Lapaz

We're lucky to get out of this game with a win. This team is so much worse without DJ. His injury may be season long, and without him, we'll be lucky to get a couple more wins, but we were due a little luck.

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The decision to keep or fire CMM should not be based on the buyout. Essentially, we would have a lame -duck coach that nobody, including the players, would respect or have any confidence in. In my opinion, this is a no-brainer to let him go. The conversation then shifts to getting the right coach in place who may potentially take less up front and allow for a strong NIL budget to kick start his season. It can be structured with lots of incentives to make up for it. Especially if the new coach is BFFs with the LSU President and Gov Landry...these conversations are already taking place. The General is coming back.

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If a coach takes less NIL upfront, then he won’t get any talent. That gives up on next season. When CMM had better talent at Murray St, he dominated the league. He has won some games with comparable talent. He hasn’t done well at LSU, and I would like to replace him too, but the buyout is a real obstacle that will affect us negatively unless we find benefactors. If those benefactors exist, where have they been?

He wouldn’t be a lame duck next year unless he kept losing.

Wade has incentives in his contract that could pay him $4.3M this year, so he's potentially making a lot more than McMahon.

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Good grief. I hope you don’t work in business.

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I think your business would fail if you spent frivolously. The prudent business question is would an extra $5M in NIL be enough for CMM to win, while still saving $5M, or do we need to spend $10M more to get a better coach at the same NIL? If $5M more leads to lots of winning, then that will make money. Will $10M more at the same NIL lead to as many wins? I doubt it. It may lead to more wins than we're getting now, but I doubt the difference would justify the extra $10M.

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So your point is:

Instead of investing 25 million into rebuilding the hoops program, you'd rather take 12 million dollars and light it on fire?


Idk Lap I think we should just get a good coach. The last guy was good enough just get someone of equal or greater value!

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If we have the money, I'd prefer to rebuild the program with the best coach we can afford, but my contention is that if we have to pay CMM's buyout, we're going to be worse next year. I also contend that with superior talent, CMM will win. The NIL was increased this year, but not enough to get superior talent than other SEC teams. It's about making the prudent decision until the buyout doesn't truly light the program on fire.

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Not saying I 100% believe it but have seen multiple people on here and On3 claiming he isn’t happy at NC State and has interest in coming back to LSU now that Woodward is gone. He would want some NIL and facility guarantees but apparently that won’t be an issue.

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We would have to pay Wade's buyout of $5M, plus CMM's and his staff of about $10M, plus match or exceed Wade's potential salary of $4.3M/year, and at least maintain our NIL. That would be nearly $25M for the basketball program next year rather than less than $9M if we kept CMM. We just spent a fortune on the football program, so I don't believe we're going to spend that much next year on the basketball program. We could double the NIL and only spend about 12M next year with CMM. That would probably be one of the highest NILs in the SEC, so we would probably have better talent than most, and even CMM could win.

I’ve given up on McMahon, but I think he’ll get another season unless the the rest of the season goes horribly. He’s almost untouchable, because we can’t afford to buy him out after this year. From what I’ve seen, the only way LSU will stand a chance is if they have better talent than the opposing team, because we will generally be out coached. If Verge agrees, then I think Verge will decide that instead of spending on buying him and his staff out, then spending big on another coach, and then increasing the budget anyway to make that coach competitive, Verge will increase the basketball budget again to get better players. The question will be will a better coach with less money to build the roster do better than CMM with more money. I think the odds are good that we would get the same results, unless we get an amazing coach that we probably can’t afford, so keeping CMM would cost less. I think CMM will get another year to make his buyout more affordable. He will have to win some unknown number of games to convince Verge that he can win with a bigger budget. If he only manages 3 wins, I think he’s gone, but I don’t know where the breaking point is.

I like your positivity, but I don't agree that they play great defense. They have played good defense at times, but they give up too many 50 point halves. They need to play more consistent defense, because with Thomas, I think the offense will be consistent. If they improve their defense, they will be a very good team.

The excuse is that McMahon didn't recognize sooner that Acuff was hot today. He finally started forcing him to give it up, but they had already taken the lead by that time. Thomas is back and played like his old self. McKinnon didn't shoot it well from 3, and if a couple of his shots had gone down, they would've won today. Arkansas is a very good home team, but LSU still had some chances at the end. It was an exciting game. Arkansas got some motivation from their crowd, so LSU had to play well to have a chance. LSU played like a top 35 team, but at home Arkansas is every bit of a top 20 team. They have possibly 2 freshmen that may get drafted. If LSU can maintain this level of play, and I think they will with Thomas back to normal, then they will win plenty of the remaining games.

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Did he go anywhere yet?
It would be a nice pickup.
If plan a didn't work

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Jayven James is committed to Alabama, but he was rated very low. Broderick Shull of Auburn is the highest rated uncommitted OT aside from Seaton. James was the 859th player in the rankings, while Broderick Shull is rated the 285th player, and Shull was also rated much higher as a high school recruit. Shull was rated higher out of high school than any player that we lost to the portal this year. I don't know what's going on with Shull, but I think we should be pursuing him as at least a backup plan. He played RT, but he is supposedly athletic.

ON3 described him as "Explosive, twitchy offensive tackle with high-level movement skills for the position. Measured in at around 6-foot-5.5, 275 pounds as a junior. Has plus length and big frame for the position with 34-inch arms and 10.5-inch hands. Transferred to Oklahoma powerhouse Bixby prior to his junior year, lining up at right tackle. Athleticism and twitch pop off the film. Fires out of his stance. Dangerous as a puller and when working to the second level. Capable to manipulate and turn defenders at the point of attack. Showed progress in his pass set technique as a senior. Moves laterally with ease and is able to mirror pass rushers. Looked more physical as a junior and will need to improve in that area to maximize his upside. Can also improve his balance. Combination of size and athleticism give him substantial upside if physicality improves."