re: LSU MBB RUMOR: Tyrell Ward to redshirt and enter transfer portal in offseason

Bold statement considering how much mcmahon tends to prefer veteran players

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He was 4th in scoring last year at 9.1 ppg. He was 9th in rebounding at 2.3 rpg.

We’ll survive.

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He also dropped double digits in 7 of our last 9 regular season SEC games and definitely got hot from 3 on multiple occasions. No the guy wasn't All-SEC but he certainly was trending in a very good direction and should have been a sizable piece on this year's team.

You play your best players as a coach. I doubt Ward got passed because Mcamahon doesn't like him personally. He was a liability on defense and maybe he hasn't given the effort on that side of the ball that the coach wanted. They are very deep at guard and you would think preference would be given to a veteran player but something has happened to put freshmen in front of him.

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Who? He played Ward and Reed as freshman and Mike Williams started a ton last year so what Freshman did he sit because just because he was a freshman?

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This was a reputation some of his detractors made up because he didn't play Ward a ton as a freshman and Phillips didn't play much until late.

All good coaches have a bias towards more experienced players, but i don't see anything that proves McMahon is especially biased in that regards.

Yeah, I don't understand that. Ward started 8 games as a True Freshman. Phillips, was tough to play because he's not a 5 McMahon prefers. He's a Junior now at Arizona State, still not a starter, only played 14 minutes a game there last year and played 19 in the first game this year. So it definitely was a false narrative started by these over emotional Wade fans.

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He didn't.

Last year he redshirted Chest. Williams played a lot early with Cook out, but that started to change as the season went on with Hannibal starting to get more of those minutes.

He hasn't been a guy who has put a ton of reliance on true freshmen. He, himself, discussed that ahead of last year in terms of the transfer class. He stated that CBB was as "old" as it had ever been due to the extra covid year, prevalence of 4th and 5th year transfers from mid-major programs, and NIL providing more incentive for marginal players to stay in school rather than leave early for (likely) overseas professional careers. Because of that he said it was a point of emphasis with last year's transfer class to "get older". You saw that with guys like Dean, Baker, Wright, Stewart, Cook...a guys with 3+ years experience.

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While true, I attribute a lot of that to having to show some sort of progress from such an abysmal first season. We had to get older. We lost 8 players, and we weren't going to go full rebuild after such a bad season the year prior. Hell, a lot of yall were calling for his head after year 1. He did the right thing by going after veteran players as a band aid until he could get out on the recruiting trail and build relationships. It worked. Now we are staring at a top 5-10 class and we have the depth to actually build and develop.

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Totally agree. As a side note I watched Arizona State's 1st game. Phillips was criminally underutilized, just standing around on most plays by design. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hurley gone and Phillips transfer out at the end of the year.

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Most programs will never utilize a traditional post because their rosters are not built for it. They'll take a flyer on a kid and hope they can develop a reliable shot to stretch the floor when they make it to campus, and even then, they slow down pace and get burnt in transition and they also cant defend the perimeter which is what's required in most cases. So now you have to sit in a zone and guards have to make up for his flaws because he cant rotate fast enough on the perimeter. Just proves my point he was never going to be a great player, not because he wasn't a great player, but because no one runs the 3 out system he needs to be effective.

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Yeah, I don't understand that. Ward started 8 games as a True Freshman. Phillips, was tough to play because he's not a 5 McMahon prefers. He's a Junior now at Arizona State, still not a starter, only played 14 minutes a game there last year and played 19 in the first game this year. So it definitely was a false narrative started by these over emotional Wade fans.

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He only played in 7 of the 12 OOC games. Even then he was averaging barely 5 mpg in garbage time. He didn't play at all in the first three SEC games. His first action in SEC play was in garbage time blowout losses. He didn't play at all vs.Texas Tech or Tennessee. His first of those 8 starts came in February...at a point LSU was 12-10 (1-8) in the midst of a 8 game losing streak where LSU getting beat by an average of 17 points! There weren't particularly high expectations and LSU was routinely getting blown out by double-digits in SEC play. Ward was the highest rated recruit in the class, yet he wasn't getting meaningful minutes while the season completely cratered in January.

By the time he started playing routinely in the last month of the season it was already pretty much a wash. Interestingly, when he finally started playing significant minutes he had some decent production. Perhaps "coincidentally", LSU became a bit more competitive in those games (though they were still losing).

It's not some "narrative stated by 'overly emotional Wade fans". It's reality. Ward wasn't given significant minutes until the season had gone to complete shite.

I agree Williams can fill it up from 3 when he is hot. However he also was known to have a lot of turnovers and poor decisions passing.
In his first starting lineup, Coach Mac is already starting three guards and it is doubtful Ward was going to start much.
This probably hurt his ego as he thought he was going to start and take a lot of shots. A lot of players think they are stars and NBA material and he will go where he thinks this can happen. Too much competition and they pack their bags.

It doesn't get any bigger than LSU. We're by far the #1 brand in college sports.