15 days until start of LSU basketball 6 cupcakes to start the season

Exhibition this Sunday at UCF (live on ESPN+ at 11am)

I count on LSU women’s basketball doing good . LSU men’s basketball I’m not having much confidence .

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I mean playing cupcakes isn't going to hurt the team.

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Every team plays some number of "cupcakes". But having an incredibly weak non-conf. schedule can absolutely hurt the team if the goal is to make the NCAA Tournament (which even the most diehard McMahon supporters have said is the goal going into this season....at least for now). Wins over really bad teams don't register, at all, when it comes to selection Sunday. Mississippi St. is a good example of what solid non-conf. wins can do for a team. In three years, Jans has never had a winning conf. season (8-10 every year). Yet, they've made the NCAA Tournament each season because they have done pretty well in the non-conf. portion of their schedule. The more solid teams you play in the non-conf. schedule, the more opportunities you have to get good wins before conf. play. Also, you don't want to play too many of the really bad "cupcakes". Those games are a net-negative on your resume. LSU looks to have multiple games vs. opponents that will likely finish in the 300's of NET. Under McMahon, LSU's average NET SOS has been 251.

It's not so much playing cupcakes as it is the level of "cupcakery" of the teams on the schedule. Instead of playing a SWAC school that will finish 300+ in the NET, schedule some middling teams from middling conferences that will at the very least offer a NET positive if you win the game. Wade was very good at tailoring the noncon. schedule to include smaller schools that did well in their conference.

Omaha could beat LSU despite losing a player to LSU

Another disaster season waiting to happen.

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It's not so much playing cupcakes as it is the level of "cupcakery" of the teams on the schedule.

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they gonna have to give tickets away for those first couple of games. Honestly you would have to pay me to watch such small schools. I’m sure their is some diehard fans and families that will attend but I predict that PMAC to only be around 40% capacity

I really like McMahon. I think he is a good dude and means well. But it doesn't take much to predict how this is going to go:

--Dominate and show flashes of good-ness vs the garbage teams
--Give a good effort against the decent teams early and maybe even beat one (like SMU or someone), giving false hope that the team might be good.
--Start conference play with perhaps a win or 2 in their first 3 games (vs Aggies, SC, and Vandy)
--Begin to get destroyed by the meat of the schedule.

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WE play Drake/GA Tech/DePaul on a neutral court

We play at Boston College.

We play SMU and Texas Tech on neutral sites.

Those are good opportunities if we can put something together.

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Other than Texas Tech, I'd say the rest are very big "maybes"

Drake lost their HC and good players from last year's team.

BC is picked to finish last in the 18 team ACC. Georgia Tech isn't picked to finish much better (~14th). Neither program has been very good for several years now.

Depaul has been one of the worst major conf. programs for a while now. They MIGHT be better this year. But until that happens, you have to assume what they have long been.

SMU could be good...or just mediocre.

On paper it's not a good schedule

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It's not so much playing cupcakes as it is the level of "cupcakery" of the teams on the schedule. Instead of playing a SWAC school that will finish 300+ in the NET, schedule some middling teams from middling conferences that will at the very least offer a NET positive if you win the game.

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It's more than just being a drag on your NET, which is definitely a thing and not a good one.

How are you going to find out who your best players and what your best combinations are, who excels against good competition in real game situations and who is not up to it, or expose your weaknesses early so you can get to work on them earlier instead of after game 7? You can't tell any of that from playing these teams.