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

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@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.

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Virginia is one of the better teams in the ACC and Northwestern will compete (somewhat) in the Big 10 this year, as well.

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1. Let's wait until the season is over, or at least close to being over before we talk about firing people. If it needs to be done then, fine.

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it is not a matter of this season. it is about fan apathy and an overall lack of caring about this program from a once proud fan base.

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2. LSU basketball is the number two sport at LSU and it's not close. Check the budget if you disagree.

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Financially, you are right. But, it could be SO much more.

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3. That list of coaches is a joke. Why not throw Calipari on there.

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No one would leave Kentucky to come to LSU, I am not that delusional. Pitino is probably a pipe dream, but everyone of the others would consider the job for top 5 money. LSU has more resources and potential than their current programs and it is not close.

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latest interview

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Link?

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but everyone of the others would consider the job for top 5 money. LSU has more resources and potential than their current programs and it is not close.

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Few and Stevens would definitely not consider the job. People have been throwing money at Few for years and he hasn't flinched. Stevens will get top money from a top 5 program whenever one becomes available and he decides to go.

I disagree on several fronts -

First, the OP -

Big names are usually a big waste of money. Did we need a big name to jump start our football program after Dinardo? Had you ever heard of Nick Saban? Had you ever heard of Les Miles? The premise that a big name is the only way to success is interesting, but it doesn't hold water.

What we need is winning teams. If they win, fans will attend the games. Which brings me to my second point:

You cannot compare a football audience to a basketball audience. As this quote points out (but with a different objective in mind), they are different crowds:

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LSU Fan has abandoned LSU Hoops, and despite selling out for a Rudy & Co 1980 30+ win streak season, CJ Frosh yr, Shaq dunk-a-thon years..were a hard sell for a largely disinterested football hick crowd of fans..not exactly a sophisticated Seaboard or Midwest hoops fanbase. Dale had to sell hard like a car salesman with real Barnum and Bailey Bigtop Spiel.

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The goal is not to tap into the "football hick" crowd and get them to attend basketball games. They won't. The point is to get other fans that like basketball - and love LSU - to attend.

My family has held the same season tix at the PMAC since it opened. At games, I can look around and see people that, like us, have had the same seats for decades. It's a lot easier to take kids and friends to basketball games than football games. Smaller crowds, less traffic, shorter walk from parking, games don't last as long, they're indoors. Basketball is a great option for many fans.

I was a student in the CJ/Shaq years and it was so much fun. It was not a hard sell to get people to attend. The seats were full and everyone was loud. I often used my student ID to get in but sat in the aisle. Amazing place to see a game (and yes, there were coupons involved - when CJ hit 50 pt in a night, quarter beer at Fred's).

There is a big, established crowd that WANTS to support the basketball team. But even the die-hards need to have something to cheer for. Win, and they'll come back.

I think Trent is decent, and he may pull it off and turn this ship around if people are patient. But even if it's not Trent, a "name" means very little. Remember our AD came from Duke - he probably knows a few things about basketball and coaches. There is no silver bullet to winning.

I wanted Anthony Grant when Brady got canned, was selling it here before he even got an interview with LSU. Though I think TJ a better X&O HC. Just sided with Grant's youth and ability to recruit.

TJ deserves another two years minimum, and his solid progress this year is showing his mettle.

willie sims

and I am not ready to crown TJ as a GREAT coach

A good coach but great coaches string multiple great seasons together back to back

You're preaching to the choir, I was at every home game in 1980 and 1981, an LSU student too during the CJ and Shaq eras. Sellouts weren't as easy and predominant even then, as many revisionists wish to exaggerate. Dale had to sell hard when not with 5 Star Parade AAs like Rudy, Big John, CJ, Shaq, etc..

And that generation of old geriatrics that were filling the lower bowl back then, have lost many to the grim reaper, some seats to be replenished by newer aging upper-income Tigerfans. Not an environ like TS and AB, as PMAC noise tends to be even more-so student-based than either Tigerstadium and Alex Box..PMAC regulars on average often barely have a pulse..very tennis crowd.

The latter DB era, most of the JB era, the PMAC with a mausoleum vibe..along with more of TJ's tenure than not too..making for a ho-hum vast majority of the last eighteen years.

Thank God, that the JB and TJ high watermark seasons for being remarkably strong..it made them even sweeter.

It must break Bo Bahnson and Herb Vincent's hearts, I remember them with water bottles as young bucks behind Dale's benches in the glory eras.

Seldom have I seen such an ignorant post on LSU basketball. Let's take your points one by one.

First of all as one old man who used to sit in the cow barn when the likes of Brad Brian and Thigpen were playing, we have never been second in the conference in basketball. I would rank us behind Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida and possibly even Alabama and Vanderbilt. If you just talk about Dale Brown's winning period then you would be correct but otherwise not a chance.

Secondly the state of the program is not that bad and is definitely already on the rise. We won the SEC three years ago and then had two bad years. Yes they were awful years but we are now on the way back and Trent is doing it. Hickey and Hamilton are players that could start for any SEC team except for possibly Kentucky. Ralston Turner is having a bad year so far but has similar talent. The rest of the team are good role players.

Hiring a big name coach with big bucks doesn't guarantee you a winner. The examples are out there. The UCLA teams after Wooden retired, Pearl, etc. What it usually brings is recruiting violations as they use some of those big bucks to pay players.

The key to building the program back is patience. A substance sorely lacking among LSU fans.

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Tennessee, Florida and possibly even Alabama and Vanderbilt.

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Oh please. Tennessee won their FIRST EVER NCAA game just a few years ago. Final Eight is their best finish. LSU has been to at least 3 Final Fours and more Final 8s. We were in the Final Four a few years ago. Bama hasn't done much recently, neither has Vandy.

We have three players on the 50 All Time NBA Team. Shaq, Maravich, Petit, Chris Jackson, John Williams, Scales, Macklin, please.

We are in the top 3 all-time, imv.