re: LSU Basketball - Not even close!

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Kinda seems to have plateaued there with lots of talent.

This was year 5, in basketball. He's good, not elite

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College basketball has very much become a year to year sport. This was Wade's LEAST talented team since is his first year at LSU. I felt that way (and said as much) BEFORE the season...and BEFORE Miller was lost for the year. The 12-0 start this year was a byproduct of a pretty weak schedule and overinflated expectations. The team, not surprising, regressed back to the mean once SEC play started. The Pinson injury, (though probably overrated by many) likely costs LSU 2-3 SEC wins. Still, the team was picked to finish 6th in the league and most "experts" had them projected as a 7-10 seed NCAA Tournament team before the season and before the Miller injury. So, while this may have been one of Wade's "worst" years at LSU, it still resulted in a 21 win regular season, 5th place finish in the SEC (after tiebreakers) and 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Pretty good for a "down" year. Next year's team looked like it was going to be much improved from this year's group.

This mistake is treating the progression of basketball programs as linear. Success levels can swing wildly from year to year.

Auburn made it to the Final Four in 2019. Regressed a bit in 2020. Had a LOSING record in 2021. Won the SEC and was a #2 seed this season.

Alabama, under Nate Oats, was barely over .500 in 2020. They were the runaway winner of the SEC in 2021 and #2 seed. This year they were wildly inconsistent en route to a .500 record and convincing loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Hell, even North Carolina had been struggling for their standards before getting red hot to end this season. In Roy William's final two season UNC was a combined 32-30 with one NCAAT appearance and 0 wins. This year they looked to be on the same trajectory...which is why they only received an 8 seed...then everything came together.

I think there is a very strong argument to be made that Wade exceeded reasonable expectations in every year but one at LSU (the 2021 team should have been better). Was he a national champion? No. But to sit there and argue the guy wasn't doing a good job in terms of results is ridiculous.

In the end though that time is over and it is time to move on. McMahon's success (or lack thereof) is going to be compared to Wade's. That may be unfair to some degree, but that is the nature of sports. Wade got the benefit of being compared to the (mostly) losers he followed up. McMahon gets the burden of following a guy who (whether you want to accept it or not) did win at LSU.

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College basketball has very much become a year to year sport.

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You still need experience and continuity.

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Couple of things I saw in this Final Four.

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Griffin are 8 stars.

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Griffin in final four: 1-7 FGs, 6pts

????

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If you don't have the players to execute that offense it does

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Name an offense that works if you don’t have players capable of executing the offense.

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they lost against a very good team with great guard play

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Agbaji did not have a good game, Martin is a complete defensive liability, and Harris is a non-factor offensively. Their guards are not better than baylor’s or duke’s, 2 teams North Carolina beat.

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what is your point he is still better than anyone we had THIS year

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The point is your point doesn’t even exist.

You want to complain about Wade so you say stupid shite like his offense doesn’t work if he doesn’t have the players to execute it. That statement applies to literally every offensive philosophy in existence.

You talk about how much better North Carolina’s offense is because rj davis is better than any guard at lsu. North Carolina was 24-9 this year, an 8 seed, got blown out by wake forest and kentucky teams that lsu beat, and was considered a bubble team until the last month of the season. Last year they were 18-10 and an 8 seed again, and they lost in the first round.

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was a scorer with range...not a distributor or great ball handler

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You said wade’s offense “works better when you have a guard that can dribble, drive, finish, or pass”. Thomas is very good to great at the first 3 of those. You said nothing about being a distributor until now. A huge part of North Carolina getting as far as they did was Caleb love scoring 80 points in 3 halfs, including the second half against Duke. He wasn’t distributing, and they don’t win that game without him doing what he did in the 2nd half.

Having to change your arguments after you’ve already made them and hoping no one notices is usually a sign that your argument sucks.

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Woodworth paying interns to post. Nice

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And here you are being an idiot for free.

How can anyone muster up anything in this subject anymore. How many times can the same people say the same things

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No, I was working while you were posting on TD. Get a real job.

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Can't post when pulling those fries out?

You are so cool, teach me.

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Can't post when pulling those fries out?

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You mean like the fricking point guard?

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15 points on 5/17 shooting including 0/5 from 3 with 2 assists.

The difference between that line above and a normal pinson stat line is 9 extra shots.

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Bad troll effort.

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The lsu fans celebrating rj Davis’ performance against Kansas are the same ones that complain about how bad Xavier pinson was this year. But I’m the troll

How the frick did OP get 90 upvotes