What championships were we competing for? And who is happy? The word you are looking for is "realistic." Losing sucks. So does rebuilding. We're doing both this season, so get used to it.
Try National. Remember Duke and Redden? Or does that not count because Brady could only recruit U-High. Fine. I don't really care. Too bad you weren't so "realistic" in Brady's early years.
The problem with Brady was never that he couldn't win. It was that he could never win with any consistency. He ran off an average of three players a year. He was hostile with the media and the fans. LSU basketball was never going to be even what it was under Dale Brown... which really wasn't much. Trent is building a program that will make the tournament year in and year out. Hr had to start with an atypical full Brady cupboard. Year 2 was reflective of the Brady boom bust cycle. This year is the growing pains associated with breaking that.
I seem to remember the team losing by 40 the next game. If you call that "competing" ... so be it, but that was the least competitive final four game of all time. I give him credit for making ONE good run, two if you count the Stromile Swift led sweet 16 appearance, but we were lucky to compete for a West division title most years with Brady. And this ...
duke and redden? what is that referring to? did lsu ever play duke when redden was there? pretty sure not. besides that was before duke was great. am i missing something?
Uh, I think he means Reddick, as in JJ Reddick of Duke. :yelwink2: And, I think that "competing" for a championship that year was a tremendous run through TA&M, Duke and Texas to fall pretty embarassingly to UCLA. But, nevertheless, a Final Four, somewhere Trent has not been yet. But, Brady bashers will say that this run was on the backs of band of brothers from Baton Rouge, who pretty much wanted to play at LSU together, Tyrus, Tas, Glen and GTemple. Add in a senior Darrell Mitchell, and that was a pretty good starting 5. Of course, they had no bench (other than Darnell Lazare) and Brady could not recruit depth before or after that 2006 run.... In any case, Trent has a better "track record" of coaching up teams and building programs. We'll see how he does in his years 4-6, which will be key to the Legacy of CTJ at LSU....
Yeah, I think that "Redden" shows us what sort of troll we are dealing with. This guy doesn't even care about basketball, so disregard his opinions. Trent won at Stanford, and he'll win here. John "Flash in the pan" Brady put together a few nice teams, and twice as many dreadful ones. Plus everyone in the program and the local media hated his guts.
Yeah, Reddick. I'm no troll. I am a fan of LSU and have been for 50 years. I used to be a fan of LSU basketball until punks like yourself decided that LSU should be a national power in basketball and blasted the coach from day one despite many successes. Now you live in this dream world thinking Trent Johnson is the 2nd coming of John Wooden when, in fact, in his 2nd year he hasn't even managed to elevate the team to a decent Div II status. At this rate, his rebuilding will take 20 years. The played a nice 2nd half against an average Wichita State team, but I wouldn't look for this team to notch any wins once conference play starts. You are looking at an o-fer in conference play. I suggest you prepare yourself.
I disagree the team will not win a SEC game. I am thinking along the lines of 4 or 5 wins which is not good but not as horrible as you put. Take it easy.
Two memorable seasons in 10 years is not many successes. Brady was an all right coach, but the program was always going to be hit and miss with him. We needed someone who was going to come in and do at least what Dale Brown did, get us into the NCAA tournament on a consistent basis. You can't do that when an average of 3 players are quitting, flunking out, or transferring on an annual basis. First we are in year 3 of the Johnson era. In year 1 he won the SEC and went to the second round of the NCAAs with essentially the same team minus a NBA lottery draft pick that Brady could not eek out 10 wins with. And the program is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was last year. We have a full accompaniment of scholarship players for the first time I can remember. And these are guys who are going to be in the program for 4 years. We are going to have the consistency we never had under Brady. Next year should be even better as we will have a transfer that addresses a need and two high schools signees, one of which is a five star, that should be able to immediately contribute next year. We also have an improving acedemic standing and far less attrition. You are very clearly reaching here. I am willing to bet that this team will win 6 conference games and be in all of them.
