No matter how many times we tell you people you don't get it that whether recruits are high school players or portal transfers the fact LSU was under NCAA investigation and facing possible draconian sanctions was a significant hinderance to signing players. Mcmahon had to recruit an entire roster, Pearl inherited a few players . McMahon convinced three players to return, Adam Miller coming off serious knee surgery, Mwani Wilkinson who ended up missing most of the season with a shoulder injury and Juice Williams who had a half year of college basketball after joining the team the previous January. Now that the NCAA issues have been resolved we are seeing an up surge in recruiting and transfers and it will continue to develop. Whether McMahon gets the program back into SEC contention is undetermined but the signs are promising. He does need to hold onto the base players like Reed, Ward, Williams and Cook. It would be great to sign a couple of transfers like Dalton Knecht, Mark Sears or Tari Eason

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Posted by Alt26

Member since Mar 2010

28632 posts

Posted on 2/21/24 at 2:37 pm to tigersbb

quote:
No matter how many times we tell you people you don't get it that whether recruits are high school players or portal transfers the fact LSU was under NCAA investigation and facing possible draconian sanctions was a significant hinderance to signing players.

Perhaps because your argument doesn't mesh with reality. Despite the "draconian" sanctions and "good players not wanting to come to LSU" McMahon signed (still to date) his best recruiting class. Two top 70 players (Reed and Ward) plus a fringe top 100 guy in Shawn Phillips. All three of the returnees you mentioned had options to leave for major programs (ex. Wilkinson visited a Texas Tech program coming off a NCAAT appearance)...yet they chose to stay despite the "dark cloud". Plus, LSU brought in a guy in KJ Williams (who most rated as a top 10 transfer). He was the OVC POY. He definitely had plenty of suitors. Yet, he joined his HC despite the "doom and gloom" purportedly hanging over the program.

The fans saw doom and gloom. The players saw opportunity which is why both McMahon's recruiting class and transfer class were both rated in the top 20. It was only after the terrible season that they suddenly were considered to be "bad players".

quote:
Now that the NCAA issues have been resolved we are seeing an up surge in recruiting and transfers

Are we? Again, McMahon's first HS class is rated higher than his current one. We don't know what the transfers will look like yet, but last year he was largely limited to guys with Louisiana ties as the factor that brought them to LSU (Cook, Stewart, Wright, Dean). He wasn't casting a wide net in terms of transfers.

Now, if LSU can finish the season strong they can recapture the benefit of the doubt they lost following last year's dismal season. That may help in the transfer market AND retaining current players. But it, and has ALWAYS been complete revisionist history to say McMahon was left with only scrubs available to him in his first season. Anyone and everyone who covered college basketball thought he had a decent roster going into last season. It was only after he woefully underperformed that some decided to absolve the coach of any criticism, instead, blaming the former coach and the "terrible players" (who those same people didn't think were terrible before the season) for the shortcomings.

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Posted by mcspufftiger7

Member since Oct 2020

1918 posts

Posted on 2/21/24 at 2:39 pm to tigersbb

tigersbb:

Trying to talk sense to emotionally challenged Wade fans is pointless. It is AMAZING how hard they will work to crap on Mcmahon. It's as if their lives depend on it. There is no bigger fan of LSU sports than me. I was there during the late 70's and early 80's. So I know what a great BBall program looks like. Been there trough the winning years of Brady, the losing years of Jones and Johnson and the winning years of Wade who I loved. Same with football. Yet I understand how lucky we were to get any coach worth a crap to come here after Wade under those circumstances. And how difficult it would be to recruit any players under those circumstances. These Mcmahon haters are pretty much losers in real life. There can be no other explanation. They are miserable and want others to be miserable with them. Mcmahon gets his 3-4 years to right he ship. He is taking the right steps this year and I expect even better things next year. Year one was a throw away year. Period.

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