re: Pat Forde comes down hard on LSU/Simmons/Johnny in this article

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There are many things in LSU style of play this season that should be on some kind of "how not to play fundamental basketball" tape, but their zone defense should be at the top of the list.

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And we switch to zone down 12 when the game is starting to get out of hand yesterday. All I could do was laugh to keep from crying.

Is the idea of zone not to keep teams out of the paint? I've never seen as passive a zone as ours where teams get into the paint so easily. It seems to be stand and watch time.

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As long as Dale Brown & Collis Temple are in the background, JJ will not be fired any time soon.

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I definitely think there is some truth in that, combined with the political timing of this and the botched Miles fiasco.

Many of the folks with stroke RE: basketball....boosters who provide summer jobs and are friends of the program go back to the Dale days and still have ties and loyalty to his regime.

As for Collis....I know he was able to get us some local talent through his sons that helped us to have some good teams, but his sons are long gone now. And his value as an advisor on all things LSU basketball related since, I think can certainly be called into question.

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Losing is one thing, but not putting out effort and having a coach let players get away with putting out effort is disgusting.

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This is really the most glaring issue at play IMHO. Coaching acumen and strategy, talent, chemistry we can all debate.

But effort or lack thereof....that of all things cannot be an issue. It renders all else meaningless.

I too am sick of the Ben Simmons is a victim trope. If your team is having leadership issues and locker room issues, and you want to be THE guy, step the frick up and take control. Be a leader, set an example.

Yep LSU basketball men's and women's totally sucks! With all the resources we have we are straight garbage. I wish TAF would start making F.King Alexander's life miserable.

A Tiger team with less heart I have never seen. Why is that? With Johnny Jones I thought we would get the second coming of Dale Brown. No basketball genius but a coach that would inspire and motivate. Nope, nada, zilch. I am finally turning on CJJ after having defended him for most of the season.

True this team had a lot of players with bad attitudes. It would have taken a strong personality to motivate and organize this bunch. But that is his job and he failed spectacularly. So many players have come into his programs with such promise only to fizzle and die.

Have a lot of the players been overrated and given too much credit. Sure, Simmons being the chief one but not the only one. Josh Gray and Keith Hornsby should have excelled. They both had talent but the system didn't play to their strengths. How many screens did we set for Hornsby in his time here? Gray was quicker than just about any other guard he played against and could drive all night long. He just wasn't taught what to do after that. He kept his scorer mentality and got shot after shot stuffed instead of dishing to open players. CJJ should have made him see the light.

But CJJ can recruit. Really? He got Simmons because he hired the Godfather. Martin,Victor and Epps were home state players. Patterson and Blakeney came because they knew they would get to play with Simmons. Odo and Darcy have been huge disappointments.

What do we have coming in next year? Two JC players, another Australian who probably won't play much, and a couple of pretty good but not great Baton Rouge players. A great coach who could teach, inspire and motivate might be able to win with those players. CJJ, no chance.

The big difference in terms of coaching and respect by players, is that Cal would sit Skal La(?) for not playing the way he was instructed and JJ will never sit anyone for not playing the way they are coached to. Why? Because they aren't coached, so he can't hold them accountable. Don't go to class, or miss a meeting, you get 6 minutes on the bench. That would just about scare anyone into listening to you.

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With Johnny Jones I thought we would get the second coming of Dale Brown

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But he was so different than Dale in both style and substance. For me that was obvious from day 1.

Though I was not very happy with the hire, for me that he was not a Dale clone was not necessarily a bad thing, but my hope was while he obviously lacked the P.R. and motivational skills of Dale he would maybe stay away from the drama and sideshows and focus fully on basketball.

Yes, his resume was very underwhelming, but maybe he'd hire some good assistants. Well he did, but I've heard there was frustration from several on their lack of input.

What I could not forsee was that he would be so poor at affecting his players. That he could not get them to change poor habits and behavior despite telling them over and over the same things. That in a nutshell he could not demand accountability.

And I think that over time it's been a cumulative effect that has become part of the team culture.

How else to explain the repeated, obvious and widespread lack of effort and what seems to me frequent indifference among the majority of the team, apologies to Mr. Blakeney who seems a voice in the wilderness.

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I also watching him coach his arse off the first two years.

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Meh, I think he works hard and always has, I don't think that has ever been the problem. But like Jimmy Johnson says, a mule can work hard.

I just don't think he can affectively motivate his players consistently to do the things they should be and I even thought that year one. JOB3 consistently jacked fall-away 18-footers and took plays off, was too often out of shape, Hickey started out as an efficient facilitator then decided he wanted to be a scorer, etc., etc.