If you follow LSU women's basketball you know all the talk this offseason has been about Angel Reese and the new LSU transfers, Hailey Van Lith and Annesah Morrow. These names have been discussed time and time again and rightfully so. These are three of the most talented players in the country, but there's a name that maybe isn't getting talked about enough that college basketball fans will know soon enough and that's the former 2022-2023 All-SEC Freshman Sa'Myah Smith.

Smith started for the Tigers on Thursday against Queens University and turned in her greatest performance as a Tiger on Thursday night in just the second game of her young sophomore season helping LSU en-route to a 112-55 win against the Royals.

You could make a valid argument that her production on Thursday was elevated due to the quality of opponent. Queens after all is a second-year division one program and is an Atlantic Sun program projected to finish near the bottom of their conference, so sure you can add that for context if you want. But that doesn't take away the fact that in 18 minutes of basketball, the 6-foot-2 forward put up a career-high 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting, and contributed 8 rebounds, a steal and a block on the defensive end.

If you rewind to just a few days ago, even in LSU's disappointing 92-78 loss to No.20 Colorado, Smith was really one of the few bright spots on the night.

In the loss to Colorado, she was a consistent and reliable presence on the offensive end of the court and was my Player of the Game on Monday night. So even off the bench against elite competition she provided a spark and a bit of hope on a night that didn't feature a lot of hope for the reigning NCAA champions.

On Wednesday LSU head coach Kim Mulkey praised Smith's efforts against Colorado in a game that left a lot to be desired for the team as a whole.

"What she has done is become more knowledgeable on how to guard a bigger post player," LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said on Sa'Myah Smith's development. "She did some good things the other night her and Mikaylah, they weren't intimidated, they weren't afraid, I thought they gave good effort."

Mulkey rewarded that effort electing to start the sophomore on Thursday against Queens and Smith followed that up with a career night against the Royals and let's not fault her for the level of competition she was arguably one of the best players on the court Thursday night.

While she got the start on Thursday, it'll be interesting to see how Mulkey utilizes her going forward. She may not become a mainstay in the starting lineup, but she's certainly making her case for more minutes and if she maintains this pace it's going to be hard for the LSU staff to keep her off the floor.

Sa'Myah Smith might not be a household name just yet, but she's already an emerging presence on both ends of the floor for college basketball's reigning national champs and is a name college basketball fans will know soon enough.