re: MBB Offseason '25 Transfer Portal Tracker

King will definitely be good and he kinda gives me that Hannibal vibe with being physical and able to get to the rim. King obviously is taller but just from what I’ve seen he likes to get to the rim and be physical.

6 inches taller and shoots 120 more 3’s than Hannibal. Disservice to King. They are both junkyard dogs and compete, I will give you that

Hausen & Skillings?! Hopefully we are going after bigger fish than these guys lol we need scoring and not average bench players. Need to throw the bag at RJ Luis Jr.

PJ Haggerty would be awesome. Like you said though….he's got to enter the portal first.

IMO, the roster (as it looks now) has two big holes that need to be addressed:

1. Rim protection

LSU had its best defensive performance, BY FAR, under McMahon this year. A big reason was LSU was 5th in the SEC in blocks per game and had two guys (Collins and Chest) in the top 10 of the league in block %. Both are gone. While rim protection is not the ONLY trait a team has to have to be a good defense, it's a big factor. I don't think it is any coincidence that Houston, Auburn and Florida (all #1 seeds) were among the top 10 in the nation in rim protection. Who was one of the worst major conference teams in terms of rim protection? South Carolina.

Reed is not a shot blocker. He's a below the rim big. Miller showed small flashes at time with his length, but it wasn't consistent because he doesn't possess the timing and explosiveness most shot blockers have (see Chest and Collins). Nwoko was ok at State, but not exceptional.

2. Outside shooting

LSU was an awful 3 point shooting team last year. Yet, McMahon seems to want that to be a big part of LSU's offense. Well, he better find someone who can do it. Everyone seems to think the Australian kid provides that, and he might, but that 41% could be a bit of a mirage because (a) it was on relatively limited attempts and (b) he didn't have a ton of success vs. major conf. opponents similar to what he'll see in the SEC. The game is much faster in the SEC. Not just because the players are faster, but they are also longer. Wings with 7'0 foot wingspans can close out to shooters a hell of a lot quicker than players for Lewis & Clark college or 6-27 San Diego.

Give credit where credit is due. Each of the last two seasons McMahon has gotten a transfer who, before coming to LSU, was inconsistent from three but turned into a pretty reliable shooter here (Wright and Carter). The next in that line of players may be on the horizon. But right now this roster has some glaring concerns that have to be fixed

Insanity

It was expected and not sure news…but Jalen Reed and LSUbasketball both felt the need to make posts about how he is “OFFICIALLY” coming back next year

I’m not trying to argue, but blocked shots has become not nearly as important with the 3-point shot. Florida was 43rd nationally in blocks…LSU was 26th. One is not like the other. We don’t need a straight shot blocker, we need wings who can provide length. There are teams in the bottom 50 of blocks who were high seeds. Purdue averaged 1.6bpg and tied for last

I think FG%, especially 3p% is way more important

We do need another shooter. I think we have shooters and have to trust McMahon to get guys in position (a difficult thing to blindly trust), but we have an actual PG now that should help a pretty good bit

I feel as though those 3 could have just done 1 post together…