re: Lsu basketball Bahamas

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RTE beat VMI..

So, bet against VMI all year?

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They're the Shitty Beatles of college basketball

LSU ends the tour 3-0 with a 118 - 79 victory over Club Orbas Argentina (COA).

Jordan Wright led the way with 27/5/2. He also shot 45% from 3.

To provide a little bit of context, South Carolina beat COA earlier in the week 106-67. Creighton beat them 111-89

Outside of one horrible quarter vs. Puerto Rico (which McMahon called the "worst in the history of Bahamian basketball"), LSU looks to have performed on par with the other teams participating in the event: South Carolina, Iowa St., Creighton, A&M.

The good:

LSU shot the ball really well overall. Over 50% from the field in all three games. Various guys had solid performances. Most notably Stewart, Ward, Baker, Wright. They also shared the ball pretty well. Generally averaging 1 assist on every 2 or so made baskets. The opponents also shot a pretty low FG% against LSU. On average, less than 40%.

The not so good:

The amount of turnovers was ridiculous. Yes, LSU played at what appears to be a very fast pace with a ton of total possessions. But averaging nearly 20 TOs per game is something that can't happen once the games start to matter. The "bigs" also don't appear to have rebounded the ball as well as one may have hoped given the level of competition. However, that may have been a product of "tight rims" as the guards for LSU seem to have an inordinately high number of rebounds. If guards are getting a lot of rebounds that usually means they are getting long rebounds. Tight rims are going to cause misses to come rocketing off the rim. Finally, freshman Mike Williams suffered a hyperextended knee injury 6 seconds into his first game. Hopefully it is not too bad because LSU needs some depth in the backcourt.

The competition level doesn't look to have been all that great. The best team LSU played was Puerto Rico, who judging by their other results, would probably be akin to a good mid-major team. The second team LSU played was awful. Today's opponent was probably about as good as an average mid-major team.

It is also noteworthy to keep in mind that Jalen Cook didn't play. Nor did Derek Fountain. I bet if you took a poll as to who most think will be LSU's leading scorer this season Cook would win in a landslide. For his part, Fountain was probably the most consistent and efficient player (on both ends of the floor) besides KJ last season. That's two guys who you'd think would be key pieces in the regular season.

3-0 doesn't mean LSU is destined for the Elite 8. But it was somewhat encouraging to see LSU competed on par with teams like A&M, Creighton, and Iowa St...all teams that will likely be projected to reach the NCAAT this season.

Hopefully this trip serves as building block once LSU starts practice in October.

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why the fuk does WWs name keep coming out of peoples mouths? He fuked us over and he's gone...get over him already

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You just brought him up again. The discussion had moved on to LSU's final game of the week

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The amount of turnovers was ridiculous. Yes, LSU played at what appears to be a very fast pace with a ton of total possessions. But averaging nearly 20 TOs per game is something that can't happen once the games start to matter.

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This was one of the downsides of Mcmahon's offense at Murray state. His offense has a lot of fast-paced movement, especially off ball and it lead to a lot of turnovers. His last season at Murray State was one of their best turnover-wise and they still averaged around 11 turnovers a game. Outside of that, his teams averaged almost 14 a game, which is a lot. May have been from illegal screen calls, but those 20 TO/game needs to come down to around 12 to not be completely detrimental in SEC play

I would bet Wade's name is brought up first 75% of the time by the LSU "fans" that MORONICALLY seem to be happy he was fired. Most pro Wade posters are responding to the IDIOTIC attacks he still gets on this board.

Anybody paying attention and with a functioning brain realizes (especially now) he should still be LSU's HC.

WE just played 3 games using International Rules. Let us play 3-5 games by NCAA Rules in November before we decide TO's are a big problem.

LSU went 3-0 and avg over 100 points per game. They seem to be shooting much better than last year. I understand the talent level of competition is not what they are used to but these are still 20's - 30 year old men that have been playing together for a while. And all without Cook on the floor. Hopefully this gives some cohesion and confidence going into the season. If Cook plays then our backcourt will be much improved as will our center position. Ward looks more confident and hopefully the new faces will contribute. Nowhere to go but up.

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This trip and the results of the scrimmages indicate very little in how the season will turn out for the team, IMO.

How did the results through December of last year indicate how the team would play the rest of the season? This week's results are even less predictive.

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Certainly none of the US teams that participated in the event approached the games in the same manner they would approach a regular season game. Most notably minutes played, rotations, play calling, etc. In fact, McMahon said they didn't really run very many set plays this week. Really it was more of just concepts and trying to let different guys work within them.

The competition wasn't great. But, if you are looking for any sort of encouraging evidence it should be noted that LSU's performance was on par with that of A&M, Iowa St and Creighton. If you look at the current version of bracketology which is SOLELY just a view into preseason expectations, you'll see Creighton (2), A&M (5), Iowa St. (9) in that group. And LSU performed without the guy who is likely to be their leading scorer (Cook).

Should we start to make reservations for March? Absolutely not! But in an SEC that probably won't be a strong as last season, this week for LSU at least provided some hope things could be going in the right direction. If nothing else, it gave the coaching staff a preview of their team in live action

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I like what I saw out of Jordan Wright. He was a valuable addition to the team

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He looks to have played a lot of the 2-guard spot with Cook out and Stewart/Hannibal appearing to play more of the PG role.

I think your starting backcourt will be Cook and Stewart (assuming Cook is eligible). But if Wright can give you consistent production as a backup "2" that could be big. He probably has just enough size to play the 3 spot, but LSU also has Wilkinson there along with Ward...who I think is poised to be the breakout player on this team. Being able to play different lineups with a veteran like Wright on the floor ALONG with Wilkinson/Ward should give McMahon more options than he had last season.