re: When did LSU fans become so invested in MBB??

quote:

---

He was pretty much owned by Nate Oats at Alabama.

---

He was 2-5 vs Oats. However, outside of one outlier blowout, the average margin of defeat in 4 of the 5 losses was less than 3 points. I wouldn't exactly say that is being "owned". Wade's last regular season victory at LSU was a win over Alabama.

quote:

---

He was owned by Bruce Pearl,

---

He was 2-3 vs. Pearl with all three losses coming on the road

The only program that consistently gave him trouble was Florida. Then again, he beat Florida is his "worst" season (subsequent to his first year)

quote:

---

And if you really look at it, his teams got progressively worse each year. He won the SEC in his second year, then finished 2nd, then 3rd, and then 5th his last season

---

You forgot to include the caveat that in that "worse" 21-22 season LSU was also a 6th seed in the NCAA Tournament.

quote:

---

That's still completely fine for a program like LSU, but it's like people think we would be what Auburn and Alabama are had Wade not been fired. Where is the proof that Wade is on the same level as Pearl or Oats?

---

The question that can't be answered is how would he have performed in this transfer era of college basketball? The only season that he coached at LSU where the freedom of transfer rules were in full effect (remember, they were initially introduced as a temporary response to the pandemic situation) was 21-22, which was really the first season players fully took advantage of rules. In that year Adam Miller was lost for the year before the season started. Pinson was lost late in the Tenn game at a time LSU was 14-1, coming off a victory vs. Kentucky, which limited him the rest of the way. Eason went from a largely unheralded 6th man at Cincinnati to an All SEC player and NBA first rounder. It was also the first season Wade showed he could put out a team who played elite defense (LSU was the No. 1 defensive team in the nation for much of the season)

He had a highly ranked signing class lined up going into the off-season, and given what he's done at McNeese through the portal, I suspect he would have utilized it well that offseason. Then it all ended.

No one can say for certain LSU would be on the level of Alabama or Auburn had Wade not been fired. But it is clear they were FAR closer to that level under Wade than at any point in the three decades prior when LSU basketball was just as apt to finish last in the SEC as they were to reach the NCAA Tournament. And I suspect if you had to bet on Wade or "the field" (i.e. other realistic candidates for the job. Not pie-in-the sky BS like Billy Donovan, or Scott Drew, etc) as to who would be the guy to get LSU to a championship level program the odds would greatly favor Wade.

Is there a HC out there who can make LSU a perennial championship contender and make everyone forget about Wade? Probably. But history says it's unlikely LSU finds that guy any time soon...which is why many fans want Wade back. He was closer than anyone before him, and the first attempt to try to get back to that level has been an unmitigated disaster. In an industry where every coaching hire comes with a large helping of the unknown, Wade at LSU was more of a "known commodity" than anyone else potentially on the market.