re: Lets talk expectations for the lsu basketball program

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What coaches in college basketball are elite while in their 30s?

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Shaka Smart made it to the Final 4 at 33 or 34 years old at VCU, but hasn't really done much since then. In fact, his whole Texas tenure has been very underwhelming but looks like they might finally make some noise this season.

Brad Stevens is the last coach I remember being elite in his 30s off the top of my head.

Like you alluded to, I don't understand how this fanbase preaches up and coming coaches but don't give them the time of day to season and grow.

How are the results a D? Based on what?

I expect 12 to 15 wins for the next 2 or 3 seasons. NIT Bubble. Outlier may be in 4 years an 18 win season with a 8th or 9th NCAA at large invite. This is all predicated on if (or likely when) the hammer drops with a modified death penalty sanctioning the program for years. At that point the program will start from scratch probably without Wade.

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I like the fight of this team. You NegiTigers can talk all the shite you want but they fought their asses off today!

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Fought and lost because of poor leadership and horrible coaching.

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What in the actual frick?!

Uh, first year he made the tourney LSU made the sweet 16.

Last year the tourney was cancelled and we were an 8 seed.

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Could you imagine if we were talking about baseball or football above?

One expectation is to not blow a 7 point lead with under a minute to play

I love hearing the excuses for Wade.

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same? Or did we all say we wanted a young up and comer coach, but not willing to live with the growing pains?

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good lord, enough with the youth excuse. Wade has been coaching 16 years, with 8 as a head coach.

The expectation should be to usually make the tournamnent, compete for SEC titles and to occassionally make some runs in the tournament.

Let's face it, the PMAC is not the PMAC of the Dale Brown era when it was one of the loudest and most exciting places to play. Yesterday it was pretty good, but the PMAC atmosphere is one of the worst in the SEC with fan support just being flat.

Wade is not the best Xs and Os coach and needs some growth and assistance there. However, his first year was a big success following Johnny Jones considering he won 8 more games than the previous team did. His 2nd year was one of the best LSU basketball seasons of all time, last year was still solid tying for 2nd in the SEC and having a tournament bid before COVID and this year has been disappointing so far due to not beating any big name teams. So overall he has had good results and met expectations, but he had so much success in the 2nd year that it created bigger expectations (naturally).

Well, ultimately you hire a coach to win championships ( SEC and national ). So that is basically the expectations. WW is good enough at recruiting and just a mediocre coach, so I personally don’t think he can achieve national championships unless he improves as a coach and can amass a little more talent.
The areas of improvement are:
1) he has to be an enforcer of discipline and fundamentals ( this team showed yesterday they lack both and in the most critical junctures of the game ). Technical by Watford gives them 4 points, bad inbounds play design and a worse inbounds pass, Davonte helping twice when he should have never been, lead to 2 wide open shots, 5 points from his man, left McClung, their best shooter, almost unguarded to hit 3’s late. They could have won otherwise. They did play better than they have recently though but leave a lot to be desired if they want to be mentioned with the perennial powerhouses.
2). Recruiting high basketball IQ players or as a coach, be able to teach. WW didn’t play the game and it hurts with the intricacies of the game. There were several moments in the game where there was no game awareness ( by some of the supposed leaders like smart and watford ).
3) change his philosophy on defense, quit being so risk based and dependent on turnovers and learn to play great head up defense where a premium is put on keeping your man in front of you, close in tight when they pick up their dribble and don’t allow them room to pass over you or around you. Learn how and exactly when to trap in the full court press or half court trap, change how they rotate and play with fundamentals ( just this would make a tremendous difference ).
4). Having better play designs on offense and on out of bounds plays. This, I saved for last because it’s the least important of the bunch because they are successful right now but you can always get better. Running set plays to free up your best shooters at critical points in the game. Again , playing fundamentally sound would greatly improve the offense also. Better execution and reading of the screens, cutting back door when your man is overplaying the passing lane and ball handler seeing it and making a crisp, accurate pass. Never have players standing around while pick and roll is being executed ( they should be running off the ball screens to free up shooters ), better spacing to not allow easy helps. In isolation situations, I see guys not clearing out and it leads to help and then they can easily get back to their man. There are many minute details I could comment on that they do poorly but I think I’ll quit here. They have the foundation, they need to refine it and it needs to be from the coaches and players.