re: Smart and Watford combined for 4 pts through 30 mins of Play

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Cam will always get at least 20, even in his sleep

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His abilitly, coupled with the volume of shots he takes (he has the ultimate "green light") means he'll approach and more often than not exceed 20 each game.

A&M is a tough, physical team and I think they really took that physicality to Watford last night. Couple that with the fact that he had to play a lot of tiring minutes (he was the guy helping bring the ball up court with Smart) along with him not being 100% (lingering ankle injury) and I'll give him a pass on scoring only 4 points. He played better than he usually does defensively...which is HUGE for this team.

Smart handled A&M's defense well. 6 assist to 2 turnovers. LSU as a team only had 9. You take that every single night if you can get it. He was coming off a long layoff due to covid and, unfortunately, fell out of the tremendous rhythm he was in prior to the layoff. He was shooting a remarkable 60%+ from the field and 50%+ from 3 coming into the game. Yes he forced some shots, as did Watford in the 2nd half. But I think that was just two scorers trying to find their rhythm. I'm not worried right now about one "down" game for Smart.

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Days has never ever been consistent

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Scoring? Yes. Effort? No. He always plays hard. His biggest weakness is getting down on himself sometimes when things don't go his way. But it was his effort that mitigated a sluggish start for LSU. For about the first 7 minutes or so he kept LSU even until Thomas started to catch fire. At that point LSU never looked back.

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I think Watford & Leblanc frustrated #5 A&M's best player last night

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Leblanc played really good minutes. Even though it might not fully show up in the box score. I've been really big on Leblanc starting but...Wilkinson is really playing well. He's active, tough, and efficient. He doesn't force anything offensively. He doesn't turn the ball over. He battles on the glass and defensively. He has a role and he plays it well. LSU is still going to need big minutes from Leblanc this year. But for me, I think Wilkinson has most exceeded my expectations. He does a lot of hidden things to help you win.