re: LSU basketball transfer portal watch

Can never have enough guys who can’t score

Replacing Phillips with Mack is not an upgrade. We need a 7' athletic big that can defend and rebound. Phillips showed huge improvement and upside by the end of the season. He balled out at the end of the season playing beside KJ in Fountain's role.

Just trying to be positive

Of course I wanted to keep Phillips, but we aren’t so

From a purely offense perspective, it makes sense considering Mcmahon likes the 5 out set with a stretch 5 like KJ. Phillips was much more of a pure center so he didn't entirely fit that offensive scheme very well. Still a big loss on the defensive side of the ball and its also very disappointing to see a freshman with pretty good potential walk

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We need a 7' athletic big that can defend and rebound.

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80's & 90's basketball has done nothing but set up recent-era 7ft'ers to fail.


They aren't needed and almost always overrated.

UConn just ran through the tournament with two 6"8" front line players. Sanogo may have been the best player in the tournament.

I certainly dont think you need a true 7 foot center old school center in todays game, but it doesnt hurt to have a decent one either. Kavell Bigby-Williams was a great example of this one Wade's SEC title team. I dont think that team is near as good as it is without him, he was a very nice piece to it that altered a ton of shots each game and grabbed like 3 offensive boards in 20-ish minutes or something. Whether Phillips would be a decent player is anyone's guess, but we wont find out on our end which meh, i guess. He didnt much of anything this year but not uncommon for true old school bigs like him in college these days. Some take 2-3 maybe even 4 years to really see the floor and make an impact, of course some never do.

My pause is can McMahon do better in the portal? I thought he would at least return guys like Phillips to build some foundation on, and after dealing with a lot of turnover and having to build in the portal last year it didnt turn out great. I'm not going to press panic button by any means but if another player I would expect to return hits the portal my suspicions will really be raised because I have doubts McMahon is going to get THAT many good players out the portal and get them all to work together next season.

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I thought he would at least return guys like Phillips to build some foundation on, and after dealing with a lot of turnover and having to build in the portal last year it didnt turn out great. I'm not going to press panic button by any means but if another player I would expect to return hits the portal my suspicions will really be raised because I have doubts McMahon is going to get THAT many good players out the portal and get them all to work together next season.

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I don't think you should ever EXPECT anyone to return. That's simply the nature of the game now. Guys who are entrenched starters for power conf. teams routinely enter the portal. Hell, LSU just signed one in Jordan Wright. A four year player, often starter, leaving to join the worst team in the SEC. It's not always a reflection of the coach. It's more a reflection of the landscape.

Is there suspicion regarding Scott Drew because LJ Cryer is in the portal? Is there concern about Bruce Pearl because Yohan Traore is in? Or Nate Oats because Jaden Bradley, a freshman who stared 22 games for one of the best teams in the country, is in the portal?

Coaches now have to re-recruit their ENTIRE team from year to year. Gone are the days you sign a big time recruit, actually play him, and then are assured he won't leave despite all of that. I've been as down as anyone on McMahon, but being overly concerned because a freshman is transferring is not at the top of my concerns. A coach can, objectively, do everything "right" with the player and the player will still leave. That's college basketball. Don't get too attached to the players.

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This is the major problem with McMahon. He won't change his scheme to fit his players. Since he is not getting great players he is going to have to come up with something that works for the players, not for him! I would say a full court press has to be played to get some offense off of defense. If you don't have anyone who can shoot that is what it comes down to.

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To be fair, LSU was playing uptempo early in the season. They were getting steals. They were also turning the ball over a ton. I think that led to McMahon slowing down the pace. The turnovers significantly decreased after that and the offensive efficiency went up. That style generally worked until the A&M game. The problem was McMahon never really countered after that. He just kept the same approach each game, every game (except for changing personnel here and there).

When you play 30+ games in a season opponents see a lot of film. Opponents will adjust as the season goes along. Hell, just look at UConn. Unranked to start. Dominant in the non-conf. play. Losers of 6 of 8 in the middle of Big East play. They made some adjustments to what they did in the middle of the season which helped them get hot and roll to a championship.

Obviously no one was expecting THAT from LSU. But when you are getting your doors blown off time and time again it's not just a matter of inferior talent. It's that you are changing what you were doing that was causing the blowouts.

The pessimist says this job and league is way too big for McMahon and this is a waste of time. The optimist says he's gone through his first year in major conf. basketball getting his arse kicked. But now that he's experienced it he knows what he needs to do to adjust. We'll see