re: What’s The Ceiling For Our Men’s Basketball Team?

Wade has finished in the top 3 since his first season and averages finishing higher than 6th even counting the 9th place finish his first year. He’s already won the SEC and was a tip in away from an SEC tourney championship. We’ve gone to the NCAA tourney every year since his first winning a game in each including a sweet 16 appearance and have played in the post season every year he’s been at LSU. Finishing top 6 of the SEC is far below the expectation already.

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t’s a ceiling that is limited by the fact that it’s basketball.

Even at number 1, it’s like being the cleanest bathroom stall at the Greyhound bus station

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Can we ban this a-hole from basketball threads? Seriously.

Stop with the Adam Miller was going to be our best scorer posts.

He scored 8 points per game last year. We have plenty help it wasn't going to be do or die with Adam.

I was confident he was going to give us 10-11 points per game and 5-6 assists per game.

Xavier Pinson is going to surprise most of you guys. He will be an insant bucket getter. Expect him to average around what Javonte averaged last year.

Brandon Murray from IMG academy can shoot it also and defend at a high level. He's got a college level body already. Expect him to give us 8-9 points per game.

Eric Gaines will be high risk high reward. He's not bashful and pushes things a bit too much. He looked very good in the second half in the exhibition game once he cut down on his turnovers.

Darius Days is going to have an All-SEC calibar year.

Efton Reid is going to have an All-SEC calibar year.

Tari Eason will be the surprise guy of this season. He's a high motor guy that will average a double double also.

Mwani Wilkinson will give us 110% every game.

Justice Williams will be a work in progress but will give us more depth at the guard position.

Alex Fudge, Jerrell Colbert, Bradley Ezwiro, and Shareef will give us some depth in the frontcourt but are all a work in progress.

Stay close this team will still be very good without Adam Miller.

It is always hard opine on a team's "ceiling" given the unpredictable nature of the NCAAT. I doubt anyone would have said UCLA was a Final Four team when they started the season ranked below 20. Or that Oregon St. would be an Elite 8 team. Even teams that are inconsistent in the regular season can get on a roll in the NCAAT.

That said, I think a reasonable high end EXPECTATION for this LSU team (right now) is somewhere around 3rd-4th in the SEC, with a NCAAT appearance (likely as a 7-9 seed).

1. Even before Miller's injury there were a lot of new pieces that had to come together. With Miller out, there is a big hole at SG and Wade is going to have to figure out different ways to win than he was probably expecting.

2. The SEC is expected to be really, really good.

3. Until LSU proves they can (or even actually want to) defend, we have to assume they aren't. Which will ALWAYS cap their potential for success.

That's not to say they can't exceed expectations. But LAST YEAR'S group, on paper, was a better roster...and they somewhat underachieved because they just flat out didn't give a shite about playing defense.

I'm optimistic and as hopeful as anyone that the team will be good. I'm just not (nor was I before the Miller injury) EXPECTING this to be a Final 4 team like some were on here. Give them a few months to play together and let's revaluate once SEC play starts in late Dec.

Ceiling is a Final Four.
Expectation is to win at least 1 tourney game, and win 11+ SEC games.

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I think Justice Williams will surprise some people though.

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Hasn’t practiced & won’t practice for another 10-14 days

Wade said they want to RS him. But will reevaluate once he gets healthy

Have you ever actually watched Miller play for Illinois or USA u20 or just going off his ppg?

Lester stop with Adam Miller is the best player.

Adam averaged 8 points per game last year.

Have you seen Efton Reid play?

Have you watched Pinson?

Have you seen Tari Eason play?

I was at the exhibition game.

Tari Eason will average a double double this year.

Efton Reid will average close to a double double this year.

Darius Days will average close to a double double this year.

You sleeping on these guys.

To say that Adam Miller was going to be the best player on the squad is crazy talk.

What type of numbers were you expecting Adam to put up this year? Be honest with yourself.

On top of the Werner ladder on April 4th.

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How was last year's roster on paper better?

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You had a 3rd year starter at PG (Smart)
A second year starter at forward (Watford) who was a potential NBA player
You had a 3rd year starter in Days
You had a guy (Thomas) who was projected as a 1st round pick.
Manning was returning
You had multiple transfers (Leblanc, O'Neal)

LSU had three starters projected as potential NBA picks. This year they maybe have one, Reid.

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I can't go for the last year's roster was better on paper because we literally had zero depth last year.

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How do you know LSU has depth this season?

Last year we had many of the SAME preseason post about how this is Wade's deepest team at LSU

This is undoubtedly Wade’s deepest roster in his time at LSU

When's the last time LSU Basketball had so much depth that the coach wanted to trim the rotation?

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Xavier Penson will give us everything Javonte gave us last year.

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I'd love to see it, but that is a tall ask. Both guys were in the SEC for 3 seasons and Smart was CLEARLY the better player.

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Efton Reid, Darius Days, Tari Eason, Alex Fudge will give us the best front court we've ever had under Will Wade.

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Again, I hope so. But Naz, KBW, interspersed with Taylor, Williams, and Days was a pretty damn good frontcourt. So good in fact, that LSU went 16-2 and won the SEC despite being the 3rd worst 3 point shooting team in the league.

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This team will be so much better at rebounding.

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Remains to be seen. Days is a great rebounder. Eason looks like he could be as well. Outside of that your claim is based on pure hope.

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This team will shoot free throws at a high percentage.

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All of Wade's teams have shot FTs very well. Including last year's group

There was a reason LSU was ranked just outside the top 25 going into last season as opposed to just inside the top 40 going into this season.

Again, that's not to say this team can't greatly exceed those expectations. I'm just not ready to have unrealistic expectations at this point.