Sticky Note: Flau'Jae Johnson for SEC Player of the Year

In the first edition of Sticky Notes, Tyler explains his vision for Flau'Jae Johnson as SEC Player of the Year.

Courtesy: LSU Athletics

Welcome all to a new No Cap Space series, Sticky Notes! Allow me to break this down for you.

We are all ball watchers. We are all ball talkers. Naturally as you are watching you are bound to come up with some takes. Now these can range anywhere from incredibly in-depth with stats and plays to back it up to just feeling a certain vibe.

In the super secret No Cap Space chat at times we have put these takes on sticky notes with a time and date to come back to, but look, we are willing to stand on it! And ultimately it isn’t as much as being right or wrong, but a fun way to look back on an inclination at one point and be able to dive in at a later date to where your basketball head was at. Thus, the Sticky Note series is born.

This first take is one that I have not been able to shake for months.

Flau’Jae Johnson is ready to level up and that can undoubtedly lead to her being the SEC Player of the Year.

Let’s go back to the last postseason which is where this began for me. Johnson had an absolutely ridiculous run, including 20+ point games in five of seven postseason matchups, and for my money’s worth should have been on the NCAA All-Tournament Team even if LSU was eliminated before the Final Four.

There was a tangible level-up from Johnson. Something had just shifted.

And those performances were on Angel Reese’s team. Now Johnson has a chance to lead her own.

Before we get into this season though, I want to talk about my brief interaction with Flau’Jae during the offseason and seeing her operate off the court.

At WNBA All-Star, I got to see Johnson in a true celebrity light (and really now everyone has seen it with accomplishments such as performing with Lil Wayne). She sat courtside, was on the big screen, and dapping up her LSU teammate Mikaylah Williams who was participating in the weekend with USA 3x3, which led to this hilarious moment with Flau’Jae’s watch.

I then also got to see Flau’Jae at Overtime Select where she was a guest head coach for their All-Star Weekend equivalent. At both events I saw Johnson do something I hadn’t really seen before. SHE went for the autographs and pictures. SHE was the one going to the fans as they screamed her name, going into the stands not leaving a single fan behind.

So why bring any of this up?

Flau’Jae Johnson is a real deal star. And is ready to level-up again, taking this LSU team as her own alongside her other very talented teammates, and I think you can already see that she isn’t shying away from anything at all.

Say what you want about LSU’s non-conference scheduling strategy, I know I have, but last season it took 12 games for Johnson to hit the 20 point mark. This season she has carried on her postseason form, starting off the season with back to back 20+ point games, both shooting above 60%. In game three of the season, she ends up with 18 points and adds 10 rebounds.

I had a SEC preseason vote and my Conference Player of the Year vote went to Johnson’s LSU teammate Aneesah Morrow (who just had a massive 20-20 game in her own right). Oklahoma’s Raegan Beers was just named AP Player of the Week. Texas’ Madison Booker is ABSOLUTELY going to have something to say about it.

Yet even with all that, I just can’t shake the feeling. Flau’Jae Johnson is leveling up. Flau’Jae Johnson is ready to be in the top tier of stars in women’s basketball.

So put it on a Sticky Note! Because if she does evolve in the way I think she can, better believe I will be coming back here to talk about it.

The college season is here! Watch in style with Homefield! Use promo code NOCAP15 for 15% off your first purchase here!