The smartest thing Jones can do right now is sit down with Rick Villareal...

...who is the AD at North Texas. Villareal is an LSU guy who used to coach under Hallman, if I remember right.

Jones needs to sit down with Villareal and tell him "I need you to hook me up by letting my 6-10 JUCO kid out of his deal. And if you'll do that I'll make it up to you by feeding your new coach players for the next couple years."

The JUCO kid, who's been talked about on this board a little, is a Nigerian named John Odoh. He's at Hill Junior College in Texas, and this year he averaged 12 points a game, which is nothing to write home about, but he also had 14 rebounds and 4.6 blocks a game. And while I doubt he scores a lot at the next level (if you're only scoring 12 a game against JUCO competition where big men are really scarce you probably lack offensive skills), those rebounds and blocks might very well translate. Particularly as he's raw as hell and surviving on pure athleticism right now; you can get by on athleticism for defense and rebounding while you're learning how to play.

I'm sure they're doing everything they can to get Gathers, although my guess is if they turn him and he does the hat trick deal on Monday Scott Drew is going to be like Arnold Horshack with his hand up yelling "Ooooh! Oooooh!" to the NCAA. I wouldn't be surprised to see us sign Pat Swilling's kid out of the College of Southern Idaho, either, as an exercise in getting more athletes on the roster and a stab at making nice with people in New Orleans. Swilling might help in getting Gathers, and he also might help in getting Luke Cothron, who's a guy good enough to play in the SEC if you can keep his head on straight long enough to get through a season. Cothron's 6-8 and he's also at Southern Idaho.

And Jones really needs to get his butt over to Mobile and sign Jaleel Cousins. He's 6-10 and 260 pounds and even though his conditioning leaves something to be desired his game isn't all that dissimilar to his brother's. Seton Hall offered him, but it looks like they filled up because he's still out there and if we don't jump in he might well end up at Murray State (and their fans are praying they can get him).

LSU needs three of those guys, or people like them.

Heard this morning from somebody that Shavon Coleman is only actually 6-4. He might still be worth signing, but he ain't exactly gonna help in the post.

Don't ask me about this hire, BTW. I promised somebody I wouldn't say anything about it.