LSU's roller coaster season ended Monday night in Dallas when the Tigers were unable to hold on to a halftime lead against the Mustangs. LSU was able to secure their first 20 win season since 2009 and won their first post-season tournament game since that same year.

Still, this season was like making 10% in the stock market when the index was up 15%. Your overall portfolio is better than the year before, but not as good as you expected. Preseason, LSU was picked to finish between 3rd and 5th in the SEC. They ended up in a 3 way tie for 6th. Last season, LSU ended in a 2 way tie for 8th. There's some improvement, but not as much as expected.

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Last year LSU finished the season with a 100 KenPom ranking. This season LSU has finished at 58th. Improvement, but not as much as hoped. The theme is obvious, there's not much you can look at and say "LSU is worse off in this category." Still, there is a disappointment hanging above Tiger fans.

LSU's offense averaged 1.04 points per possession in 2013 and 1.10 PPP in 2014. Their tempo was much more fun to watch. They increased their free throw percentage by over 4%, and their two point percentage by 2.5%. They averaged less turnovers per possession and had a better offensive rebound percentage. On defense, they moved up 120 spots in two point percentage defense. They blocked 14% of opponents two point shots compared to 9.7% last year. They even allowed 3% less offensive rebounds.

And while LSU is losing key players (Shavon Coleman, Andre Stringer, and possibly O'Bryant), the Tigers are bringing in some elite talent to join next season's squad. LSU will be bringing in JUCO transfer Josh Gray who led all JUCO players in scoring this season with 33.8 points per game, as well as UNC-A transfer Keith Hornsby where he was 2nd in the NCAA in free throw percentage hitting 99 of 107 (92.5%) during his sophomore campaign. He averaged 15 points per game and has been practicing with the team all year.

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From the high school ranks, LSU adds some much needed depth to the front court when they bring in Aaron Epps and Elbert Robinson. Also making his way to the Tigers program is Jalyn Patterson the extremely successful PG at Montverde Academy in Florida.

Projected Roster:

PG
Anthony Hickey (SR)
Tim Quarterman (SO)
Jalyn Patterson (FR)

SG
Josh Gray (JR)
Keith Hornsby (JR)
Malik Morgan (JR)

SF
Jarell Martin (SO)
Shane Hammink (JR)
Brian Bridgewater (FR)

PF
Jordan Mickey (SO)
Aaron Epps (FR)

C
Elbert Robinson (FR)
Darcy Malone (SO)
John Odo (SR)

*NCAA Rules only allow 13 scholarship player's. However, I am not going to project attrition. It's not fair to the athlete's.*

LSU should hear about the intentions of Johnny O'Bryant in the coming week. He told media that he would not wait long to make his decision, and while Jordan Mickey hasn't made his intentions public, most believe he will be back for his sophomore season, including myself.

What better way to end another basketball season than to say it like it is; "There's always next year."

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Tom Bronco•121 months

Coleman and Stringer had great senior seasons. Can't fault either of those two for effort and heart. JOB had a mixed season and we seemed to rise or fall on his shoulders way too much. I think with him gone we can have a more balanced team offense. I do think he has a shot at a pro career as he won't be double teamed in the pros and they almost never call walking. Defense will have to improve though.

We don't have the schedule or the final roster so no predictions for next year. I have also learned not to put too much faith in players who haven't proved themselves yet. Josh Gray comes in with a lot of hype but JC isn't the same as the SEC. The two freshmen big men will undoubtedly be rough and have a lot to learn. Perhaps Odo can play more and give us some solid minutes until they settle in. Mickey needs to get stronger, Martin needs a better jump shot and Hickey needs to drive and dish more often. I think Hornsby is the missing link and will have to come through for us to have a good season. We need solid steady play from him as he will be filling both Andre and Colman's shoes.

Looking back I don't think this team was lazy as much as they were all kind of laid back personalities. When they were excited and had the adrenaline going they were great. Almost like two different teams which is what made them so hard to watch at times. Never knew if you were going to get Dr. Jekyl or Mr. Hyde.

Really need some team leadership that will get us fired up and keep us that way. Hope Gray or Hornsby can do that because Hickey is just not that way.

Tiger Ugly•121 months

quote:
What better way to end another basketball season than to say it like it is; "There's always next year."

That pretty much sums it up for me SOS.

By any measure or rationalization, this year was a disappointement.

Doesn't mean there is no hope for the future, but for me this year dampens the optimism just a little.

But with talent comes hope and in the next two years at least, it seems the influx will continue.

One point I'd like to make is we cannot accept underachievement. When you do that complacency sets in.

It's O.K. to say let's give CJJ time. I can live with that. I will.

But there must be tangible progress we can see beyond recruiting. And there should be accountablility demanded by the fan base or else the status quo will continue as long as the recruiting is fine.

This year has raised legitimate concerns and red flags. CJJ has to address those and show he can answer them.

I'll be there supporting, but my kind is a dying breed. Apathy is a program killer and there ain't a whole lot of people left who care enough to hold us to a standard that will get the program to where I want it.

Keep the talent coming in, but don't stop there.

TigerRagAndrew•121 months

I am worried about timely timeouts, substitution patterns especially during foul trouble, and overall defensive intensity in the regular sets.

Correct implementations of the above this year should have resulted in a tournament berth

Tiger Ugly•121 months

quote:
Correct implementations of the above this year should have resulted in a tournament berth

I agree 100% Andrew. Playing to our level and capability this year IMHO would have resulted in us being in the tournament.

It would not have taken an overachievement.

But that's past. Learn. Make the necessarry corrections. Recruiting is the most important single element, but in and of itself it's not enough.

Johnny will get a more than fair chance. I'm pulling for them.

He can make us forget about this year, and I'd love to see all the sarcastic I told you so posts from the pumpers next year and beyond.

But he's got to look in the mirror a little and it's up to him.

Geaux Tigers!!

SouthOfSouth•121 months

quote:
I am worried about timely timeouts, substitution patterns especially during foul trouble, and overall defensive intensity in the regular sets.

Correct implementations of the above this year should have resulted in a tournament berth

I felt like later in the year CJJ's timeouts were better, but I agree for most of the year he likes to hang on to them far too long.

Substitutions were tough for him because he wasn't comfortable going more than 2 off the bench due to skill level. Im hoping once he has a squad of guys he think are ready to play he will be better. at UNT he always had one of the highest percentages of bench minutes played. He would like to run guys out and keep people fresh, but he has to have the personnel.

The biggest issue I had was defensive intensity. I think that is where the problem begins and ends. There are two ways to fix that; coaching staff gets these guys feeling the intensity, or a team leader exudes so much of this intensity that everyone follows suit. I am hoping that we get it from a player. We didn't have that big time natural, vocal leader this year and I think it hurt our intensity, especially away from home.

We need someone to step up next year, or coach Jones is going to need to start getting the guys excited himself. Without someone stepping into that role, Jones should have taken it upon himself. I think you saw it in the last two games that he became more vocal in getting his defensive intensity up. I'm hoping the 3/5 on the road to end the season was a step in the right direction for next year.

:geauxtigers: :geauxtigers:

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SW Fla Tiger•121 months

Great post. Always enjoy having updated info. FWIW Montverde Academy is in Florida, just North of Orlando. :geauxtigers:

SouthOfSouth•121 months

quote:
Montverde Academy is in Florida, just North of Orlando

I knew that and I have no clue why I put Georgia... :lol:

thanks!

cornstarch•121 months

quote:
SouthOfSouth

As always :bow: You cover the team as good as anyone out there. Great shite, all year, sir.

Yeah, before the season I expected us to get to the tourney and even win a game in it as well. But Martin didn't take over as we all expected and the team as a whole had consistency/effort issues (is that the players or the coach's fault? Who knows). That being said, Johnny Jones is the man for the job - we know LSU fans, especially those on TigerDroppings, are quick to pull the trigger after any bit of adversity. The truth is it is the man's second year and there has been improvement - albeit not as much as expected - it's still moving forward.

Still excited about this team and I'm sad to see the season end. LSU Basketball is the 2nd most exciting team that LSU brings to the table, behind football of course.

Dirty Pierre•121 months

Nice Summary, SOS. Enjoy reading your posts.

Also looking forward to seeing what 5 star recruit Ben Simmons can bring, the following year.

gorillaballin•121 months

Thanks for taking the time to do these previews/recaps SOS. I rarely post but always read them. Geaux Tigers, hopefully next year we'll continue in the right direction

paperstreet•121 months

quote:
Thanks for taking the time to do these previews/recaps SOS. I rarely post but always read them. Geaux Tigers, hopefully next year we'll continue in the right direction

LSU 318 LSU•121 months

SOS, is Ben Simmons for this upcoming class or the following year?

oauron•121 months

Following year. He's a 2015 commit.

fightingtigers98•121 months

LSU should have won around 23-24 games this year, but lost them due to being lazy and just not playing well

RI
Bama
A&M
UMass(which is the outlier and not having Martin hurt)

Dr. Morgus•121 months

quote:
and while Jordan Mickey hasn't made his intentions public, most believe he will be back for his sophomore season, including myself.

well that makes us all feel a whole lot better
:rolleyes:

:lol: :cheers:

rbdallas•121 months

Last night was my first LIVE B'ball game this season due to being in Dallas.

Here is what I observed from sect 214:

First Half:
we hit the Defensive boards hard, with energy and early.
we also did a good job on the O boards,
and shot Free Throws well.
...ball movement was good (not great, but good and w/ energy.

2nd half:
we lost energy and got back LATE on the Defensive boards, this caused numerous fouls due to poor position/timing.
we also diminished our efforts on the O board.

..some of this due to SMU picking their efforts up and we did not keep up.

we need a Point guard, our ball distribution is not good, having said that, MANY of our players, including Johnny O, stand around and WAIT for the ball to get to them (LAZY), they do not help our guard by making themselves OPEN and AVAILABLE.

This made it easier for SMU to defend the ball movement.

Hopefully all of this changes once JJ's own group
solidifies.

Geaux Tiger

Ignignot•121 months

while losing JOB will hurt, i think we end up with a better record at the end of the regular season next year, like Michael Stringer said, running our offense thru JOB made us very easy to defend at times, but occasionally he'd have a manchild nite like against UK

while those nites were great, i think the fluidity of our offense overall will increase with the types of the players we have

Way way way too early prediction I say we go 21-9 in the regular season next year with a 11-7 finish in conference.

SouthOfSouth•121 months

quote:
Way way way too early prediction I say we go 21-9 in the regular season next year with a 11-7 finish in conference.

I have a strict no predictions till schedule comes out rule. :lol: :lol: :lol:

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TH03•121 months

man that second half was tough. smu just started dropping everything, and we missed every open shot.

fun as shite to be there. we were pretty damn loud. CJJ pointed to us before the game, it was cool

SouthOfSouth•121 months

quote:
fun as shite to be there. we were pretty damn loud. CJJ pointed to us before the game, it was cool

There were certainly times when LSU chants were very obvious on TV. Very cool.

S•121 months

had to listen tot he first 3 minutes or so on the radio because the georgetown/florida state game owuld fricking never end, you guys were loud as shite.

my predictions for next year include jarell taking a huge leap, hornsby taking over for stringer and helping upgrade our size, athleticism and defense on the perimeter, and a capable scorer in josh gray.

let's tmeper our expectations for elbert, kid is going to be good but he isn't going to step in and match johnny's contributions.

in a way i am glad this season is done with.

to andre and shavon, thanks for everything, wish this could have been a better year for you two guys more than anyone else

Ignignot•121 months

quote:
in a way i am glad this season is done with.

me too

quote:
S

with Bruce Hornsby's offspring playing for our team i'm going to expect even more of your wild imaginative shite next year, so you better bring your A game

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Pilot Tiger•121 months

God I hope JOB and Mickey both come back

quail man•121 months

Insert worlds most interesting man.jpg

I don't always follow LSU basketball closely

But when I do, I come read what SOS posts first.

Great work all season, mate. Your contributions on this board are unmatched, and I hope you don't allow the negatigers to kill your grove.

teeMike•121 months

quote:
I don't always follow LSU basketball closely

But when I do, I come read what SOS posts first.

:bow:

Slickback•121 months

Nice recap and perfectly sums up my feelings as well.

I know everyone is expecting Martin to be a monster next year, but I'm anxious to see Quarterman's improvement. I think he'll be a stud before he leaves.

SouthOfSouth•121 months

I also want to note that I think we move Martin down to 4 and Mickey down to 5 so that we can play Gray at 2 and Hornsby at 3 but the projected roster has them at their current positions.

I want the main lineup to be:

Hickey
Gray
Hornsby
Martin
Mickey

tigabait01•121 months

quote:
Hickey Gray Hornsby Martin Mickey

Man, I think that lineup gets abused in the paint and can't rebound. We need a 6'6-6'7 small forward with ball handling skills so bad.

SouthOfSouth•121 months

quote:
Man, I think that lineup gets abused in the paint and can't rebound. We need a 6'6-6'7 small forward with ball handling skills so bad.

I don't think this at all. We have a 6'10" with ball skills coming in two years so I guess that's good, but I think Mickey and Martin down low would be very respectable rebounding duo.

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SouthOfSouth•121 months

Last night was emotional for me. Don't worry.

Fratastic423•121 months

Thanks for the nice recap SOS. I saw in a thread last night that you were thinking about giving up the preview work. There are people who appreciate and look forward to reading your work, so here is my vote for you to keep that up next season.

I agree with your reaction to the season. I do think it was tough to keep our expectations in check. We see good classes make huge impacts at other schools and expected the same here, without realizing that those schools have slightly stronger foundations which obviously helps out. We played so well at times and then so frustratingly lazy. I will still repurchase my season tickets and keep going.