re: LSU basketball Proposal to return to a top flight program

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Basketball is supposed to be the 2nd biggest money maker. Right now, it is a wasted opportunity. We have a 14K arena that only put 4K in the seats. Lots of revenue to be had. Baton Rouge is a very big college town. A top 20 program will have that place full on the regular. Not to mention that basketball helps recruit for Football (recruiting trips, etc.).

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true. back in the 90's the PMAC was more fun then Tiger Stadium

I gave up on LSU Fan as a loyal and educated hoops fan this past decade...Dale Brown even with consistency needed Final Fours, Jackson, Shaq,etc..to try fill the PMAC. Parade AAs don't go to play in empty arenas, nor for HCs with mediocre records. Though Coach Johnson can really coach the game, if not but a marginal recruiter..much of which is a tough spot for any coach to sell.

LSU Fan, as a non-butt-in-seat-PMAC-regular, is a greater hinderance to LSU Hoops growth, stability, and talent hauls, than even La's limited elite-level HS talent. Dale Brown wouldn't even have been able to get CJ or Shaq to BR, if selling today's PMAC crowds, and/or LSU's W-L marks of the recent fifteen years.

During the late 70s-early '90s..it was a different generation of people and kids. Before the mass tv package proliferation, concession gouging, higher tix prices per the day at hand, etc..

Today's LSU students are Ritalin-raised that grew up with Game Gear at the bus stop, then PS2, 3, now X-Boxing Live,etc..unlike the post-Nam era kids and '80s kids that grew up with Dale Brown's P&G colored balls and nets..

LSU now Tier-1, with more out-of-state kids than ever, that didn't grow up hardcore LSU fans. Former eras had more party-animal La HS grads there for a few years until flunking out partying.

BR now a bigger market than that era, with more places to go, things to do..more bars, eateries, casinos, etc..armed with tvs showing the game on a flat-screen with much better and bigger pictures than analogs of old..

Kids of today are overly-stimulated and bore much quicker than the eras you mentioned, not to mention the product of today in terms of LSU Hoops not a fraction of it's former self in those eras, full of 18 to 23 yr old ballers that could play with backs to baskets, and a better brand of team basketball(if not much less athletic and inferior in terms of 1-on-1 iso plays).

Even in winning the SEC title outright a few years ago..the biggest roar nightly came when the Cane's Challenge went over the total..ensuring game tix had become a BOGO coupon.

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Tubby Smith-pretty big name and would come for good money. LSU is a better job than Minnesota.

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Could not win at Ga. and could not win at Ky. I would totally quite LSU basketball if LSU hired TS.........

75% of the reason the PMAC is not filled is because of our past 2-3 years of failure in basketball...also top that with a "disappointing" football season and there is your reasoning..I don't think firing Trent Johnson would be the answer, but if you do, you damn sure better hire a top 10 caliber coach...John Brady wasn't anything really when he got here but a few promising seasons and some good recruiting got the PMAC packed..and I really think with the additions of Malik Morgan (and maybe Ricardo Gathers) we will be well on our way.

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.were a hard sell for a largely disinterested football hick crowd of fans..not exactly a sophisticated Seaboard or Midwest hoops fanbase.

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Who's more football hick than Alabama fans? Yet they go to basketball games now. Nobody went to Tennessee bball games before Pearl and now they get 15000 K for games. The shite ain't rocket science.

They filled T-B for the Ernie and Bernie Show, and other assorted Don Devoe teams had nice crowds. Huge capacity, hard to sell out.

...is to leave Johnson alone. The guy is one helluva coach. I'll admit he's made some mistakes, but he ABSOLUTELY has the program headed in the right direction in my opinion.

Talk to me at the end of the year. I'll re-evaluate my position.

Right now, though, our roster is as stacked from top-to-bottom as it ever has been in my lifetime.

We lost @Arky and @Bama. There's no shame in losing to those teams. The only bad loss we have is South Alabama.

@Rutgers is looking better weekly. Marquette is still a top 15 RPI team. Believe it or not, Ole Miss is an RPI top 40 team. Auburn is climbing up the RPI ratings.

I'm not counting out an NCAA tournament bid this year. I know it sounds crazy, but we have a lot of resume building games left on our schedule.

We just need Stringer and Turner to break out of their funk. Badly. If that happens, we have a chance to beat every team in the conference on our floor. We play elite defense, and outside of tonight, we are an elite rebounding team.

We need perimeter play. That's the only thing separating us from an NCAA tournament caliber team, and we have the perimeter play on our team. They just need to step up.

ETA: Landing Gathers is also a major factor in my decision making. Gathers is really Johnson's first opportunity to land an elite Louisiana basketball recruit. He's a can't miss prospect, and judging from his latest interview, I don't think we'll miss Gathers if Johnson/Scott are still coaching at LSU next year.

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I don't want to break your hear but Aleva is not getting rid of TJ,

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These are the breaks.

Break it up, break it up, break down.

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I am 34. LSU basketball in the late 80's and early 90's was big time. In many aspects, it was more exciting than LSU football. Pretty special in my opinion.

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Agreed And if you were a little older, you'd have experienced the late 70s early 80s Tigers. Never was there a stronger LSU hoops team than 80-81.

DeWayne the astronaut Scales. No more exciting playa, imv
Rudy Macklin
Ethan Martin
Greg cookieman Cook.
Super Sub (I forget hid name, Willie something)

They were the Vegas favorite in the 81 final four.