Caliboot

A&M still has talent but they will have a short bench in terms of production. Carter, A. Wilson (who LSU lost out on to Arky), Johnson (transfer from Louisville) and Wells will be their top players next season.

So let me play devil's advocate since so many here are ready to throw in the towel before the 2018-19 season even begins and send Nikki and co. packing from BR. What would it take for her to get a contract extension? Top 4 finish, SEC championship? Or she has ran her course? Apparently, Alleva is still pondering this as well.

I'm looking around and the SEC is still a 2-3 team race and then everything else is still up for grabs. My redicted order of finish:

MS State
USC
Mizzou
UT-K
UGA
??UK
??TAMU
??LSU
??Auburn
??Alabama
??Arkansas
UF
Vandy
Ole Miss

Now, with the two JC kids she has signed, at least she has bigger guards to play the back of that matchup, that the players are still not great with. She has size to press, we know how much she loves that. Now, if Mitchell, Aifuwa, Farley, Pointer, Cherry can get in the gym and improve their games and the freshmen Jones can give you some baskets, I don't think this team will be unbearable to watch.
Also, if she can pull in the Clemson de-committ, who we recruited before she committed to Clemson, then she has a 5'10-'11 PG/SG as well.

And if you look around the league, A&M lost more than we did and is pulling in JC's as well. Now let's see who develops and uses them effectively and ends up with the best results.

Just my thoughts, let's way in on some positive thinking for a change.

-Recruiting and philosophy is the problem?

What exactly do you feel is the issues? You do not seem to be optimistic about anything or offer anything constructive? Even in the Final Four years and Van’s years, there were still missing pieces. Teams with 10 McDonald’s AA are still struggling to reach a sustained level of success but i guess we can just complain till there is a coaching change.

You make some great points but I think the parity gap is still far off in WBB. If you do not have playmaking guards and a solid post player who can score and rebound then you find yourself I’m tough situations no matter the matchup. UCONN decided to lay off Young to focus on Mabrey and Arike but Young lit them up for 29. In order for any team to beat UCONN, you must have 4-5 scoring options and control the turnovers and rebounding.

LSU does not have either of these options even to win the SEC. Yes, we hung with every team this year but when you have 4 to 5 minute scoring droughts, it’s difficult to win against the better teams. This off season season, our young ladies need to SHOOT until their arms fall off. Jackson and Mitchell will be our 1 and 2 scoring options but in order for this team to exceed expectations, Pointer, Spencer, Aifuwa, Farley, and Cherry has to increase their point production substantially. Two of these young ladies need to average at least 10 ppg, which isn’t much if we can finish layups. There is potential on this roster but it’s going to take some work. I’m optimistic about the future and hopefully this 2019 class will get me more excited.

I did as well. Let's see if these SEC coaches change their recruiting philosophy and find some guards who can shoot.

-So what would happen if the 2019 class is a major miss? We waste an entire year and we do it with multiple top prospects in the state.

Well, according to the last thing I read, her contract expires June 2019 unless Alleva rewards her for this season with an extension, then you have more of the same or things will improve. If she doesn't get an extension, she leaves on her own this year or contract isn't renewed next year. My guess is the latter. However, the coaching circle is a close knit group, and if you fire a coach who has taken your team to the NCAA Tournament 6/7 seasons and has only had one losing season contributed to injuries then maybe you still have a hard time with your next hire. Remember, people read message boards as well and who wants to endure a fan base who doesn't show up but complains excessively about everything.

-And at the moment I have zero confidence to think this staff can do that. Nikki doesn't have another top prospect who is a family member either. They have not proven it in 7 years. Even with Demoss on staff they missed badly for 2018 but people expect 2019 and 2020 to be any different?


I'm starting to believe this as well. If she does not pull in either of the Young's (the one from Evangel or the one from Loranger who plays for DFW Elite, who has plenty of prospects who have had home visits with top programs the last two weeks but I see LSU is no where to be found).

I guess they were busy preparing for CMU and see how well that turned out. How many home visits have they done last week between the SEC Tourney and the NCAA 1st rounds.

Seems that way to me, you don't recruit a 5'5 and under player unless she is a program changer similar to Morgan William and at this moment, Richard-Harris is not that type of player. Maybe year 3 in development will improve her game but yes, Monet Jones, played on the same AAU program as Richard-Harris and one of the 2018 signees from Texas was on the radar for LSU.

And you can't pull in the top talent in Texas because Baylor is there and Texas has been scooping up everyone since Aston took over, even though she isn't a great X's and O's coach. George Washington, her assistant, was a AAU coach in Texas plus you add in Tina Thompson, and of course your recruiting will improve. They also had Travis Mays before he left for SMU, LSU's former assistant under Van, who helped signed the last big/good class for LSU (Barrett, et.)

I do not think that you are wrong but I think their is an issue with Nikki recruiting kids from Louisiana and I believed it all started with the issues with Coco Baker and Youngblood, both dismissed. She is not from Louisiana and I feel she did not establish a good relationship with the high school coaches plus girl's basketball has been down in Louisiana since she has been there. The only player that you could build a program around was Brown and we all know why she went to Baylor. Ursin fits Nikki's system, she is super athletic but not a great shooter but she didn't play much AAU, which is where coaches do most of their recruiting. I find it ironic that they get Deemer from Ursuline but can't drive down the road to get Weber and Mitchell. I don't think she needed Mitchell because she has Pointer, Richard-Harris, and 2019 is stacked with PGs in Louisiana so there was no need. She could have used Weber on the wing but she did tear her ACL during her junior season, which could also have affected them recruiting her. Whatever the case, teams in the SEC that are at the top have had McDonald's All-Americans from their state that has stayed home and helped build the program like Seimone did for LSU in the early 2000's. (Welsh, Coates, Wilson at USC), Vivians at State, Cunningham at Mizzou. All of these are important factors to why LSU is struggling. The state has been down in girl's basketball. Now a philosophy that I think she should stop doing is recruiting players from the same team and taking the lesser player thinking it will get the higher recruit. Norton and Rellah Booth both played in Jacksonville together, Mitchell played with Asia Durr on the same AAU team, Richard-Harris with some girls she missed out on from Houston. She seems to make the top prospects top 10 but it falls apart at the end of the recruiting process.

Realistic expectations for this program: Top 4 finish each year in the SEC
Sweet 16 appearance consistently or every other year, Top 25 recruiting class each year, Improved 3 point shooting (makes and percentage, 84 with less than 30% accuracy is not good), Improved FT shooting (anything below 70 is not good), Improved Basketball IQ, Improved Foot work (all of the post players), Discipline and toughness, a Designated Recruiting Coordinator (and he/she needs to be young because who holds that title now, Butts or DeMoss).

I love DeMoss but she's been back in Louisiana for less than 5 years, she does not know all of the HS coaches these days as before and she wasn't even the recruiting coordinator at Tech with Tyler. So if she is that at LSU, it's gonna take some time that we do not have.