re: Just a friendly reminder for Scott Woodward

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If he gets his recruits and gives the same results

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Whose recruits does he have right now?

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Well he finally has a PG. That is the most important but he has commitments from 2 of the top 10 players in their positions for next year. Add them to whoever stays next year should give them a deeper talented team. It's called rebuilding.

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That would be a reasonable approach...in a bygone era of college basketball. But the reality is this is a different era of college basketball. One where good and bad teams are generally having to substantially turnover their roster from year to year. So it is very difficult for ANY coach (not just McMahon) to plan for the future.

There are 6 players on this team who are either Seniors or grad students. I could be wrong, but I believe Dean, Baker, Wright and Hannibal are out of eligibility. That's at least 4 guys gone. Then you have to consider who would really want to stick around if LSU has another bad season this year? If you are a guy like Cook, Stewart, Wilkinson, Fountain, Collins, is it all that appealing to spend the last 1-2 years you have left playing on a bad team? Same for guys like Ward and Reed. Both would be coveted by major conf. programs if they chose to leave.

So while it sounds nice to say this is a "rebuild", its not the same type of "rebuild" it may have been in the past. It's not unrealistic to think that if LSU goes on to have another really bad season McMahon may be left with LESS returning players than he had in his first season, as the players may decide it's better to go elsewhere than play for a staff that has done nothing but lose big since they arrived.

Look at Louisville. Two seasons ago their HC essentially gets fired a few months before the season starts. The next year they hire Kenny Payne. He loses 8 scholarship players from the season before. He brings in 2 top 100 HS players and a top 30 transfer. They are TERRIBLE last season. Nevertheless, he gets a second year. But 7 players leave in the offseason. Good news is he brings in a top 10 signing class. 4 top 100 prospects. He also gets a few highly rated transfers. Things look up!!!....

They are currently 5-6 with losses to Chattanooga, DePaul (who is 2-8), Arkansas St., along with a 1 point win over UMBC, OT win over New Mexico St, and 4 point win over 5-7 Bellarmine. All indications are they are headed for another terrible season. New roster. Good recruiting class. Same bad results. On the recruiting trail they currently have one HS signee for next year...a 3 star player who is ranked 218. The reason is simple, no good players looking to join a bad program.

If McMahon leads LSU to another terrible season who is going to want to come to LSU to play for a lame duck coach who can't win? This offseason he was fortunate there were multiple solid Louisiana players in the portal. Those guys chose to come home. But will they do the same next season if "home" looks to = nothing more than bad basketball?

In years past a HC could stack recruiting classes with some degree of assurance those guys would stick around for 2-3 years. That's not the case any longer. So suggesting McMahon will be able to do next year what he hasn't done this year (i.e. win) seems to be based upon nothing by hope