What are your expectations for McMahon’s third season?

We better be dancing.

Interesting bar with our current commits and guys returning. Maybe lsu will be elite with NIL this portal season

Undefeated Season, LSU will beat every team by 40, McMahon will resign to announce his candidacy for President in the 2028 Election.

I really appreciate your effort on this thread.

Back in the 90s, one of my good friends was a huge Arkansas Basketball fan - 40 minutes of hell - and I was the LSU Basketball fan and we would go at all the time - in a fun and joking way, always cool. I have such an appreciation of that and this thread.

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CMM did well last off season in the portal, what’s stopping him from doing it again?

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Going into last offseason I was quite down about the portal. I thought we wouldn't be able to pull in anyone super quality. I think McMahon knocked it out of the park with who he was able to bring in despite being 2-16 in Conference.

I fully believe we will have an even better portal class this offseason. A NIT berth, less sanctions, and proof of growth in the program should attract more talent.

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No matter the flack baker gets, when he’s on, he can lead the team in scoring. You gotta get another one of those guys to be your big.

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I agree that he can lead the team in scoring. I think everyone who follows MBB knows we are likely getting a C in the portal. Based on the scheme and the fit of our team, especially if Cook returns, we need a center that can set screens, rebound, defend the paint, and be a legitimate PnR threat.

Not to go on too much of a tangent, but- I know I hype up Dean a lot, but I'm a bit disappointed with his utilization this season. He tested out as the second highest athlete in the program and was a roll threat at GW. We don't utilize the PnR enough with him IMO. We can get a player better than him with a similar skillset and we would be set for C.

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You also will have no depth in your backcourt. Gotta get 2 set guards to replace Hannibal and cook. Still don’t know if Stewart returns. There’s a chance lsu picks up 1 more guard\wing that probably needs development time out of high school.

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I believe in Curtis Givens. I really, really do. He's playing at Montverde with a bunch of future NBA players. He's competing with them in practice. I expect him to be ready to go as a backup from day 1. HOWEVER, McMahon has shown a tendency to prefer older/more experienced players. We will see.

A very likely outcome will be Cook and Givens as your starting and backup PG and Williams and Stewart as your starting and backup SG. Stewart was.. disappointing. I loved his tape from SC.. I think scheme and fit wise he just didn't have a place on the team last year.. and I don't know where he will fit next year, either. He is a ball dominant guard and I think we need someone who can defend and be an off ball threat (similar to Mike) but Carlos is neither of those things.

I've seen some people on here say that the staff wants him to return and that they believe in him when he's healthy. Maybe so. I wouldn't be surprised if he transfers, though. And I wouldn't be too upset, we can find a better fit for our team.

I really want us to secure a commitment from 6'6'' Anthony Gilkes he would add some much needed height to our back court. Cook, Givens, Williams, and Stewart are all shorter guards (If Cook and Stewart stay).

If they go, then we are going to go after a veteran PG. Probably a junior that can play for two years so we can build some sort of consistency.

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I don’t have enough college ball tape on chest but I imagine he’s gonna be a quality off the bench front court.

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He's got a lot of promise. High motor, insane athleticism, good rebounding ability. I expect him to be kinda like a 6'8'' version of Hannibal minus the playmaking. I think McMahon might slide him into the PF position since he's mentioned he added some weight this season. Hope he's developed his ball skills and shooting. But there's also nothing wrong with a hyper athletic forward.

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I’m happy with the recent wins but curious how we replace the production. The team is losing quite a bit of production with two commits

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The lost production will all be from portal players who came here for their final seasons and possibly Cook if they don't patch their differences. What was your expectation a year ago at this time in terms of who they might get from the portal? McMahon was able to get solid play from the group and likely would have gotten more if not for injuries to Collins and Stewart. The year before brought K J Williams and Hannibal with Hayes and Fountain who are good complimentary pieces but not starters, It appears he has good contacts around the country and is able to work the portal. The program looks a lot more inviting now than a year ago so I expect a nice infusion of talent and hopefully retention of the young players who really developed by conference play. If he can land a budding star from a lower level program like Kenecht or Mark Sears it would be a huge step up.

To make the ncaa tourney. That should be everyones expectation now

With NIL, LSU could go out and buy a tournament team. The will and know how falls on McM and the NIL backers to get the players in.

Continued improvement, nothing else will be acceptable.

Continued dev for Ward, Reed, and Williams. Hopefully dev and contribution from Chest and the freshman.

Tourney team or first four out type year. Anything off the bubble would be disappointing after the progress made this season