re: Why do people question LSU's commitment to basketball?

Also heard now he's back playing baseball he's a lefty pitcher.

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Name me one big time coach that would actually consider leaving wherever they are to come to Baton Rouge.

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Pretty much everybody has a price. Whatever it takes.

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I don't really understand this line of thinking that LSU's administration doesn't care about basketball.

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LSU's administration cares deeply about basketball, there is much fertile ground for exposure for the university with basketball and it is a revenue sport.

LSU alumni, by and large, and LSU athletics fans, generally, do not give 2 $hits about basketball. Most LSU fans are either LSU football and don't care about anything else, or LSU football first, LSU baseball second and, maybe, LSU basketball third.

The high water mark was with Jackson, O'Neal and Roberts - and, heck, that was a quarter of a century ago. The recent blip with future NBA guys like Thomas and Davis was just that, a blip.

The reason the perception is there is that LSU fans, by and large, do not support LSU basketball, and, even if the team is winning, they only draw lukewarm support.

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The reason the perception is there is that LSU fans, by and large, do not support LSU basketball, and, even if the team is winning, they only draw lukewarm support

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They drew much more than lukewarm support back in the '80s and '90s when they were winning. The occasional winning seasons since then have been so rare and sporadic that they haven't been able to build the consistent fan support that the program used to have.

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LSU's administration cares deeply about basketball, there is much fertile ground for exposure for the university with basketball and it is a revenue sport.

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It's kind of hard to explain the approach LSU has taken toward basketball if that's really the case.

Basketball has by far the worst facilities of the three major sports, and only recently got a little bit of an upgrade with the practice facility. Football and baseball facilities are much more on the leading edge of the sports than basketball facilities are.

In hiring coaches, you could argue we tried (but, sadly, failed) to go big time by hiring Trent Johnson, but before that, we went bargain basement with Brady and held onto him as long as we possibly could. And really, even Johnson wasn't that much of a heavy hitter. In football and baseball, we've gone with Saban, Bertman, Mainieri, Miles, etc. (although you could argue Miles was no bigger a name than Trent Johnson at the time he was hired). We consistently go for the best available and spend whatever it takes to get them in football and baseball, but not so much in basketball.

The level of performance required and expected is vastly different in the three sports. Smoke Laval was more successful than any basketball coach we've had since Dale Brown, and possibly rivals him. Gerry DiNardo's success was comparable to Brady and TJ in terms of winning percentage, and better in conference winning percentage. Mainieri has done more than any basketball coach in LSU history, and he's under pressure to have a good season this year or his seat will be warming up. But Brady hung around for 10+ years. TJ remains despite no appreciable progress since the 2009 team graduated/left/etc. Any football or baseball coach would have been fired long before Brady was, and would be fired right now if he performed like Trent Johnson has. We seem willing to tolerate mediocrity in basketball to a far greater degree and for a longer time than in football or baseball.

Not providing top-tier facilities, not going for top-tier coaches and not demanding top-tier performance are all hallmarks of an administration that just doesn't seem committed to having a top-tier basketball program.

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LSU alumni, by and large, and LSU athletics fans, generally, do not give 2 $hits about basketball. Most LSU fans are either LSU football and don't care about anything else, or LSU football first, LSU baseball second and, maybe, LSU basketball third.

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That's only a recent phenomenon, since the administration gave up on the program. 20 years ago, fans were going crazy about LSU basketball and had been for a long time.

This is just unacceptable. There is no goddam reason LSU basketball should be this low. "But football is top priority!" Puh-lease! Schools like Texas, Ohio State and Florida don't have these issues. It's unacceptable. But they won't fire TJ because well the team did improve from last year. Wait, as I type this I'm ASSUMING LSU evens makes it to the NIT. If ZERO NIT fire the guy, but if the Tigers do make the NIT (can't believe this how low basketball has sunk) then I guess give him one more shot.

The whole state of LSU basketball just stuns me. TJ can't recruit. Either bring someone in who can or live with the results and the reality you're going to be fired in the near future.