LSU Men's Basketball Frontpage CBS College Basketball

http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/9130057

Ouch that hurts! This is only the sentiments a lot of people on this board have been saying for years. This is an outside media source looking in.

In 9 years, John Brady has not had a TRUE point guard running his offense if you want to call what he runs an offense. We have seen a lot of guard talent leave the New Orleans area year after year only to succeed at other colleges and not even get a look by Brady. One of the biggest fish to get away was Hollis Price truely a great point guard and leader during his time at Oklahoma.

With all that being said, let's hope this young team can turn it around and pour it on during SEC play. Bumps and bruises hopefully will help later on during the year. Michigan State every year schedules unbelievable tough and turns it on around tourney time.

 

Bingo!

 

a good article, although it doesnt make me excited reading it. tack has to get healthy and play better.

one thing i didnt like is the attitude of the article. that guy should keep in mind that ohio state had to have a little luck in making all those 3s at the end to win.

 

people take your CBS goggles if ... this guy has been bashing kentucky for years ... he hates the SEC and is a big 10 homer what do you expect for him?

everyone just wants to agree b/c they hate brady but if you go do your research you'll see that our guards have played a lot better than ryan francis and jackson from texas tech

if i have to, i throw out some stats, but this writer is garbage and he knows LSU fans hate the coach so he could go no wrong by writing it

 

He may be "a big 10 homer" and hate the SEC, but the article was dead on.

That tells you all you need to know.

 

I agree. While there were kernels of truth in the article (I believe I brought up the Ryan Francis debate a week ago on this board), I thought the tone of the article was almost down right spiteful. Remember that this is a team that beat Matta last year with a similar line-up (ala no guards), and this time we go to their house, and lose by 2. If you want a silver lining, you really do see that these Tigers have not lost to anyone big. All close losses (albeit some that you can argue shouldn't have happened since we were ahead), which make the losses harder to take.

I also agree that many folks were in a similar mindset this time of year last year as well. Lost all hope, calling for Brady's head, etc., not realizing that a basketball season is one where a lot of setbacks, tough games early, usually pay dividends later on in the season.

Still this is the kind of national media attention that continues to weigh in for the anti-Brady camp. Hopefully Skip is paying attention....

I'll also say, that while I've been more pro-Brady than not, I do think that certain things are beginning to weigh on me, which are brought to light from the last loss and this article.

1. Brady has to make some headways in recruiting guards. The college game is increasingly a guards' game, and we're not going to ever be on the elite levels without elite guards, plain and simple. This does not just mean signing a highly ranked guard (ala, Tack Minor), but converting on some good solid guards in other parts of this state and trying to prove that guards can have success at this school. Not signing DJ hurt, and the entire staff knew this. You look at a kid like D.Mitch, and you see that guards can really have a place in this offense. The problem is we need more of them. The positive here is that G.Temple and Ben Voogd will be around for 4 years, and really, we have a Dameon Mason sitting on the bench. Assuming Tack's back in some decent shape, and he gets a medical redshirt, we've at least got stability in the backcourt for the next couple of years. I believe Brady and Butch, tho' need to get someone else this year with our scholarship, a juco kid, a late bloomer in the state--some kid 6-2 or 6-3 in the backcourt who can just plain play d, not turn the ball over, and shoot an outside shot consistently.

2. Brady's game time management needs to really be examined. I respect his overall season preparation, emphasis on defense and rebounding, but at some level, that just isn't enough in a tight game or a NCAA tourney game. I think in quotes he attributes too much of the loss to "seniors on their side" and "freshman" on ours, which I believe is true to some extent, but at some point try something on the bench. Perhaps a match up zone or 1-3-1 on d would have prevented 4 three pointers from being hit in less than 2 minutes? I don't want to over sell this point, b/c when you watch the highlights, you really do see some balls fall conveniently to wide open guys, but this one is really where if you lose consistently after being ahead, you have to look at the coaching staff.

3. Enough with the "young". I think the article points out something that will need to be examined, and that is, while Brady has seemed to recruit well on paper, he's not building necessarily a stable "base." Too often the really good young players leave, Brady perhaps has a little bad luck, and then we're continually dealing with "young" players who then, aren't experienced enough in games, or don't have time to learn anything new (like a more complicated defensive or offensive scheme). In the probation years, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. When, Lloreda got hurt, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. When Bass left early, I (sort of) gave Brady the benefit of the doubt. But, now it's wearing on me. Tack's situation either shows Brady has bad luck, or he's recruiting kids that are questionable. The problem is we almost never have more than 2 or 3 seniors on the court at the same time it seems. The last time we did was when Dupree, Temple II, and Bright were on the court. They played hard and were competitive, but maybe didn't have the guns to stack up. Now, we have some young guns. But, will they be around? The key to turning this around is creating an environment where kids like Tasmin and Glen stay around for more than 2 years, and then having kids like Ben, Garrett, Tyrus, Magnum Rolle, stay for 4 years for consistency. I had believed that Brady had turned the corner perhaps, but Tack's injury magnifies the fact that we have not seemed to have experienced leadership in a while.

I still believe that the season's got a lot of playing left to it, and I hope that it's just a maturation kind of time for the Tigers right now. But, I think if Brady's going to be the man to take the Tigers to the next level, he's got to improve in all of these areas...:geauxtige

 

a lot of bs in that article. doesnt mention ohio st's huge experience advantage. depth advantage? lsu has 7 (count rolle if you want)--ohio st had 9 with significant pt. didnt mention temple fouling out (the real reason for the loss).

and how can you gripe so much about brady not getting some of these La guards when they were so lowly rated?

seems like either this writer has a bone to pick. or just needed a story and didnt watch the game---lazy journalism.

 

Nothing new (or B.S.) about LSU's poor guardplay...

 

Somebody please forward this to Skip Bertman.:geauxtige