re: In hindsight, was signing Ben Simmons the downfall of CJJ?

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Or maybe its because they knew they couldn't get him

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Im sure thats the PC answer

I agree. I honestly don't think Coach Jones was ready for the Ben Simmons circus.

What hurt this team last year was the fact that Hornsby was hurt most of the year. He was a clutch performer when he was in and he could hit the three when it was needed. That being said I think that Simmons destroyed an already wounded Jones.

In 2014-2015 Jones had the best big man tandem in the country and had good role players in Hornsby and Quarterman and he sill lost 10-11 games when with that talent set should have been a Top 15 team trough out the year. You had Martin and Mickey and you still tank in the first round to a talent inferior NC State

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most of us knew the day he was hired that he would evenutally get fired due to his lack of coaching skill

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Yes, but what happened last year was a lot more than lack of coaching ability. A guy with the talent of Simmons coupled with some pretty solid players in Quarterman and Hornsby as well as Victor and a highly regarded recruit in Blakeney should have been much better even with a dunce coaching telling to shoot own goals.

Johnny did have trouble bringing in a competent point guard and the college game is much more a guard's game these days mainly because the NBA will poach any big man that shows promise

JJ can't coach is his downfall.

But I do think he lost the players with Ben coming here. He can't demand respect like Calipari can.

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Jones is gone .., let it be. He was rightly replaced, but some of you gutless cowards can't resist continuing sticking the knife in him. You can only hope that you show 1/1000 of the class he has displayed through this ordeal, you gutless cowards.

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Ranters still bash Miles and Cameron. What makes you think they'll lay-off Jones?

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First he couldn't harness his talent and integrate it into a functioning offense,

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LSU did not, nor did they ever have a functioning offense under Jones. The "offense" was basically 5 individuals running around aimlessly trying to make plays. There were several times when Simmons was running the point that he was desperately looking for someone to cut, or free themselves for a shot, while that person looked back at him with complete confusion. Watch LSU's offense the 4 years without Simmons. It looks the same. No one had a clue where they were supposed to go. There would be a pass, then everyone would stand around trying to figure out where to go next. Guys would just aimlessly move to spots on the court with many times two guys inadvertently ending up in the same spot!

Jones' coaching style was as close as you could get to AAU level coaching. shite, just look at the "weave to nowhere" he implemented this season. They ran the damn thing at half court with no real action off of it! All it did was waste 5 seconds of the shot clock.

Yeah that signing Ben blew up in his face

I don't think that was his downfall, but Simmons was not good for LSU. Simmons was all about himself and he could have cared less about LSU winning or being a part of the team. He was more interested in making himself look good and getting on to the NBA. In my opinion, I think he's going to be a major bust. He's soft and doesn't have the leadership to lead a team to a championship. He will be an average NBA player at best. As for JJ, I think he's a nice guy, but he's just not a big-time coach. I think he would do well at a mid-major or lower. He just doesn't have that "it" factor that you have to have to be successful at the top level.

His downfall was the job he did or did not do. He had every opportunity, and his administration and court coaching were not solid.