re: 2022-23 Men's Basketball Roster...Final UPDATE!

Mostly its all speculation....you could be right. Could be wrong.

But notably missing are the 3 5 star freshmen no longer in the fold.

I never said anything about this roster being better than what Wade would have had. We will never see that roster so there is no point in talking about it. The 3 5 stars we lost are irrelevant to this argument even though I could say we have added a 5 star we didn’t have. I’m comparing our current roster to last year’s.

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I think if you stack up the roster player to player you can make an argument you are improved in as many places as you downgraded especially with Miller, KJ or both.

Justice Hill > Pinson (post injury it’s not even close)
Hannibal > Gaines kinda close
Murray > Hayes but not as huge a drop off as some would think
Coleman > Reid albeit that could change
Reed > O’Neal
Fountain > Colbert/Ezewiro
3rd year Wilkinson > 2nd year Wilkinson
2nd year Justice W > 1st year Justice W
Ward > Fudge

That’s without Miller or KJ. Miller would probably be better than any guard we had last year and KJ is close to a push with Eason and probably better than Days. You can replace Miller with Desi Sills who we have made the top 3 for and it’s still the same. I get that some of those are debatable and that y’all are wanting to be cautiously optimistic but you can make an argument that the roster right this second is close to a push with last years before we fill the last 3 spots. I would say better in the back court not as good in the front court right as of now

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I LOVE this post. I'm a big offseason optimist. Every offseason I celebrate every move and think every player will make the development they need to make and every new starter or player will step up with no issues. Why think anything different?

At some point the season will start and most of the time reality will kick you in the nuts. You will see that all of your flaws were not fixed and all of the players did not step up.

But sometimes you get a 2019 football season where all the stars align and everything the team needed it got and then some. And that keeps you coming back. Maybe next season will be like that 2019 season. I think we will be better next year.

Long story short: Why waste time being negative in the offseason when you could be happy for 6 months and let the season bring the truth to light when it gets here.

I like your analysis and feel similarly.

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Eason’s draft stock being higher than KJ’s is based more on where he projects and how he fits the modern NBA game than what kind of college player they both are. For LSU’s purposes it wouldn’t be much of a drop off if any. Both are awesome

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i like your optimism. i think the reason eason has higher draft potential is because he is so much more athletic, which plays in the SEC. he made some athletic plays that made a difference. crucial block with dunk on the other end, requiring NBA explosiveness. i dunno that KJ has that kinda difference-making athleticism that matters in the SEC. eason really was amazing on both ends of the floor.

hope you are right though.

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I think if you stack up the roster player to player you can make an argument you are improved in as many places as you downgraded especially with Miller, KJ or both.

Justice Hill > Pinson (post injury it’s not even close)
Hannibal > Gaines kinda close
Murray > Hayes but not as huge a drop off as some would think
Coleman > Reid albeit that could change
Reed > O’Neal
Fountain > Colbert/Ezewiro
3rd year Wilkinson > 2nd year Wilkinson
2nd year Justice W > 1st year Justice W
Ward > Fudge

That’s without Miller or KJ. Miller would probably be better than any guard we had last year and KJ is close to a push with Eason and probably better than Days. You can replace Miller with Desi Sills who we have made the top 3 for and it’s still the same. I get that some of those are debatable and that y’all are wanting to be cautiously optimistic but you can make an argument that the roster right this second is close to a push with last years before we fill the last 3 spots. I would say better in the back court not as good in the front court right as of now

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That's nails, My Man..

I mostly agree, but what I would say is that we aren't ready for a comparison yet.

Because McMahon still has at least a couple of big fish he has to reel in the boat.

Being very optimistic and assuming he can get KJ Williams in here and keep Adam Miller, then your side-by-side comparison is...

KJ Williams = Tari Eason

Eason is more athletic and has more upside, but Williams gives you more of a post game and better height. He's also a system player for McMahon, whereas Eason, as good as he was, wasn't really featured in Wade's system and at times it seemed like he struggled to fit.

Darius Days > Kendall Coleman

Coleman is a little longer than Days and might be a bit better low-post scorer, but lacks his all-around game. Rebounding might be a wash, but Days did it against better competition.

Jalen Reed > Efton Reid

It would have been great to get Reid back, and it's valid to say that he'd be making a big jump as a sophomore. But if we're going to compare next year's roster to this past year's, it's not a high hill for Reed to climb to be better. He has a legit inside-outside offensive game, he's fluid and he's tough - none of which Efton Reid had last year. You're giving away an inch or so, but probably getting it back in vertical leap and athleticism.

Derrick Fountain > Shareef O'Neal

This might not end up being right, but O'Neal was a mess from an availability standpoint and never really showed off an offensive game. Fountain, at least as a freshman, showed off a nice outside shot, abd he's been a pretty active rebounder and defender at Mississippi State. The guess here is you get a little more offense from Fountain, and way more durability.

Cornelius Williams = Bradley Ezewiro

Not much to say here. Ezewiro didn't play, and neither did Jarrell Colbert, and Williams won't either.

Tyrrell Ward > Alex Fudge

Fudge looked like a burgeoning star at times early last year, but by mid-season he was no factor despite his athleticism. Ward isn't as tall, and he might not defend as well, but while Fudge was a 3 point a game guy Ward is a double figure scorer. Big improvement here.

Mwani Wilkinson > Mwani Wilkinson

This could be a breakout year for Mwani, who gets to take over a leadership role on the team and continue developing his offensive game. The real question is whether, with Ward coming, he can hang on to his minutes from last year.

Brandon Murray > Trae Hannibal

This isn't really a fair comparison since if Miller decides to stay he'll play the 2 that Murray played last year. But physically Murray and Hannibal are somewhat similar, and since we don't know Miller will be back I'm making this comparison. Murray was terrific at times offensively and Hannibal can't quite give you that, but he might be a better defender and he seems like a better ball handler.

Adam Miller > Adam Miller

Obviously if he's on the roster Miller makes for a big improvement - and probably makes you better than with Murray. Remember, Miller was ahead of Murray when he got hurt last year.

Cam Hayes = Eric Gaines

Hayes has a lot more upside than Gaines as an outside shooter, though his numbers didn't reflect that this past year. He's also a bit less chaotic with the ball and as a freshman, he really showed a nice two-man game at times with Manny Bates. That's something Williams and Reed might be able to join in. But while Hayes isn't a bad defender, he can't quite give you the havoc Gaines did. In transition, they're both legit.

Juice Hill > Xavier Pinson

You wanted to think highly of Pinson, but at the end of the day the fact is he just wasn't a good point guard. He gave LSU zero outside shooting at all, post-injury he lacked burst on the offensive end and he wasn't creative at the point at all. So many times there were feeds available that Pinson just didn't make. Whereas Hill is pretty much a prototypical point guard who does everything you want out of the position. He might end up being the biggest addition McMahon has made and the best LSU has had there since Tremont Waters.

Justice Williams > Justice Williams

Especially if Miller doesn't make it here, you'll get a huge increase in Williams' productivity this year. I'm one who thinks with more minutes you'd have seen a lot more out of him, but what he didn't show was a good outside shot and the book on him was he had one. You very often get a jump as freshmen turn to sophomores from the outside, and I'd bet you'll get it from him.

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To me KJ and Tari are different players.

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They really are. KJ is more of a classic post guy than Eason, and he's also more of a classic college player whereas Eason is an NBA 3 in development more than a true big.

But I would say they're similar in terms of what you can get out of them.

I'm good with your starting 5, though I might want to go KJ at the 4 and Coleman at the 5 if Coleman can emerge as a rebounding and defense guy inside. Williams might want to play the 4 to show that off for the NBA as part of coming here; he's not really big enough to be a 5 at the next level.

Now, if you REALLY want to get greedy what would be perfect would be getting Manny Bates with the 13th scholarship and having him be a true rim protector and garbage man at the 5.

Or the Sharp kid from Western Kentucky. That would be absolutely magical as a finishing touch.

I’ll be very surprised if Mwani doesn’t start . I think he will be one of our most improved players and he will be the leader Of this team . Mwani has an offensive game , he just had no desire to show it last year for whatever reason