Men’s Basketball Program

First of all, this is a conversation that need not involve Will Wade. Many look admirably in his tenure, and for good reason, but he’s gone and he isn’t coming back.

That said let’s have an honest conversation about the basketball program. MM is not an SEC caliber coach and that begins with recruiting. He has pulled in very little with an elite college brand and above average basketball brand. Basically his best gets are transfers that were loyalist from Murray St and in state kids no other SEC school would have spent a scholarship on. His HS signees are are developmental guys that show average SEC starter potential. If we cannot get elite talent we will not be a consistently competitive SEC team. I believe he is a good floor coach and gets a good bit from his talent, but that will serve him much better in a mid major coaching role. In the end college basketball is about amassing talent and I don’t see a world where MM flips that switch if he hasn’t already at LSU.

Also the people who defend him just to spite the WW sycophants, you are defending a coach who just lost home games to Nicholls and North Texas and had to battle to come back against a few other less than worthy teams in the same floor. In what other sport would any Tiger fan support that level of mediocrity. Just because you acknowledge the guy isn’t right for the job doesn’t mean you are praising the former coach.

I honestly believe it would serve us best to cut ties and go after a new basketball coach, but it won’t happen this year. I say this thinking 2023-24 has been much closer to a ceiling for MM than the floor.