Samford @ LSU 16 Nov 17 7 PM

Nice little article. We will be making the drive from Lafayette.

As we all know Waters was excellent in his debut.

I was also impressed with true freshman Brandon Rachal. Rachal may be our best defender on the perimeter when it's all said and done. He's all of 6'4" 200lbs. and is chizzled. Brandon Sampson looked very comfortable on the wing and will be counted on heavily to produce on both ends of the floor. Reath gives 110% and will be counted on to carry this team down low. Anxious to see where Aaron Epps fits in. We will need him at the forward position to spell Reath. Jeremy Combs finds ways to be productive, but he will struggle against SEC forwards. I love his hustle though. Next year's squad is going to be unreal.

I don't care what Epps does offensively. I don't care if he scores less than 5 ppg AS LONG AS he provides good minutes defending and rebounding. He MUST help out in those areas to have a meaningful impact on this team. He's one of only 4 true frontcourt players. Combs and Reath can't be expected to control the paint for all 40 minutes...every night.

I don’t disagree that Epps needs to step up his defensive and rebounding game from where it has been in the past. And with his athletic ability and length, he needs to be a rim defender. But don’t think for a second that Wade doesn’t have designs on him playing a huge offensive role as well as he can create a mismatch for a lot of teams.

And my statements earlier were to simply refute the notion that Epps’s role is to “spell Reath.” Epps is and will be a starter once fully healthy. Spelling someone implies that he is a bench role player designed to come in and give Reath a breather, which is just not true for this team.

My apologies for inserting spelling Reath. He will indeed be counted bon heavily to supply minutes rebounding and blocking shots as well as defending. We have no one else to play down low. Combs is 6'6" 6'7" at best and will also be counted on heavily to help but he will struggle against SEC talent. If Reath is foul prone we will be in big trouble down low.

Keep hearing that Reath has become more physical, he needs to start dominating the glass and putting up much better rebounding numbers. As far as Epps i think wade is high on him because he fits the up tempo style and can provide more 3 point shooting at his position. He will need to defend but it’s his stretch game on offense that has Wade excited. Btw watched Michigan last night and they’re not very athletic, they play good basketball and have some size up front but non of their wings or guards jump off of the screen.