Meet Angel Reese, the 'Bayou Barbie' and most outstanding player of the NCAA women's basketball tournament

• LSU Tigers star Angel Reese was named the most outstanding player of the NCAA women's basketball tournament.

• She comes from a family of basketball players — her cousin won the men's NCAA tournament.

• She's been at the center of a couple of controversies in recent days.

Angel Reese is a shooting guard and small forward for LSU's women's basketball team, who were recently crowned the NCAA champs.

The LSU Lady Tigers beat the University of Iowa's Hawkeyes on April 2, bringing March Madness and the 2023 NCAA women's basketball tournament to a close.

Reese has become a breakout star in college basketball. One analyst reported she'd been mentioned on Twitter 500,000 times over a four-day period, with a reach of 3.4 billion.

Keep reading to learn more about Reese, her basketball pedigree, and why she's become so popular.

Reese was named the most outstanding player of the tournament, among various other honors bestowed on her throughout the season.

Reese was named the most outstanding player in the NCAA tournament, Yahoo News reported. She was also unanimously given first-team All-American and SEC first-team All-Defensive honors.

As Insider's Meredith Cash reported, Reese's skill is almost unparalleled. She recorded 25 points and 24 rebounds during the game against the University of Michigan on March 19. Forget college basketball — only two NBA players have matched that stat this season.

The performance also made her the first player in March Madness history to rack up 25 points and 24 rebounds.

Reese comes from a family of basketball players: Her parents both played in college and her younger brother, Julian, currently plays for the University of Maryland.

Her brother plays for the University of Maryland Terps (or Terrapins). They were knocked out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by the University of Alabama.

Her mom, also named Angel, played forward at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and professionally in Luxembourg, according to ESPN. Her father, Michael, played at Boston College and Loyola before embarking on a professional career in Europe.

Her cousin Jordan Hawkins plays for the University of Connecticut, the winners of the men's NCAA tournament this year.

Hawkins' team beat the San Diego State Aztecs on April 3 to bring home the NCAA trophy for the fifth time in the school's history.

The cousins have been hyping each other up on social media all month long.

"Imma see her in Maryland soon, so the cookout's gonna be lit," Hawkins told CBS Sports after his team's win.

And her stepbrother is the professional basketball player Mikael Hopkins.

Hopkins, 29, currently plays in Italy, but he got his start playing for the Georgetown Hoyas. He also played in Turkey professionally.

Reese started her college career at the University of Maryland in 2020, but she transferred to LSU after two years.

Reese, who is from Baltimore, chose to stay close to home when she began her college-basketball career in 2020. But after two seasons and "an injury-riddled freshman year, and an up-and-down sophomore campaign," according to NBC, she decided to transfer to a different program after losing to Stanford in the Sweet Sixteen round.

"I wanted more for myself," Reese told Lyndsey D'Arcangelo of Just Women's Sports in January. "I knew that I wanted to develop into that stretch-four player, so being able to do that and play under a coach that could help me get to that level.

That led her to Baton Rouge and LSU.

She was a five-star recruit in high school. These past two seasons have proven that it wasn't all hype.

Reese, who was the No. 1 high school recruit from her class, has had a stellar college-basketball career thus far, and she has also proven herself to be charismatic in press conferences, popular on social media, and an overall star for women's college basketball.

Reese is also popular off the court, and she has been nicknamed "Bayou Barbie."

"Obviously she's playing in Baton Rouge," Reese's agent, Jeanine Ogbonnaya, told On3. "Yeah, she is the most fabulous, amazing woman ever. She loves the color pink. She's always getting her hair and nails done for games. So that definitely plays a big part into it," she said of her client's nickname.

Reese even sells Bayou Barbie merchandise.

She currently has over 255,000 followers on Twitter and 1.1 million followers on Instagram — Bayou Barbie is mentioned in her Instagram bio.

In terms of endorsements, Reese has signed deals with Coach, Wingstop, Outback Steakhouse, and Amazon.

Reese has benefited from the new rules allowing NCAA athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness. According to On3, she's one of the only known college athletes to sign with Coach, which has its perks: She was able to gift each of her teammates with a tote from the brand.

During the finals, Reese was criticized by some for trash-talking her opponent — something that regularly happens in both professional and college sports.

Reese and Iowa Hawkeyes player Caitlin Clark — who is an equally impressive player — found themselves at the center of a controversy during the final game on April 2. Cameras caught Reese doing the "you can't see me" celebration towards Clark — that is, she waved her hand in front of her face and tapped her ring finger, a gesture originated by wrestler John Cena. Some people believed it was unsportsmanlike (at best) of her to do that.

However, as Insider's Meredith Cash reported, the celebration is something Clark herself has done multiple times, and it's never attracted the same amount of criticism.

Reese responded during a press conference, calling out the double standard.

"I don't fit the narrative. I don't fit in a box that y'all want me to be in. I'm too hood. I'm too ghetto. Y'all told me that all year," she said, continuing, "But when other people do it, y'all don't say nothing. So this is for the girls that look like me."

Clark, for her part, said Reese shouldn't be criticized.

"She should never be criticized for what she did. I'm just one that competes, and she competed ... I'm a big fan of hers," Clark told ESPN.

After first lady Jill Biden said she wanted to invite the second-place team, the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, Reese called it "a joke."

It's customary for the winning teams of any major sports event to visit the White House, including the NCAA men's and women's basketball champions. So when Jill Biden said that she was looking forward to hosting LSU, it made sense.

However, when Biden added that she was "going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come too, because they played such a good game," many were confused, including Reese. On Twitter, Reese reshared an article about Biden's quote and added "A JOKE" with laughing-face emojis.

The first lady's press secretary walked back the sentiment on Twitter on April 4, tweeting, "Her comments in Colorado were intended to applaud the historic game and all women athletes. She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House."

Read the original article on Insider