re: Men’s Basketball

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hardly watched any lsu games last year because they sucked

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I'm not saying you are but that is the definition of a fair-weather fan, and that's OK, I understand it. Other than a few megadonors, those are the fans who start to impact the AD's decisions because they have the greatest impact on attendance and basic revenue generation through sales of tickets and merchandise.

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Um, tons of people lost interest when they fired wade, just look at attendance.

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Attendance in general rises and falls with wins & losses, not who the coach is (other than how he affects wins and losses). Wade put a very good product on the court, great in terms of what LSU is used to, and looked to be moving to an even better product. Unfortunately, he also put LSU in a bad position, I wish that were not so but it is.

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doesnt mean I wont tune in this year and cheer them on.

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I am an LSU fan and I like basketball a bit but it is not my favorite sport. My son is a huge basketball fan and an LSU grad so that kind of pulled me back several years ago. I tend to watch every game now if I can.

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Thanks for gatekeeping though.

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You're welcome.

I really was not trying to do that but I get tired of the guys who always want to pop on and spout off about Wade as though he was an innocent bystander that LSU fired for no reason whatsoever.

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If our administration had told the NCAA to go play with themselves like multiple schools have done SUCCESSFULLY in recent years, we would've gotten a slap on the wrist, and retained the best coach we've had since Dale.

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List those multiple schools, I know a couple have. How many of those had the head coach on tape discussing payment, payments made to a player's ex from their wife's personal bank account, and had multiple allegations levied at football as well? This was not the same.

North motherflucking Carolina ran a bullshite course for 30+ years that they funneled PLENTY of their players through to maintain eligibility, and they got wait for it: NOTHING

Bill Self has incriminating text messages out and about related to the same "investigation" Wade was caught up in. He got: a slap on the wrist.

Zion's family was living RENT FREE in a $950k mansion owned by a Puke alumnus during his one year at Puke. Chris Duhon's momma was moved to Durham and given a high paying job in an area bank with ZERO qualifications. Not a word in any official NCAA capacity spoken about it.

One can only imagine what else goes on that is ignored/covered up/negotiated down to a wrist slap concerning the NCAA and it's "investegations".

What I do know is that the NCAA is hanging on by a thread, and a brand like LSU is as big as any in the country. I've posted before, and am convinced that the relationship between Woodward and Emmert hurt Wade in the end. To help mitigate the PATHETIC job Emmert did as head of the NCAA, I think Wade's scalp was offered up to give the ILLUSION that Emmert and the NCAA were cleaning up the cesspool, which is LAUGHABLE.

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North motherflucking Carolina ran a bullshite course for 30+ years that they funneled PLENTY of their players through to maintain eligibility, and they got wait for it: NOTHING

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They got nothing because they were smart about it. The courses were offered to the entire student body, which was why the NCAA could do nothing about it under the academic fraud bylaws, it was not technically a violation. They did get a reprimand (nothing, basically) for the minor infractions of non-cooperation with the investigation, which is ironic because they initially self-reported I believe.

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Bill Self has incriminating text messages out and about related to the same "investigation" Wade was caught up in. He got: a slap on the wrist.

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Self's texts were not directly talking about offers. That's kind of a huge deal. I think maybe Self is lucky that the one call he made to Gassnola was not tapped but that is serendipity for him and calamitous for Wade and LSU. ANd this also speaks to something else with the NCAA, that is the differing treatment of schools perceived as bluebloods vs mid-tier and lower programs.

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Zion's family was living RENT FREE in a $950k mansion owned by a Puke alumnus during his one year at Puke. Chris Duhon's momma was moved to Durham and given a high-paying job in an area bank with ZERO qualifications. Not a word in any official NCAA capacity spoken about it.

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That is different from ignoring an NCAA investigation but again points to the disparaging treatment of schools based on their perceived stature in a sport.

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One can only imagine what else goes on that is ignored/covered up/negotiated down to a wrist slap concerning the NCAA and it's "investegations".

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Can't argue with this at all.

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What I do know is that the NCAA is hanging on by a thread, and a brand like LSU is as big as any in the country.

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We like to think so, and we are a big brand, but you really have to look at it sport by sport. We are barely a blip on the radar in terms of basketball.

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I've posted before, and am convinced that the relationship between Woodward and Emmert hurt Wade in the end.

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But may have helped LSU overall. Of course this is all speculation.

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To help mitigate the PATHETIC job Emmert did as head of the NCAA, I think Wade's scalp was offered up to give the ILLUSION that Emmert and the NCAA were cleaning up the cesspool, which is LAUGHABLE.

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I find that difficult to believe. The fact is that Wade did two things that got him in serious trouble. The phone conversation about the strong-arse offer and the payment from a personal account to a former player's (not from LSU) ex. Those things are what made it very difficult to keep Wade for the athletic department.

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I REFUSE to believe he's naive enough to not comprehend how colleges all over the country are doing exactly what Wade did, yet they're untouched.

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SW has been called many things on this board and elsewhere, both good and bad, but naïve is not one of them. He knows how it works and he also knows how the plausible (or even implausible but palatable) deniability works for a coach and the AD. He also sees the differences with the Wade situation, as thin as those differences may seem, and the lack of plausible explanations other than a cash payment in full knowledge of the head coach.

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With Self, you're dealing in schematics. Any reasonable person knows what he's talking about (and admitting to) in those texts.

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It is significantly less specific than Wade's comments on tape. Added to that are people involved in those texts saying Self had no knowledge of any money exchanges compared to Wade's being a conversation with a person effectively turning states evidence and corroborating what the intent of the conversation was.

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Scott is right around my age. He grew up when LSU basketball was bigger and more successful than football was, however briefly that period lasted. He has to understand how important a top men's program is.

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Football was king when Scott was at LSU but basketball was the #2. He was there from fall 81 to spring 85. I'm certain he understands the importance of basketball.

In terms of McMahon. I think he brought in a guy who he thought had potential and is squeaky clean. It doesn't look like he's very good after last season but there are some caveats to that and hopefully he ends up doing really well going forward but only time will tell.