 championship with Burrow -- hung out on the sidelines of Tiger Stadium during a spring football game on Saturday and took pictures with their rings.
Reese explained that she hadn't realized how much weight it holds to win a national championship. The women's basketball star said she has been getting "the Joe Burrow type of treatment," but knows what she needs to do before she feels comfortable comparing herself to other former LSU legends.
"If I go into year two and I dominate, we dominate, yeah OK ... I feel like another championship and maybe Player of the Year would hold more weight," she said.
