re: Rank the LSU Bball freshman of the last decade

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Not sure you get the point of the thread

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Haha true. I guess I got carried away.

I already made my list so I understood the thread at some point.

frick Simmons.....the original “Opt-out.

Still WAY too early to rank Thomas. LSU has only played one decent opponent this season. That said, Thomas is well on his way to being one of the best Freshman to have ever played for LSU...if he can sustain his production in SEC play.

My top 5 would be:

1. Simmons. He gets a lot of flack here (some deserved) for "not living up to the hype." However, his overall numbers are some of the best in LSU history. A singularly dominant player. Unfortunately, Jones was just not a coach capable of managing that roster.

2. Waters. Without him, Wade's first team likely has a losing record. Best LSU PG since Chris Jackson. He could completely control a game from start to finish and was never afraid to take (and make) the huge shot

3. Mickey. 13ppg/8rpg/3bpg. Top 5 in the SEC in rebounds, blocks and FG% as a Freshman. Best pure shot blocker since Shaq. Made up for a lot of poor defense from the rest of the team.

4. Thomas. Has a chance to move up this list. As mentioned, it has been against pretty weak competition, but (so far) he looks to be in that realm of great pure scorers like Henderson, Thornton, even Waters. What he does in SEC play will decide if he moves up, down, or off this list. But the early returns are great. You're pretty good if a "bad" game is 16 or 19 points.

5. Watford. His and Reid's stats are almost identical (so I could see the argument for Reid here). But I give the nod to Watford simply because he had to shoulder the load more than Reid. For as good a player as he was, Reid had help inside from KBW (on defense) and Waters was still the focal point. Watford had to battle last season essentially being LSU's only true post threat (though Williams contributed his fair share on the glass and defensively).