re: What is your MBB excitement level after a 3-1 start to SEC play?

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My concern is that there will be a stretch of 3 or 4 games where we play poorly. First can we win even when playing bad and can we bounce back after a really bad stretch. That will determine if we can hit that 10 win number.

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Outside of the Auburn game LSU's defense has been pretty solid. Even against Auburn it wasn't terrible (in the second half). The one negative on defense is the fouling. Auburn shot 31 FTs. Ole Miss shot 29 FTs. Largely because they were in the bonus with 13:00+ minutes to go in the 2nd half. The FT line was the ONLY thing that really kept the game from being a blowout because LSU stifled OM from the field. But give McMahon credit. In the wins vs. A&M and Ole Miss LSU completely mitigated each team's strengths. A&M was the best offensive rebounding team in the nation going in to that game, grabbing nearly 50% of potential offensive rebounds. LSU held them to 25%. Last night, Ole Miss entered the game was one of the best 3 point shooting teams in the country (shooting over 40%). LSU held them to 25%. Thus far, the team is getting the message of what they HAVE to stop and doing just that!

Offensively, LSU is shooting the ball ok. Not "good", but ok. What's killing them though is the turnovers. 16 steals for Auburn (17 total TOs). 15 turnovers last night (several coming in the last few minutes to make a should be blowout a tight game). McMahon had a great line after the Auburn game with the 16 steals when he said LSU "would have been better off just kicking the ball into the stands" because at least the would not have allowed the transition buckets. Much of that emphasis has to fall on Cook as he is averaging 4.0 TOs per game in SEC play. His assist:TO ratio is 1:4. That's awful for your PG. If he can get that number down LSU's offense would be more consistent.