re: Men’s Basketball transfers

quote:

---

Yall really gotta quit with this shite. There is nothing looming

---

yet no one wanted to hire Wade

coincidence i guess

quote:

---

Maybe with NCAA violations still out there. He can't successfully recruit.

---

Wade says hold muh beer

quote:

---

See how quickly that changes in the next 10 months. He's already projected by Lunardi win the Southland.

---

Are you under the impression that he landed at McNese because people think he cannot coach?

quote:

---

You have to win to get people to buy into your culture though.

---

1000%

I am just putting myself in his shoes and trying to understand why he's doing what he's doing basically.

quote:

---

Bottom line is McMahon has to recruit better in HS or he’ll never sniff the top half of the standings in the SEC

---

Agree here, it all starts with guys you recruit from high school and so far its been a pretty big miss there. Year 1 highly rated freshmen were a huge disappointment, hopefully this incoming class is better especially from Chest. 2024 and beyond worry me a lot though. By the end of June if we dont have some 2024 commits I'll be very worried.

quote:

---

Are you under the impression that he landed at McNese because people think he cannot coach?

---

Of course not, but schools weren't willing to roll the dice on potential sanctions. Those will be announced over the summer/early fall. With that behind him, he will be a very hot commodity in the next 2 years.

quote:

---

You have to win to get people to buy into your culture though.

---

Agreed.

quote:

---

Not sure how you break through if you keep assembling these rosters of mediocre short term portal players

---

Mass roster turnover is the norm for college basketball now. Being able to find and sign transfers is every bit as important as HS recruiting. Maybe more, since its not unreasonable to think teams will lose anywhere from 30% - 50% of their HS signing classes after one season. That number increases as the years go on. That's not just bad team. Blue blood programs experience the same turnover. It's not all that unusual now to see teams sign HS classes of 4-5 players and after year 2 only have 1-2 of that group still on the roster.

quote:

---

Bottom line is McMahon has to recruit better in HS or he’ll never sniff the top half of the standings in the SEC

---

The HS recruiting wasn't bad, at all, last year. This year (according to the rankings) not so much. So yes, while HS recruiting could stand to improve, it is not the end all be all now.

Missouri signed ONE HS player going into to last season. The finished tied for 4th in the SEC...ahead of Auburn...who had a much better HS recruiting class. Mississippi St. signed two HS players ahead of last season. Those guys combined for appx. 5 ppg and 3 rebounds. Mississippi St. reached the NCAAT.

Last season put McMahon behind the 8 ball in recruiting. No one can deny that. But he hasn't done as bad of a job as some want to suggest under the circumstances. Cook and Stewart are top 25 transfers and were both 1st team All Conf. players in solid conferences. Jordan Wright has been a 4 years (sometimes starter) in the SEC. Will Baker was a 3rd team All MWC selection. Juxtapose that with the transfers last year. KJ was the big prize as OVC POY. But you had other guys like Hays and Fountain who had fallen out of favor on their prior teams, along with a guy like Coleman who was a solid player on an awful team in an awful conference. You could argue this group of transfers comes in with more bona fides overall than last year's group.

I've been as critical of McMahon as anyone. But I don't think it is unreasonable to say he's done a better job in the transfer portal this season than he did last year (certainly helped by the fact there were some good Louisiana born players wanting to play for LSU next year)

IMO, the coaching was a MUCH bigger issue than the roster building. That roster should have been much better than 2 SEC wins. So I think improvement comes if McMahon has gained a better understanding of how to coach against major conference competition (something he had never done prior to coming to LSU), not simply through roster building, or lack thereof.

quote:

---

You and Lester gonna eat crow when nothing happens?

---

1) Wade’s contract basically includes a show cause and sanctions, which means that both Wade and McNeese believe "something" will happen.
2) Even if the announcement is no further action for LSU and / or Wade, that is better than the threat they are under now. How are you too stupid to get that?

quote:

---

Of course not, but schools weren't willing to roll the dice on potential sanctions. Those will be announced over the summer/early fall. With that behind him, he will be a very hot commodity in the next 2 years.

---

Especially if he actually wins at McNeese state. I dont think some people realize how bad that program is. They havent had a winning season since 2011-12, overall OR conference record. And the Southland is a BAD basketball conference too.

Out of the 12 LA schools that play D1 basketball, they are arguably the worst.

quote:

---

If lsu escapes it’s because they proactively fired Wade.

---

I think that is probably right to some degree.

quote:

---

That doesn’t change the fact that there is a stigma and perception surrounding both due to the public nature of the allegations.

---

Perhaps. But how much does that really matter in the age of NIL where it is common knowledge coaches are arranging payments to players to sign with them...even if technically the school nor the coach is actually paying the player?

Kelvin Sampson put two schools on probation. Houston hired him soon after his show cause was over. Same for Pearl at Auburn. Kentucky had no qualms about hiring Calipari. St. Johns just hired Rick Pitino. Xavier hired Sean Miller BEFORE any decision was announced in the Arizona investigation. Ole Miss hired Chris Beard only 3 months after he was fired by Texas following an arrest.

"Cheating" is not a mortal sin in college basketball. Losing is. So while Wade doesn't have the skins on the wall like Cal or Pitino, or even Beard, he did greatly improve LSU in year 1 and followed it up with the school's most consistent period of winning in three decades. That may not mean Duke or Kentucky will be banging at his door. But there will certainly be major conf. teams who look into hiring a guy whose teams went to the NCAA Tournament in 5 of his prior 7 seasons at VCU and LSU (would have been 6 but for the NCAAT being canceled in 2020)