A quote from Angel Reese when she left LSU for the WNBA doesn’t get used nearly enough. “I’m leaving college with everything I ever wanted,” she replied. “A degree, a national championship, and this platform.” The degree came first for her. It’s not as important as it seems that little thing.
Reese grew up in Randallstown, Maryland. It’s not the kind of place that usually ends up in books about sports mythology, but it does make people tough. Even though her basketball skills were clear from a young age, the way she and her family chose to spend their money on school shows how they thought about the future.
She started going to school at Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore, which is an independent Catholic school known for both its academics and sports. Reese went there for four years and had one of the best high school basketball careers in the history of the state. Saint Frances was never just a basketball team, though. There were real academic expectations at her school, and Reese later said that the environment had shaped how she saw the world. Before she even went to college, her number 10 jersey was retired. She was the first female player to receive that honor, and it felt like the school was recognizing more than just her scoring average.
In November 2019, she made her decision to attend the University of Maryland, making her the top-ranked recruit in the school’s history. The reasons she gave were very clear. Yes, how close it was to home did matter. She did have faith in head coach Brenda Frese. But she also pointed out Maryland’s good schools, especially the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. That’s not something a player would say unless it really affected the decision.
A broken right foot cut short her freshman year at Maryland, which is the kind of setback that tests a person in a quiet way. She got better, was named to the third team of All-Americans as a sophomore, and then made one of the most important decisions of her young life: she transferred to LSU before the 2022–23 season. She kept up with her schoolwork even though she had to get used to a new campus, a new system, and what turned out to be huge national attention.
Reese’s major at LSU was kinesiology, which is the study of how people move, sports science, and physical performance. It seems like a field that would be a good fit for her. As someone who has spent her whole life learning what her body can do by pushing it through growth spurts, injuries, and high-level competition, it makes sense that she would want to study the science behind it all. A long-term view is also implied, the kind of thinking that goes beyond just playing a sport and into understanding it.
Over four years of college, she didn’t just build a list of athletic accomplishments, though that list is impressive in and of itself. She moved on. That may sound like a simple goal, but for famous athletes in big programs, the pressure to put sport ahead of study is constant and real. Finishing a degree is a real commitment. For one season, she set the NCAA record for most double-doubles. She also led LSU to a national championship and became one of the most famous women’s basketball players.
This is a good place to sit down and think. She’s talked a lot about what her platform means for “girls who look like her.” When you look at the bigger picture, you can understand that message differently. Behind the personality and the highlights, there was a student who studied kinesiology, chose a school partly because of its journalism program, and made sure she had a degree before she went into the draft.
It wasn’t her education that made her famous. It’s hard not to think that it got her ready, though.
