LSU Basketball 19th in first NET rankings of the year

They played extremely well on both sides of the ball against Depaul. The next three games (maybe not Boston college because they're pretty terrible) should give a better glimpse into how this team performs against better competition. But so far, so good

Yea Texas Tech is pretty good, with one of the best players in the country, so will be a strong test.


SMU is probably another bubble team, at least somewhat should be on the same level of LSU. That is one you really want to win due to our non conference schedule.

SMU net ranking of 39
Texas tech with a net of 37

Shocking to see VANDERBILT at #4 NET. Just two seasons ago they were rock bottom before replacing Jerry Stackhouse with a no-name guy who can really coach!

Schedule is about to get real over the next couple weeks, looking forward to seeing what we really have potentially this season

Just looking at some of the teams we played this season


Depaul 183
Drake 153
UNO 161 ( They are having a wildly good season)
Tarleton St 158


So again... no-one worth bragging about but at least we have decimated them

I'm looking more at how the team is playing as opposed to rankings. 7 players in double figures against Depaul and almost 8 with one player scoring 8 points. 22 assists between 8 players also. This shows good ball movement and good decision making. We aren't getting destroyed on the boards like in the past and they play great help defense and perimeter defense with Nwoko and Miller protecting the lane. Going to be an interesting 3 game stretch.

People are getting their expectations high only for them to win 6 games in the SEC. Sad

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Shocking to see VANDERBILT at #4 NET. Just two seasons ago they were rock bottom before replacing Jerry Stackhouse with a no-name guy who can really coach!

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Kind of throws a wrench into the "he started with nothing, give him time" excuse.

That aside, this is the most efficient LSU has been on either side of the ball under McMahon. Particularly offensively where LSU has NEVER been efficient under McMahon. Right now LSU is ranked nationally:

5th in PPG
2nd in FG%
1st in 2 point FG%
4th in (raw) offensive efficiency (doesn't factor in strength of opponent)
8th in average scoring margin

The first 5 games were, at best, inconsistent defensively. Particularly vs. Alcorn and FIU. However, they dominated Drake and DePaul defensively. Really, outside of the 2nd half vs. Drake, LSU destroyed the competition this past weekend. That effort defensively fueled the big jump in the KenPom and, as a byproduct, the NET ratings.

The schedule to date has been incredibly weak. That said, LSU has done what good teams should do against such a weak schedule, dominate. But that schedule is also the source of the continued unknown about the team. How good are they? If you look at the NET top 40 LSU has played the worst schedule. That's not going to improve much with BC because they are probably no better than Drake and DePaul...if better at all.

There is more reason to be optimistic now than at any point in McMahon's tenure. The Texas Tech (although there are some reasons for concern with them) and SMU games should give us a much, much better evaluation of this team.

Beat BC and (at worst) split the TTU/SMU, then I think LSU will have had about as successful OOC portion of the schedule as one could reasonably hope for. That would give them a reasonable margin for error in SEC play.

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Just checked and saw this. Really shocked at this but I am here for it. Let’s go 2-1 over the next 3, go into the SEC with 1 loss, if you go 9-9 in the SEC with this NET right now, that’s a 6/7 seed in the tourney. Let’s goooo

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I would not bank on 9-9 even getting us in the tournament with how bad the SEC looks this season. It's seriously taken a gigantic step back. IF we go with just 1 loss in non-conf, maybe, but we would be nowhere near a 6/7 seed with a 9-9 conference record

The SEc might only be a 6 or 7 bid league this season.

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Kind of throws a wrench into the "he started with nothing, give him time" excuse.

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Vandy hasn't played a soul either and had a first round NIT exit last year so I wouldn't kiss that guys arse too much yet so you can shite on CMM. CMM may need to be fired but it does take time at a place like LSU to win in basketball with how good the SEC is now.