Josh LeBlanc and Shareef O'Neal's Eligibility

I don't know what the deal is with O'neal. I don't think LSU is worried about Leblanc because if his waiver is denied he'll still be eligible next semester.

The last I saw about Shareef was mid October his waiver was still under review. Leblanc has to sit a year, but he joined the team second semester last year so he will be eligible for conference play regardless if he gets a waiver.

Yea, LeBlanc worst case will be back by January. He's the type though that can cause a game or two to swing in pre-conference.

LeBlanc had some shite happen at Georgetown and came back to his hometown. When players transfer back home, I feel like 99% of the time they're eligible. Of course the one time it wouldn't happen is when it's LSU.

I'm not expecting all that much from Shareef. I think he has talent, but the few things I've heard out of camp he's pretty far behind.

From what I've seen and read, LeBlanc can be a domimant interior defender in the paint and rebounder. I'm excited to see what he brings to the table.

Per Coach Wade:

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He’s going to be a phenomenal player for us. He will maybe be the best defensive player we’ve had since we’ve been here in terms of deflections and blocked shots. He just kind of shows up and you are like, “dang, you were just out there on the ball screen and now you’re blocking a shot.'”

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Meanwhile Justin Fields was immediately eligible at Ohio State.

Of the three, LeBlanc would likely have the biggest immediate impact. In his one full season at Georgetown he was a top 10 defender and rebounder in the Big East, and probably a top 20 player overall in the league. LSU NEEDS defense and he has proven he can provide it at the major conference level. The other two transfers have potential, but haven’t really done anything yet in college play.

LeBlanc joined the program in the 2nd semester last year and practiced with LSU team rest of the season. Worst case scenario, I think he would be eligible sometime in mid/late Dec. which would mean he’d miss about 4-6 OOC games

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What a thing to pride one’s self on...

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It’s probably a ton more than you have..

Wade announced in an interview a month or so back that O'Neal was cleared and ready to take the court.

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Wade announced in an interview a month or so back that O'Neal was cleared and ready to take the court.

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That’s not correct. Only Penn-Johnson has been cleared that has been announced.

Wade has said multiple times in the past that they expected O’Neal to get cleared; but he hasn’t even said that much of late. But nothing has been publicly announced if O’Neal has been cleared. And with a week till season tips off, I would think they would have announced by now if he has been.

Wade is doing an interview on OTB this morning; so hopefully he’ll provide something of an update.

Once semester ends Leblanc will be eligible sometime in December

O'Neal should have received a waiver based on his situation but no telling with NCAA, they pretty much granted everyone else mainly because of COVID