re: Headline in the Advocate: (How LSU basketball proved it can compete with anybody)

The moral victory line with McMahon is getting a bit stale.

Yes I know he has to overcome losing Reed, but he clearly didnt have a great read on Ward and lost him due to whatever preseason and have put us in this spot we are now throwing 3 (now 4 with Green) true freshmen in the rotation pretty heavily and none of them have performed at necessarily a high enough level in conference play to "earn" those minutes (Green TBD).

It seems like McMahon is destined to get a 4th year regardless of how this year finishes up, even if we only won 1 or 2 more SEC games and finished 2-16/3-15 I just dont know if I see the admin pulling the plug citing players he lost and the buyout would still be like $9M I think. I know it's a pipe dream but if we dont hire Wade back this offseason I'm very certain a power conference program will be hiring him since his restrictions will be over this summer and he's done nothing but win literally everywhere including McNeese freaking St now. There's other good coaches out there but the fit with Wade here was just so perfect in terms of him understanding the struggles we have as a program (behind football/baseball in importance) and mitigating that as much as possible while driving so much interest around the program.

This is dumb. Every time lsu is good we either collapse or get caught cheating

We’ll break records if we’re good at underwater basket weaving and you’re suggesting we don’t deserve to be competitive in men’s basketball

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Didn't Bama sit 2 starters the entire 2nd half?

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They didn't do shite in the first half. LSU played great D and frustrated them.

I don't think McMahon brings much to the table, but the team at least played a tough game on Saturday and LSU still was without Victorious Miller who I think is one of our best players (young as he is).

But ultimately, we want to win, not just compete. So moral victories ain't good enough.

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It seems like McMahon is destined to get a 4th year regardless of how this year finishes up, even if we only won 1 or 2 more SEC games and finished 2-16/3-15 I just dont know if I see the admin pulling the plug citing players he lost and the buyout would still be like $9M I think.

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I know folks don't want to hear this or believe this or accept this, but this is almost certainly going to be the case IMHO. And whether I like it or don't like it is irrelevant to the point.

Yeah, it's hard watching teams like Vandy and Mizzou immediately turn things around with portal moves and good coaching. We are getting some decent talent, but the combo of our coaching with the talent we do have ain't cutting it to this point. Things can clearly turn around quickly with the portal and the right coach as we are witnessing with these other teams.

Sears had something going on and was PATHETIC first half. If he played the 2nd half LSU had a better chance of winning. So let’s not act like they sat Sears because they felt bad for LSU. He was sick or a personal issue or injury and couldn’t win with him.

My issues with the team…

-Sears is too short to be a great perimeter defender and too inconsistent to be relied on from 3. He also has bad turnovers way too often.
-Carter can score but also turns it over too often.
-Collins is athletic but not physical enough to compete in sec play.
-Chest can rebound (see first half of bama game) but can also disappear (see second half of bama game).
-Bailey is not prolific enough to start—he just doesn’t try to score (or isn’t athletic enough to do so consistently).

Miller and Reed are injured compounding the above, numerous problems.

To me, the biggest issue might be the recruitment and performance of sears. He’s more of a player who should be a good second string guard who is forced to start—we have no sec-caliber PG right now. This is a player problem but it’s more of a coaching problem.

If we can’t locate the players (esp. transfers) we need and continue to incorrectly evaluate them, we’ll continue to go nowhere.

This isn’t even mentioning the challenges with designing good plays or the Xs and Os aspects of coaching, of which I also can see the reasons to be frustrated, nor is it mentioning the fact that we can’t land the big fish that we need to be competitive, e.g. the Cenacs of the world.

All around, there are numerous challenges the LSU team has to overcome—from players’, coaches’ and from the standpoint of recruiting—but it is seeming to be a very large hurdle, perhaps too large, for this staff to clear.

And the rest of the SEC is leaving us behind… making those hurdles seem even more insurmountable

They can. A good 3 pt shooter would put them over the top

We can compete in the upper half of the SEC with an SEC caliber head coach.....

Lsu saw the full team in the first half and the score was tied at half.