re: Should we even be upset about LSU basketball?

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LSU SEC record by year:
2018–19: 15-2
2019-20: 12-6
2020-21: 11-6
2021-22: 9-9

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He also had his second best overall record 21-10 last season; 2nd highest NCAA tournament seed in his five years (6th seed) and highest finish in the KenPom ratings (21) since the 18-19 season (19).

What constitutes an "upward trajectory" can be relative. But while his conference record alone didn't reflect an "upward trajectory", you could argue other metrics showed the opposite.

We get it. You don't like the fact that some treat Wade as if he was a basketball demi-god. I agree that there is some overstated hyperbole in just how good Wade was at LSU. However, what Wade brought that NO OTHER coach brought or sustained since Brown left was a since of hope in the program.

Brady was a roller coaster. He'd finish last, then win the SEC, then finish last once more in a three year span. In fact, he went to the Final Four then finished dead last in the West in consecutive years.

Johnson came in with a solid resume having success at both Nevada and Stanford. He had a great first season. Everyone was hopeful that was the first in many years of success. Then he completely crashed and burned the following year...never to recover.

Jones was a waste of time. He didn't have an objectively "bad" tenure at LSU until his final year. But it was pretty evident before he was hired that he was never going to be a coach to lead LSU to sustained great success.

But for the 2020 tournament being canceled, Wade would have had LSU in the NCAA tournament 4 years in a row...something that had not happened since 1990 - 1993. Was LSU on the cusp of a National Championship? No. But that seemed more possible than at any point in 30 years (absent Brady's great run in 2006).

Fans are disappointed because that hope is now gone. And not only is it gone, it seems further away than it has been in a while given the current coach is having an unexpectedly horrible season in just year ONE of a 7 year contract. Not only is there little hope McMahon will get better. There is even less hope of a possible coaching change for the next 3-4 years.

No

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Will Wade gave Scott Woodward no other choice.

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Incorrect....no other school caught up in these "FBI tapes" fired their coach...none!

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These are the consequences for WW’s actions, not SW.

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False

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Unfortunately LSU has to pay the price now.

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This is true.

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but there is no arguing that the results were getting worse every year.

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There is an argument. I just made it

18-15
25-5
21-10
19-10
22-11

He had a great 2nd year. Fell back a bit in years 2 and 3, but arguably was on the rise in 2022. They were a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2019. 2020 was canceled, but it is likely they would have been an 8 seed. They were an 8 seed in 2021 (probably should have been a 7 seed) and a 6th seed in 2022. In the KenPom metrics, which are generally considered one of the best predictive metrics available, LSU finished ranked 21st. That was higher than in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, and only two spots lower than in 2019. More importantly, last season was the first season at LSU were Wade had a championship level defense. Since the Kenpom metrics started every national champion had a top 25 defensive rating (Baylor in 2020 broke the top 20 trend when the won the NC despite having the 22nd ranked defense). Feel free to go back through all of my posts. I said many, many times over the past five seasons that Wade had to greatly improve defensively if he wanted to truly be a championship contender. He did just that last season with a top 10 defense (top 5 for most of the year).

Was last year an anomaly on the defensive end? Maybe. But if it wasn't, LSU COULD have been in the best position to compete for a championship since Wade had been at LSU...assuming the offense reverted back to something close to form.

The thing I most agreed with in McMahon's introductory press conference is championship teams all share one trait...balance. They are good on both ends of the floor. I had seen 4 seasons of LSU be really, really good offensively. There was tangible evidence to draw from that he could put an efficient offensive team on the floor. Now, we had just watched him put an elite defense on the floor for the first time. Again, last year could have been a complete anomaly and LSU was going to revert back to "form" this year (great offense, bad defense). But I could make the argument they were "trending upwards" towards a championship level program because Wade had finally shown the ability to have a great defensive team.

Look at the last 5 games. We lost to Texas Tech, who just beat Texas, by 8. Could have won that game. Lost to Mizzou, who just beat Tenn, by 10 on the road. Lost to currently ranked #1 Alabama by 10.Lost to Miss St by 11 on the road. Was in that game till last few minutes. And lost to TAM by 12 after being down by 29 early in the 2nd half. But we aren't competitive? WTF? Should we have won a couple of those games? Absolutely. But you are denying reality by saying they haven't been competitive. We just do not have the talent to close out a game. Hopefully they can put 2 halves together and get a few wins in the next few games but please quit with the "we aren't competitive" or "the coach has lost the team." That's just stupid.

We didn’t have a chance to win any of those games. To have a chance you need to get it to within a possession, maybe 2 if we’re going to exaggerate and we never did that.

I’ve seen a lot of mental gymnastics on the Rant and I’m sure you have too but the defense of all things basketball this season is beyond everything. I was comparing it to the Pelini defenders but this is worse.

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Like I’ve said before sure he was better than Brady, Johnson and Jones but people need to stop acting like the program was skyrocketing and he had built a basketball dynasty.

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The Will Wade contingent of our fanbase wouldn't have been satisfied unless the football program was sanctioned.

Let them wallow. Wade is gone and he'll never coach here again.

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Who’s coming to save him?

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Probably Ole Miss's 4th string PG.

That's about as good as we can hope with the energy shown this season