re: Matt freaking McMahon

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Whoa hold your horses for a minute there Chief! Last season at this point we were 12-1 (1-0) with a win over a top 10 team on our conference opener.

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Wayyyyy different team top to bottom than last year. Our best player had zero playmaking ability and it forced us to play a half court style set which is not the type of team McMahon is used to. Adam Miller was supposed to fill that role and was a complete flop. This year, we have one of the top PGs in the SEC that can facilitate and get his own bucket and is an extremely smart basketball player to top that. As of late, our shooting has been drastically different with him on the court. I thought we would miss a little of Collins but this whole team came to play tonight and they have the last month. McMahon has a great sense of the rotation now and we should be very competitive this year. I’d be comfortable saying 8-10 to 9-9 is achievable.

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Wayyyyy different team top to bottom than last year. Our best player had zero playmaking ability and it forced us to play a half court style set which is not the type of team McMahon is used to. Adam Miller was supposed to fill that role and was a complete flop. This year, we have one of the top PGs in the SEC that can facilitate and get his own bucket and is an extremely smart basketball player to top that. As of late, our shooting has been drastically different with him on the court

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Even with Cook in the lineup the offense still hasn’t been very efficient. In fact their efficiency rating has continued to go DOWN. Defense and rebounding won the game last night. Outside of Wright, the offense was actually pretty bad.

Now, I do agree Cook gives them better OPPORTUNITY to be a better offensive team. But they are going to struggle if they have to consistently rely on just out shooting opponents.

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McMahon has a great sense of the rotation now

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It may be getting there. But I don’t think it is there yet

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I’d be comfortable saying 8-10 to 9-9 is achievable.

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It’s ONE win. A great win. But still just one. The league adjusted to McMahon quickly last season. He never countered. Even he essentially admitted that. The league will counter again. And it’s very unlikely LSU will get an opponent to shoot 25% on their home floor. To put that in context, it was the lowest % an opponent shot on their home court against LSU since 1966…nearly 60 years!

Be excited about last night. But let’s not overreact just yet. There are several good teams in the SEC

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Even with Cook in the lineup the offense still hasn’t been very efficient. In fact their efficiency rating has continued to go DOWN. Defense and rebounding won the game last night. Outside of Wright, the offense was actually pretty bad.

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Agreed, Cook gives us something we did not really have - a player who can get his own shot off consistently. But he was not the reason we won Saturday, in fact he had a terrible first half in every aspect including defensively where No. 4 was blowing by him every play. He did play better in the second half but the reason we won was seemingly out of nowhere we found a way to rebound.

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he had a terrible first half in every aspect including defensively where No. 4 was blowing by him every play

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To be fair, Taylor has done that all season to better defenders than cook.

The high ball screen was being set too low, ATM played drop coverage with both men and brought a 3rd to clog up the paint stifling our pick and roll with Cook. All we were getting was the corner 3 because of that 3rd man creeping in. All we needed to do was extend the offense a bit to open up options for Cook but we didn’t. He did adjust in the 2nd a bit using more pick and pop bringing Wright over to the play side to give us some space on the wing and Wright exploited it in the 2nd. Coach Mac has to do a better job of freeing up Cook up top but you’re right, we won the game because our bigs were finally physical and scrappy underneath plus our depth wore them out in the 2nd half. I think Cook is a good defender he just isn’t always aggressive because he’s trying to stay out of foul trouble.

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Just him being on the court, opens everything up.

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I don't disagree. But LSU's offense doesn't scare opponents right now. Outside of Cook, there really isn't anyone who can consistently create their own offense. They have multiple guys who are capable, but no one (outside of Cook) who you can say "that guy is going to get me 15 or so every night out". On Saturday Wright had a big game. But he was really about it. LSU's defense (combined with a historically bad shooting night for A&M) and rebounding kept A&M at bay until LSU was able to find just enough offense to pull away.

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I believe the Aggies were one of the best defensive teams

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There weren't...at all. Their defensive efficiency rating was creeping up to 100 before the game. In fact, LSU was the better defensive team coming in. Where A&M was really good was on the offensive side. Most notably because they were dominating the offensive glass. Number 1 nationally in offensive rebounding % It was a team that looked like the 18-19 (SEC champ) LSU team. They didn't shoot it a a particularly high level, but they made up for it by controlling the offensive boards.

Simply put, LSU beat A&M at A&M's game. A&M was getting 45% of all offensive rebounding opportunities. Best in the country by quite a large margin. Vs. LSU they grabbed a season low 27% of potential offensive rebounds. THAT was the game. Not LSU's offense. Which wasn't very good.

Moving forward I think LSU will have better days offensively. I know Cook will have better days offensively. I don't think another opponent will shoot 25% against LSU again for the rest of the season. So again, while Saturday's victory was very encouraging, it wasn't a perfect all around game by LSU. The offense is still worrisome as it current sits as the 2nd worst in league...and that includes, now, 4 games with Cook in the lineup. Especially when you see the SEC has 7 top 50 defensive teams.

Let's see if they can build on the current momentum against a team the SHOULD beat at home tomorrow. That would be a good next step. But I'm not ready to predict 8-9 SEC wins just yet. There are several really good teams in the league. Regardless, it's nice to have a reason to be a little bit excited again!

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To be fair, Taylor has done that all season to better defenders than cook.

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Oh, I understand - and Cook did better in the second half of staying in front.

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The shots were there early on. We had wide open corner threes anytime we wanted we just didn’t hit em. What we should’ve done is try some different guys like Ward or even Wilk to knock down those shots. If we get some to fall they would’ve had to adjust instead of us and the offense probably opens up even more. Ward hit a couple but mostly he wasn’t on the floor with Cook so we didn’t get as many open looks with him out there. Mac has to do a better job with player combinations on the fly.

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Ward is the best 3 point shooter. The problem is he doesn't defend, so you are hesitant to leave him out there for long stretches. I thought we would see Baker take more of a KJ Williams role. Particularly working the pick and pop 3. But LSU just hasn't done that. Instead, they've kept him inside where he's often been overmatched.

Ultimately, I think the biggest issue with the rotation is that while it is deep (legitimately 11-12 players), there's not a lot of separation between the group outside of Cook. Thus, McMahon can never truly go into a game knowing what he is going to get from an offensive standpoint. Baker may score 15...or he might get bullied off the court. Fountain can give you a hustle 12 points...or he might be a non-factor. Ward can give you some spot up 3's...then allow 10 points with poor defense. Reed might dominate...or he might be clumsy mess of turnovers. Wright may do what he did on Saturday...or he might force 17 shots and shoot below 30%. You just really don't know, so every game is trial and error for most of the first half.

That might just be the make up of the team and their identity could be on the defensive end. Start there and try to figure out the offense as you go with Cook being the catalyst. The one thing I would do is not be afraid to have a quick hook with the C/PF position. I think Dean gives you a toughness defensively and on the boards. Yes, his offensive ceiling is far lower than Baker's. But I though his insertion into the game Saturday kept A&M within reach while LSU tried to figure out the rest.

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I thought we would see Baker take more of a KJ Williams role. Particularly working the pick and pop 3. But LSU just hasn't done that. Instead, they've kept him inside where he's often been overmatched.

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I never actually thought about that - but I guess I should have as Baker was supposed to be a decent 3-point threat, although I've not seen much evidence of it at least here....7-21 for the year.

That they tried to force him as a primary threat inside as you say, has troubled me all year, as Nichols in the second game showed how to easily counter that, and every team that has chosen to do the same since has easily shut him down.

As you say I'd start giving Dean more of Baker's minutes. He does not possess the scoring potential of Baker, but does IMHO...everything else better and besides as I said above it's too easy to take Baker out of the offensive mix the way we are using him.

Bump for the man the myth the legend Scotty Dub!