re: Basketball ends SEC stretch 9-9 or 10-8 ?

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After his first year, there was ZERO QUESTION Wade would have LSU in the tournament.

The hope is McMahon can do the same after his second.

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We'll see how this season ends, but in some respects you can compare this season to Wade's first season at LSU. Wade inherited a 2-16 (SEC record) program mired in apathy. He pieced together the roster, which included a good PG, and went 17-13 (8-10) en route to a NIT birth. In that record he had a good non-conf. win (Michigan) and a tough loss to a mid-major program at home (Stephen F. Austin, though they were a much better team than Nichols). LSU was also blown out by multiple good teams that year (most notably Tennessee, Auburn, Notre Dame) and couldn't win on the road.

Now, McMahon shouldn't get significant credit because he improved from a terrible 2-16 performance the year prior...because it was HIS performance. But you saw some improvement and, ironically, LSU could finish with almost the exact same record.

The big difference, obviously, was that Wade had a big time recruiting class signed for the next season and there wasn't a risk of a guy like Waters transferring to a better program like their would be now. However, Wade didn't have access to over 1,000 transfers who would be immediately eligible like McMahon has now. So while McMahon may not have a similar signing class, he can supplement it in the portal.

In no way, shape, or form am I expecting LSU to make the jump next year like Wade's second team made. But when you break it all down the 17-18 season looks very similar to this season. That season was the baseline jumping off point for Wade. Hopefully in a year we look back and say the same thing for McMahon.