re: There has to be more to the story on this basketball team

This team can’t beat its own meat right now. I bet the WBB could beat ‘em at this point

LSU looked like a solid team its first 14 games, even in the close loss at Kentucky.

Something happened in the next game at A&M, a double-digit loss. The Tigers were not even competitive that night, and they just have gotten worse each game afterwards.

It's unclear what may have happened, but I suspect McMahon lost his temper that night and tore into the team, which has since mutinied. Not unlike Mike Archer's football Tigers after the Hall Of Fame bowl in 1989 vs Syracuse

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And Kansas St. and Wake Forest and the first Arkansas game and at Kentucky???

No, it's not the same team.

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lol, LSU has the talent of a decent mid major team. They can get up for a game here or there but cannot handle a P5 grind, especially when the SEC is strong like it is this year

besides, Kentucky is an 8 seed type team.

ARk is 9-6 without nick smith

Wake Forest is not a tourney team.

not exactly badges of honor

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That was the last game before Hill lost his starting spot (deservedly so) to Hannibal

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Good point. I thought it was strange at the time that Hannibal came into the lineup, even though Hill was struggling. Hannibal as the 6th man is/was one of our only positive aspects offensively.

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The same team that played bunch of quad 3 and 4 teams? No, it’s the same team

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Not true. K-State would blow us out of the gym right now.

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lol[quote]
besides, Kentucky is an 8 seed type team.

ARk is 9-6 without nick smith

Wake Forest is not a tourney team.

not exactly badges of honor

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If you can't tell the difference between our teams performances in those games, which were within a short period of time and the performances the last 6 games and not see the difference and the disconnect I maybe need to sit down and have a long discussion with you to convince you what I'm talking about - because IMHO it's significant, obvious and concerning.

I still have hope for CMM and the future but in my view anyone who cannot see the obvious regression of late is rationalizing.

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Whatever was going on behind the scenes with Juice Hill/coaches/locker room chemistry may have played a role in this train wreck of a decline.

The last game we played well in was against Kentucky. That was the last game before Hill lost his starting spot (deservedly so) to Hannibal. I noticed some spats between Hill and assistant coaches from time to time on the bench as well after he lost PT. There may be something to this that affected the team as a whole.

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I am curious to know if we are ever going to know what transpired between the staff, Hill, and the team.

But outside of that the offense is still very hard to watch and every basket is like pulling teeth.

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Something happened in the next game at A&M, a double-digit loss. The Tigers were not even competitive that night, and they just have gotten worse each game afterwards.

It's unclear what may have happened, but I suspect McMahon lost his temper that night and tore into the team, which has since mutinied.

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Apparently, there’s a cancer in the locker room. That’s as much as I’m saying.

I believe McMahon got rid of said cancer, but the damage had already been done and it's beyond fixing.

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There seems to be smoke here....I guess we will never know tho.

Anyone with eyes can see that this team has given up.

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A&M's strength on the offensive boards was a glaring weakness for us which resulted in a 13 point loss. Solid loss but normal in the scheme of things point wise

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If you watched that game from start to finish you know that LSU was NEVER in that game. The lack of effort relative to A&M's was noticeable.

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Florida was an 11 point loss at the end, but we were competitive, even up 3 at half. Once again a disappointing, but normal loss.

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That game was a sloppy, ugly grind, until Florida "erupted" for a 12-4 run mid-way through the 2nd half from which LSU couldn't recover. That's a realtively normal run in a game that competent offenses can generally match/overcome. LSU doesn't have that. Florida is not a great team. And they sure as hell haven't been great away from home. That's not the kind of team you lose by double-digits to on your home court. Yet LSU did.

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We played the #2 team in the country on the road, followed by #15 and #4. Is it really a shock that playingvthem without our starting pg and having Cam injured wound up in blowouts?

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Outside of one shot against Wake Forest, Hill hasn't been a difference maker at all for this team. In fact, it was addition by subtraction when his minuets decreased. That LSU would lose those games was not a surprise. But LSU was blown out very quickly in all three. There is a difference between losing and not being competitive at all. Mississippi St is 1-7 like LSU. They've played probably a tougher first 8 games than LSU (Alabama 2x, Tennesse 2x, @ Auburn, Florida). Yet, they have at least been competitive. Average margin of loss 9ppg compared to LSU (18 ppg). They went TO Alabama last night and pushed Alabama to the brink (losing by 3). Before that they dropped a back and forth game to Florida by 2. They played @ Auburn tough throughout before falling by 6. They were in a 3 point game @ Georgia with 40 seconds to go before Georgia hit some FTs late to make the margin of victory larger than the closeness of the game throughout.

Look at LSU on the other hand. Trailed A&M by double-digits from the 4:00 mark in the first half through the rest of the game. Down 24 @ Alabama by the 7:00 mark in the first half. It only got worse from there. Outside of a brief run out of the half, LSU was never in the game vs. Auburn. With about 3:00 to go in the first half vs. Tennessee, LSU fell behind by double-digits and never threated again. On Tuesday, against a team in Arkansas that was 1-4 in their last 5 games LSU went down by double digits at the 7:00 mark in the first half. The margin never got below double digits again.

LSU is getting destroyed, quickly, every game out. It's not a team that is playing a really tough schedule...fighting hard...but coming out on the wrong end more often than not. It's a team that doesn't even look like it belongs on the same court as the competition.

The "leave Matt alone" crowd is absurd. You can both really want the guy to succeed (I do!), but also recognize he is clearly out of his league right now and the team isn't responding to whatever he and his staff are pushing across.

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I was counting Auburn (#15) in the murderers' row. My dog yelped to go out so I had to cut my post short. I hadn't gotten to Arkansas yet.

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We disagree on Auburn, I think they are overrated and we played about 5 minutes of good ball that whole game.

In the end we're beating a dead horse repeatedly on this subject.

The main point of disagreement is whether the talent is just so bad due to issues beyond CMM's control so a pass should be given for this year no matter what....or CMM has mismanaged things and the team is getting worse and spiraling more than is reasonable to accept.

I think it can and is some of both without the hyperbole.