Official 2023-2024 Basketball Roster

FWIW I’ve been in the camp of needing to give McMahon some time due to the cloud of allegations and overall state of the program. With that being said they need to take a big step forward this year and I don’t see how this roster can accomplish that. I see 5 maybe 6 SEC wins with this quad.

We’ll be scrappy and probably decent defensively, but scoring ability outside of Cook is a major question mark. We’ll need a couple of guys to make a huge jump for us to stay afloat offensively. Whether that’s Wright, Ward, or someone else I have no idea. We could very well struggle to score 65 a game in SEC play.

Hoping McMahon can develop some of these dudes quickly otherwise it could be another long year.

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Bring him back Scott

the womens team can beat the mens team

This is a huge risk banking on Cook being eligible

I just pray they play hard so I can stand to watch the games. Last year I stopped watching because the team looked like they were in a morgue. My favorite player was Derek Fountain cuz he was the only one that occasionally hustled.

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Louisiana is #2 per capita for current NBA players. If a coach can put up the Fence and pull in one or two from out of state, LSU can be elite. That just isn't happening.

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I see 5 maybe 6 SEC wins with this quad.

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If that is the case then it will be time to look elsewhere. The reality of college basketball today is coaches have to be able to flip their roster year after year and still compete.

Much was made of last year's team where McMahon had to bring in 10 new players. Well, this team has 8 new players. And there is no reason to think he wouldn't have to bring in 7-8 new players next season. That's just the way it is in college basketball now. It's not unique to LSU.

This year he was able to keep his two best Freshman prospects (Reed and Ward). But in an offseason where LSU wasn't a particularly desirable transfer location after a losing record and last place finish, McMahon was a bit fortunate that there were some solid transfer options with BR ties (Cook, Stewart, Wright) whose desire to return home outweighed last year's poor season. Another poor season and even the BR/LA kids may not want to come home.

For this team I expect the backcourt scoring to be more consistent. Cook and Stewart have proven they can score against solid competition (they AAC and WCC are probably just a step below the traditional power conferences). Guys like Collins and Ward have the physical traits (namely length and explosive ability) that NBA scouts like. That's why both were 5 star HS prospects. Reed is more of your modern big man. 6'10, but plays with more of a SF/wing game.

Baker was brought in to play the KJ Williams role. They are going to use him in the pick and pop to get him open 3's. KJ was terrific from deep if you left him open and cold get to the basket if you ran him off the 3 point line. It's unreasonable to expect Baker to be as consistent as KJ was. But he has to be good enough to make the defense respect him. The good news is that he should have more consistent scoring help than KJ did.

Guys like Hannibal, Wilkinson and Wright have to be solid role players. You are never going to expect them to carry the team in any game. But they are all good enough to make those "hidden" plays that help you win. Fountain may or may not start. However, he was the biggest surprise of last season. He played with a lot of heart and effort on both ends of the floor, and gave LSU a chance to compete more times than not, even tough he was outmanned.

My biggest concern with this team is on the defensive end. By nature, basketball is an offensive sport. So it is not surprising to see everyone focus on the offensive struggles last season. However, LSU was WORSE defensively. Defensive basketball may not always be fun to watch, but defense is ABSOLUTELY necessary for great success. Go back an look at all of the championship teams over the last 20+ years of so. The one trait they share is they could all defend.

On that end, Collins is a bit like a Kavell Bigby-Williams clone. He doesn't have a great offensive game outside of dunks and putbacks, but he has the size and athleticism to be a disrupter on defense and solid on the glass. If you asked scouts who is the best pro prospect on the team, its him. Hopefully he can follow in the line of some recent Kentucky transfer who struggled at UK but found success elsewhere.

Fountain is a willing defender. Same for Hannibal (though sometimes out of control). I think Ward is a guy who could really be good defensively if he develops. He has great length and was active on D last season in his limited opportunities. The only negative is he was sometimes too active, which took him out of position.

On paper, the SEC doesn't look to be quite as strong as it was last season. Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, should all be solid, but none of them look to be "dominant" teams. On that note, LSU's SEC schedule (at least the opponents) doesn't look to be quite as brutal as the last two seasons. They will play Alabama, Arkansas and A&M 2x like always. However, the rotating 2x opponents this year are Vanderbilt and Georgia. That's probably about as good a draw as you can hope for in that respect.

The OOC schedule also looks much more difficult than last years where the 11-1 start proved to be fools' gold. If nothing else, this team should be more battle tested entering SEC play than they did last season. We also should have a better idea of how good this team should be by the time they open SEC than we did last year. It is entirely possible this team could be leaps and bounds better than last year's team yet, have a worse OOC record due to the level of competition.

LSU and McMahon are not going to get the benefit of the doubt after last season. So I don't expect them to be picked to finish any higher than 10th - 11th (if that) ahead of this season. But that doesn't mean they can't be good. Fair or not, McMahon has a LOT of internal pressure heading into this season. All of Woodward's major hires thus far (Mulkey, Johnson, Kelly) quickly and DRASTICALLY turned their programs around. Thus, there is not going to be a lot of patience to allow the MBB team to drag along at the rear of the league while the other programs on campus are competing for national championships.

Why wouldn't Cook be eligible?

Yeah that roster is pretty bad and the lack of energy around the program is even worse. Not to mention Ole fricking Miss, the worst bball program in the conference by a wide margin, just hired Chris Beard.

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I see 5 maybe 6 SEC wins with this quad.

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If so, then LSU will be in the market for another head basketball coach