re: Hoops: LSU 84, Florida 82 - FINAL (LSU improves to 14-4 overall, 6-0 in SEC play)

Wade needs to go and buy lottery tickets after this win...

Best not to bet LSU to cover, maybe.

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Of course I want them to figure out how to put teams away and quit making stupid mistakes

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It's pretty simple. Just decide it might be a good idea to play defense. This LSU team is HORRIBLE defensively. They are currently ranked 136 in defensive efficiency and have been dropping like a rock in that category since the start of SEC. They WON last night over a top 40 team and DROPPED in the NET rankings and Kenpom ratings. Why? Because their defensive efficiency plummeted another 10 spots.

Look, NO ONE is upset that they are 6-0 in SEC play. But this team is "surviving" more so than winning. It looked like they had turned a bit of a corner last night. But then, after being up 11 with 3:20 to go, not happy to close out a lead, LSU allowed UF to go 8/10 down the stretch and have luck on their side that UF couldn't get off a layup a split second faster.

We can bury our heads in the sand and say "6-0 baby!" But the reality is that one unlucky break could rear its head at the worst time and ruin would could be a really good season. All because (and I know it is sacrilege to say this on this board) Wade doesn't particularity seem to care about poor defensive play. It boggles the mind that a team that so athletic, so versatile, can maximize that ability on one end of the floor (offense), but can do almost nothing with it on the other end of the floor (defense). No one is saying this team has to be Texas Tech or Virginia like on defense. But to be the statistically third worst defensive team in the Kenpom top 75 is absurd. There's no way the contrast between offense and defense should be so stark