this is an old blog post from the great ken pomeroy. im posting it to show that what is happening to lsu this year has happened before. surprisingly, this has happened to some great programs (indiana, louisville, michigan). many of these examples have decent excuses (like coach k getting sick), but none of them seem to be lsu's reason (just plain overrated). my question is--what happens to these disappointing teams the next season? http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/selection_sunday_in_november/ also see his recent blog entry where he mentions lsu and the OM game and has a link to his statistical breakdown of this game. he adjusts players stats according to their opportunities http://www.kenpom.com/blog/
To be honest, LSU started making a run at the end of the season and Tyrus had an amazing last few weeks in a Tiger uniform. If not for that, we never would have reached a Final Four. The NCAA tourny is all about "matchups"...and frankly, not to downplay too much our own talent last season, but we matched up well against aTm, Texas and Duke. aTm and Texas were similar to us: good post players, not a lot of outside shooters and we needed a buzzer-beater and OT to knock them off. Then, as for Duke, well, their entire offense was JJ....and when he was faced with the challenge of going against a player who's ENTIRE "game" is defense (Temple), JJ had a rough go of it. We do have some good talent. Good enough to have gotten us into the NCAA's and perhaps win a game or two, but not enough offense to carry us further than that. ...it just now seems that this year's team was over-rated...and now they are simply under-achieving. Not a good combo, IMO. Wonder if Davis will come back another year?? ...this time, perhaps forced back due to, what is my opinion, to still lack the nec. "polish" of his skills to play at the next level... Like last year, only magnified this year is that we're despirately in need of a true point guard and a "dead-eye" 3-point shooter.
Entire offense was JJ? I think you're forgetting top 5 pick Shelden 'alien' Williams But I agree, it is all about matchups and we matched up well with most of the teams.
Good post... love the facts. I think obviously folks love to talk up the "down year" but it's just plain facts that even good programs, good coaches, have off years. There are many reasons for it. Recruiting lulls, inexperienced players, fluke things, but often it's just the plain reality that it's hard to repeat a really good year in basketball. I believe this year it's a combination of taking too long to figure out the right player combinations and a system that suits his personnel (that's Brady's fault), and also players not performing as well as they could when actually on the court (ranging anything from the lack of execution, making mental errors, to just not playing to their ability). But, to your question about what happens to these programs the year after? Well, you can go back and do revisionist history. Many of these programs went through tough times (like Michigan), but that's arguably due to NCAA infractions or the perceived need to shake up the coaching ranks (Missouri). Others, stuck by their coach, like Duke, Iowa, St Joe's, and rebounded or at least performed better. I believe the programs that have stability and foresight to see past the bump in the road and instead focus on the more big picture things can grow and improve. Clearly the point though is that all of these teams, arguably many of them "basketball schools," have had their hiccups. LSU will be no different this year. It's a disappointing year no doubt, but I'll be looking at how they finish. Are they playing hard, is there improvement? Is there a vision for next season and a path for improvement? Does Brady and staff have an off season strategy (recruiting and otherwise) to improve this team? I think Brady will have a key off-season and next year, both in terms of recruiting some talent, and also to figure out how creative his staff can be to minimize deficiencies and improve his players that he does have. :geauxtige :bball: :champs: LSU CAN BE A BASKETBALL SCHOOL. DO YOUR PART.
