No Hate towards Simmons, he's just a talented kid.....This is all on JJ.

So you're saying that Johnny should be going to class for Simmons? Or taking his tests?

I have trust issues regarding people with the initials JJ now

Ben is a talented, though overrated, player. Jone's certainly ain't Coach K, but he can't play for these guys either. If they would just hit their foul shots, we wouldn't be losing.

This team is lacking what it had last year, and last year's team is lacking what we have this year.

Just because we have a top 5 prospect, that doesn't mean the bench and the rest of the team will automatically turn into 5 stars with him.

Our big men are not present like in the past and our best PG recently did not have the size to stop anyone, but he could score and set people up.

This team is just not deep and not good where we need to be. Expectations were too high to for 2 true freshmen stars to carry the whole team.

Yes but let me say I hold no ill will towards Jones...we just need to go in a different direction if we want to get serious about basketball. I'm not asking for national championships but the ability to compete for them. That starts with making the tournament consistently, especially when you carry the talent LSU does right now. We should be competing for SEC titles and National titles right now, absolutely no excuses. I think everyone shares this belief.

Also, I would be very disappointed to see LSU completely pack it up right now. I want Jones and his tigers to show us something down the stretch here. I haven't lost all faith yet.

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I guess they may have been able to teach him a jump shot.

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I doubt that. It's very surprising to me that a player (with a father who was a professional player for many years) doesn't have a jump shot or any dominant moves in the low post at this age.

Let's face it, Ben's offensive game is limited. He has exceptional ball handling skills for a guy his size and that's phenomenal in transition, but in a half court set, he's very limited. Not sure what "running the offense" through Ben in the half court set would do for us. Defenses now have him figured out.

I honestly think the primary reason Ben doesn't want to take over is that he knows his offensive skills won't allow it. So he passes. Initially, that looked great because he seemed unselfish. But I actually think his passivity is because he knows he CAN'T take over on offense.

Just my opinion.

They are both soft ......

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So you're saying that Johnny should be going to class for Simmons? Or taking his tests?

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wtf are you talking about? this thread is about basketball, not biology

I'm so tired of people measuring him vs. "the expectations"
who placed these expectations? the same people who said he hasnt met them. So because you dont see what you thought you were going to see he is a disappointment? you people........smfh

form your own conclusions and dont one of the media driven sheep

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Are you serious? Have you not seen Cal rip players, especially Freshman, out of a game for not playing hard on defense. Look at Kentucky now versus the start of the year, they are much better team especially on the defensive end of the floor. He simply does not allow his players to stay on the floor if they don't with effort on D.

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JJ benched him for academics in the last game and you are saying he doesn't instill discipline? BS is our best defender and its not even close so who in the frick are you suggesting JJ replace him with for defense?

The guy plays a ton of minutes so of course he is going to get lazy at times but once again who are you going to replace him with.

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As to Coach K, I'm not sure that even warrants a response.

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So your point is if he played at UK or Duke he would be better b/c at those schools he would be benched when he gets tired and doesn't defend? Man that is pure genius...teams loaded with depth can afford to rest their best player longer than teams without depth.

His stats would not be as good if he played for any of the teams that recruited him. At LSU he is the man and the offense is built around him. If he chooses to dish when he has a chance at a layup that isn't on JJ that is on BS. JJ simply doesn't have the depth to bench the kid for making bad decisions.

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JJ benched him for academics in the last game and you are saying he doesn't instill discipline? BS is our best defender and its not even close so who in the frick are you suggesting JJ replace him with for defense?

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What do academics have to do with this? The question is whether a coach allows his players to make the same mistakes on the floor without consequences. Mental mistakes, lack of effort, etc. Jones continues to let players play lazy, take poor shots, commit careless unforced turnovers. When there are no consequences to this type of play, it does not get corrected.

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So your point is if he played at UK or Duke he would be better b/c at those schools he would be benched when he gets tired and doesn't defend?

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Wow, have you ever played basketball? Yes, Cal and K both will pull kids out of the game and sit them down for: (i) poor shot selection; (ii) careless turnovers; (iii) lack of effort on the defense end of the floor; (iv) getting completely lost on the defensive end of the floor; etc.

It has nothing to do with getting tired, it is about effort and expectations. If you think Simmons is a great defender, then you don't understand how to guard a ball screen. Simmons (along with the rest of this team - except maybe Hornsby) does not put out a ton of effort on the defensive end of the floor. Your players have to know that making those mental mistakes and/or not playing with a certain level of effort will not be accepted. We have the depth to pull players to send a message. Hell Cal sat his big man (McDonald's AA) for nearly a game and a half to send that message. It paid off, they are playing as good as anyone in the country, mainly on the defensive end of the floor.