No. That was a botched report. While LSU apparently showed interest in Dylan Johns, the offer and commit was premature/false. I think CJJ would love to land a bigger fish or two in the Spring. Talk of Keith Frazier as the prime next candidate is the recruiting buzz. That said, many predict he wants to stay in TX. But, it sort of depends on what he sees of LSU this year. He's a SG, and LSU certainly needs the scoring. Carmouche is here just this year, and then you're talking about Stringer who will be a senior, and a couple young guns in Morgan/Hammink.
Whats the story with Jalen Cortney? Is he injured (bad knee) or just so bad that he cant help? We needed rebounding against Boise & he is 6ft 8in or so isnt he.. If he cant play hopefully he will be encouraged to find greener pastures next year & open up another scolarship.
I'm heading to the game Tuesday night vs. UCI. I may have a few very, very cheap good seats if anyone is interested.
Tigers played a good game today against a tough opponent. Losing by 4 points is not bad. It's never good to lose but this team played well in spurts. We will probably win 7-8 conference games this year. I had the chance to talk with Coach Jones during their visit to the West Coast. Told him we are all glad that he is here and we look for him to bring back the glory days of LSU basketball. He was a very polite and gracious man. Talked with Hickey and Coleman as well. With the number 8 recruiting class for next year this Tiger program could get well in a hurry.
http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=205847233 Wow! Way to go Tigers. Yes, it was a loss, and a loss to a Big East team, Marquette, that got crushed by Florida. BUT, this is a talented, multidimensional team that tested LSU in many ways. It was a game against a team at their place, in a hoops town, with 14k+ fans against them. And, it was another game where the Tigers down by 21 in the first half, fought back to take the lead with 9 minutes to go and fell by only 4, 84-80, to Marquette after practically perfect foul shooting down the line. I'm proud to say I'm a LSU tiger hoops fan, and I haven't said that in a while. A couple of observations here from this game... first off, what I think that will serve this team well is the FIGHT. The spirit. I often talk about the intangibles from teams, the demeanor, the character. And, you can tell the spirit of a losing team versus a winning team. That never die attitude vs that head down, disengaged look. This team just finds a way to claw back. The energy level is there, the guys jumping up from the bench, encouraging each other. That's the way a team should look. This goes hand in hand with another element of this team. The good and bad of being able to score in bunches or give up scores in bunches. You can say maybe this team is a streaky team, or you can call it live and die by the shot. Whatever you call it, it's fun at times to watch and at times it's nerve racking. When you rely on Stringer, Hickey and the three point bomber brigade, get used to LSU being down 10, 14, hopefully not 21, all the time. They'll be able to shoot themselves back into the games (or not) depending on who's hitting. I think what was interesting about the game though yesterday was that first, CJJ used an aggressive ZONE to get back into the game in the second half. He chose not to press with Marquette's Junior Cadougan and their relatively experienced guards in the full court. But, the Zone created opportunities and missed shots and rebounds against a deeper and bigger front line in Marquette. So, coach showed me something there. Great game from the guards--Hickey, Stringer and yesterday, Carmouche, showed me something. CJJ's guard-oriented style of play is going to have us competitive, particularly if our guys can continue to shoot threes with some consistency. What was interesting was Carmouche was actually our assist leader, 10 assists to only 4 turnovers for him and he hit some big shots. It was funny because at times, I mistook Carmouche for Stringer, b/c I thought it was him. The 9-21 in threes from those three is a big stat, largely because Andre Stringer, our 5'9" SHOOTING GUARD, went 6-10 from downtown. That's the guy that most negatigers said couldn't play in the college game. It's really a testament to the system of CJJ that's getting Stringer more open looks in transition. Hickey forced a lot of shots, yes, but whereas Stringer's getting a lot of transition pops and set plays, Hickey's having to make plays with the ball in his hands often in time crunch situations. So, if these guys continue to play like this, that will be a good sign. So, what separated these two teams? Frankly, going into this game I would have expected Marquette to kill LSU on the boards, and dominate with physical play. Nothing really separated these teams too much. Both teams had low 30s in rebounds, both shot similarly (although Marquette shot a higher overall percentage, LSU shot a good percentage from 3 so it balances out), and LSU actually had a better Assist to TO ratio (18-14) vs Marquette (15-16). I call it as the difference was FTs, they made an incredible 24 out of 25 shots (96%) from the line, and LSU, equally good from the line, only shot 13 (made 12). So, there, I see it as LSU relying a little too much on a finesse game and not taking it to the hoop better (they did this better in the second half). You'd like to see a LSU frontline that got fouls if they missed their shots, as opposed to too much finesse from a guy like JOB. The other thing was the bench-play. Marquette's bench outscored LSU's bench 39-29. Coleman was good, but not as great as some of the games he's had, and well, no way to mince words, we had some green freshmen coming in to play with Big East boys. The drop off with Collins, Hammink and Morgan can't be faulted, but LSU's depth and experience in that depth separates a little bit, two neck and neck teams. Give that time, the freshmen must retain and gain confidence. But, these kids must find an aggression beyond their years for this team to compete with the elite. It also tells you how frickin' syched LSU fans should be with CJJ's and staff's recruiting. With a John Odoh in there to go with JOB, guys like Martin, Mickey, Quarterman to back up a more experienced senior and junior team, and this team is going to be FIERCE! What this game is another early season measuring stick. LSU lost the battle but not the war. This kind of close loss gives CJJ more to coach on, and more to focus on. The positives are the Zone, the continued progression of our guard play, the free-throw shooting, and the ability to fight back. The question could be will this be like a "UCONN" moment like in Brady's year when he went to the final four, or not that. Will LSU build on this? I see CJJ using Houston Baptist to try to refine the defense, get JOB going at the basket and some of his younger guys more on track. Leading into the SEC play, where there is a little bit of softness in the mid-tier SEC teams, LSU could very well be poised for a surprising SEC year.
Seeing Daddy Dale at practice set off a nostalgic thought in my cranium.....wonder if CJJ will teach these guys the Freak defense?
Not sure what's going on but I just saw that Hickey is not playing in the next game because of disciplinary reasons. http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2012/12/lsu_takes_on_houston_baptist_w.html and some good news "Junior college center John Odo made it to campus, has enrolled and passed all necessary medical requirements and was expected to join LSU for Thursday's practice."
Don't know why this got my attention but does Tuba not know that Hickey is that short or is he being sneaky and trying to give Collins a head massage?
