re: To all the Johnny Jones haters..

With these kids today...you never know how long they will stay...remember I said 1-2 years...ie Mickey and Martin...Coming year you have Simmons expected 1 year...Blakeney expected 1-2 years..both expected to be best players...Sampson depends on development 2-3 years...if you are replacing your best players every 2 years you have to be consistent in your recruiting

Anyone could make the same argument about Les Miles but you would have to also acknowledge his 2 trips to the NC game.

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I understand your point. I think if you look at the roster for next year, CJJ has done a nice job of mixing 4 year players, JUCO and 1-2 year players. IMO it's in LSU's best interest to have a core team of 3-4 year players and be able to insert 1-2 elite talents every year or two.

I don't think CJJ is going for an entire roster turnaround every 1-2 years.

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Agreed...I like the way he is managing his roster...would like to see improvement in his perceived lack of coaching abilities...I guess just win and maybe those perceptions will go away

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Agreed...I like the way he is managing his roster...would like to see improvement in his perceived lack of coaching abilities...I guess just win and maybe those perceptions will go away

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He needs to coach better, I don't think any of the "pumpers" feel otherwise. It's just the trolls saying he flat out sucks and LSU has not improved under him that cause the backlash.

I've personally been very critical of CJJ at times. But that doesn't negate the fact that he has won more games in his 1st 3 years at LSU than any other LSU coach in their 1st 3 years.

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Anything from the rant trying to complain about Coach Jones is nothing but complete bull shite

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Do you know how stupid this sounds? You don't have to have a PHD in basketball to point out obvious weaknesses...moron.

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I'm no fan of Jones' in-game coaching - I think it's actually quite poor. But there's no denying we've improved since he arrived, and his recruiting is fantastic. For us to really get over the hump, he needs much better sets, plays, in-game strategy, tactics, and motivation. But you can't deny that his recruiting has been excellent.

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All 100% true.

The problem is the scales are tipped in one direction too far. I'd settle for him maybe being a little less successful at recruiting (not much) and a much better X's and O's guy.

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just let the team coach itself

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I think there are some who might think that would be an improvement.

To me the best proof of what CJJ means to this school's basketball program is this post. I am a die hard basketball fan. I followed the team during all of the Trent Johnson years and lived and mostly died with the team.

There were maybe 10 of us doing that. Any basketball post but especially one in the off season would be ridiculed and hooted off the board. Now there is a post with 100 remarks in the off season right after the spring football game.

That marks a huge increase in fan attention and participation. CJJ has brought this program back from nothing to the NCAA tournament in 3 years. Now going into his 4th year he will have the number one recruiting class in the country (have we ever had another one?).

And some of you say he isn't good enough? Not an X and O's coach. Everytime I read that remark I think football fan. Basketball is not an X and O's game like that. There is no magic configuration of players that guarantees a bucket or a defensive stop every time.

Basketball is either chaos, diving for loose balls, fighting for rebounds, slapping the ball away for a block or steal or it is patience, moving the ball around until you get the right shot, or playing team defense and not bailing them out with a last minute foul.

There are only so many ways of positioning players on a basketball court and all modern coaches know what they are. But whether you run a pick play for a guard, a backdoor cut for an alley oop dunk, or an isolation play and let your star go one on one, you have to have players that can execute.

It is mostly the individual athleticism and skills that your players possess that make it work or not. Can a great basketball coach win with bad players? I doubt it.

Don't get me wrong. I question a lot of CJJ's decisions as far as who is getting playing time, resting your starters more, critical time outs and coming out of a time out seemingly confused as to what the play is.

That's what fans do. We get to second guess everything. But to say that this basketball program has not done well and gotten better is just a bunch of the proverbial cow puck.

This team has gotten better from year to year. To just look at Won/Lost numbers without taking into account the level of competition does nothing. The SEC as a whole has gotten stronger during these three years also.

As for him not screaming and yelling at players and refs during the games. I am thankful for that. I hate coaches like that. If Frank Martin of SC was our coach I would not be the fan I am.

So lighten up. CJJ may never win a national championship but if he gives us entertaining, competitive basketball with talented players to watch, I for one will be happy.