re: Every knowledgeable basketball person you hear or read from

quote:

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Ain’t no way McMahon can have instant success with the God awful situation he was forced into. Nobody could.

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Missouri fired their HC, Cuonzo Martin, after the 2021-2022 season in which he went 12-21 (5-13). Dennis Gates was hired from Cleveland St. Gates faced building a roster that had only 2 scholarship players returning. (Note: McMahon had 3). In doing so, he signed one (1) HS player...who was ranked as the 70th best prospect. He then brought in 9 transfers. 3 were players from Cleveland St. (Gates's former school). One was from UW-Milwaukee; One was from Missouri St; One was from Northern Iowa. One was from Clemson; Two were from the JUCO ranks. For what it is worth, that Missouri transfer group was ranked at the 8th best transfer class. LSU's was ranked as the 11th.

Like Gates, McMahon brought 3 players with him from his former school. One being the OVC POY (KJ Williams). However, unlike Gates, despite being shrouded under a "cloud of negativity" McMahon signed what was ranked as the 17th best HS recruiting class in country. Combined, McMahon's signing class (transfers + HS signees) was ranked 17th overall. Not in the SEC of course, but in the country. Missouri's rank....39.

So if we are keeping score at this point Gates and Missouri went into last season with FEWER returning players than LSU/McMahon, less HS signees and a significantly lower ranked HS signing class, and a transfer class that was ranked comparably to LSUs (8 v 11).

Taking the names off the jerseys, along with the P&G glasses, who seemed to have a worse situation going into the season? It's not like as part of the the pending investigation LSU was forced to only play with 4 players instead of 5 or start the game spotting the opponent 10 points. They were allowed to put 5 guys on the court and start from 0-0.

The ultimate outcomes of last season

Missouri: 25-10 (11-7). 7th seed in NCAA Tournament. Reached the second round

LSU: 14-19 (2-16)

So nobody could have had instant success at LSU?

That's not to say McMahon won't prove to be a better HC than Gates over time (Missouri is currently 8-10 (0-5)). But it's ridiculous to give McMahon a free pass for last season and say "no one could have done better". The reality is he did an awful job.