why is their preseason ranking relevant at all? some reporters are the ones who set the standard for success?

again. the standard is this: good basketball teams should make the tournament. LSU is on 3 straight (one didnt happen, not their fault) tournament entries. finishing at or near the top of the league every year. thats success.

if you were duke or kentucky, somebody that absolutely must destroy everyone or its a failure, thats different. duke can recruit 5 lottery picks at a time. you have to wait a bit until we hold lsu to that standard.

i think the frustration (or at least mine) is there doesn't seem to be progression from game one until now.... defense is still optional, etc.

i hear ya.

i like to take a wider view. if you recruit players that like to score and play lazy defense, thats what you get. you can also recuit players that play manic D and cant shoot. or you can draft kawhi leonard, if you can find him. you have to figure out a way to win with the players you recruit.

cam thomas and trendon watford are not very quick high effort players like leblanc is. so be it. which would you rather have?

the NBA is a lazy league. the best team turns on the gas and ruins the inferior team in the 4th quarter. you can ignore the game score until they start actually playing late in the game.

i would rather have a team that wins than a team that plays max effort defense. the goal is wins, not effort.

its true a more ball motion offense works looks cool. but if your players are leading the league in scoring playin hero ball, then so be it. and NBA prospects like to play hero ball. cam thomas is the most selfish player i have seen in a while. still, like his chances of getting to the line in a tight spot and sinking vital pionts. i dont trust leblanc to do that.

wade's teams are always dangerous. they make the tournament. eventually they are gonna make a deep run, a final four, and who knows what else. as long as they give themselves a chance with some talent and a ticket to march. they have that now.

one more thing. in the postgame presser wade mentioned he thinks its a disgrace they have not won the SEC tournament at LSU since like freaking 1933 or whenever it was.

in his first year his inheritied team was shit. they had no chance. then he was benched by idiotic joe alleva and couldnt coach. then last year the plane had to turn around and come right back to BTR when the virus hit, no tourney.

i think wade is serious and wants to win the tournament. i wouldnt be shocked if they win it, esp if they dont have to beat bama to get it done.

Shareef O'Neal posted on his Instagram that his daddy Shaq named his yacht Free Throw so that it would never sink.

Not meeting expectations is disappointing. We have a lot of pieces that WW hasn’t gotten consistent team play from.

You’re right that WW is having general success that LSU hasn’t seen in decades. And I don’t think we’ve seen his full potential yet.

Doesn’t change the micro-disappointments this season. Glad we have you to remind us to step back after a win over a crappy Vandy team.

it is not wise to judge teams as poor because they win. winning is the goal.

vandy recently beat ole miss and ms st and south carolina and was in a close game with bama.

in the SEC, all wins are good.

a very poor way to analyze sports is to keep shrinking the sample size until your point seems more valid. in this case you are trying to criticize LSU basketball for winning.

they will finish in the top 4 and get a double bye. they will make the tournament.

https://247sports.com/college/lsu/A...s-No-37-in-2020-preseason-rankings-154191398/

lsu preseason 37

only ranking that matters is NET

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings

currently 28. i hope being 28 instead of the 26 predicted (not a ranking, but a poll) by irrelevant reporters that decide nothing doesnt upset you to much.

florida lost their midweek game (LSU won their midweek game) and fell out of the tie for 3rd. LSU is in line now for the 3 seed in the SEC tournament.

the two teams they trail:

bama: having a magical year, maybe a #1 seed in the tournament

arkansas: on a 10 game win streak, maybe the hottest team in america. the last 2 teams to beat arkansas were bama and LSU, who destroyed them.

what is your metric for success? win the SEC every year?

Vandy’s W/L record is bad. LSU’s Q1 record isn’t great (I don’t think). Not being blown out in multiple big games is a reasonable expectation, but in perspective I still appreciate what WW has done.

With more consistent performances we could be #1 in the SEC, even playing far from perfect.

Winning the SECT would be nice. Beating Mizzou this weekend would be nice. Winning a NCAAT game is most important IMO.

confirnmed that O'Neal out for remainder of season:
Scott Rabalais
@RabalaisAdv
·
21m
Shareef O'Neal will miss remainder of the season with foot injury, #LSU coach Will Wade says https://theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/lsu/article_22a1d2aa-7d18-11eb-bd84-6ba0949a4e23.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share
via
@theadvocatebr

basically every team in america, every year, gets lit up a couple times. thats not a reasonable expectation. arkansas is in 2nd place. they got lit up in a big game. by LSU.

you still have to beat them. not everyone did. all SEC wins are an accomplishment.

every team in the world could improve with more consistency. the whole issue with sports is that you cant do it perfect every time. i can make a 3 pointer. easily. i cannot do it consistently enough to play in the NBA. i just cant do it. you cant just ask me to do it more consistently. being consistent is the whole challenge!

do you compain when baseball players that are clearly strong enough to hit home runs dont just do it more? why not every time?

again, i ask, what do you expect? winning the SEC every year? you think they should be "more consistent" and win the SEC every year?