How can anyone argue that the rest of the teams in the SEC raised their game to LSU's level? How many SEC teams have won the College World Series since Skip left the program? It's obvious that LSU has gone down rather than the other teams coming up to their level.
all SEC programs actually view baseball as a major sport now and adjusted as such. Check out the facilities in the conference compared to just 5 years ago. Now everyone doesn't simply want to sit on the bench at LSU with 11.7 schollies and 1/8th of theirs. Top players now have many more options for competing schools and get guarantees to start. Yes, all other programs have raised their level and by default the talent is now much more evenly spread. its called parity. surely this isn't some revelation.
You say that as if it is impossible for a program to dominate. I can guarantee you that football is more competitive than baseball. And, the best programs are obviously heads and shoulders for the most part than others. LSU is not at the top for one reason...We failed to stay there once Smoke took over.
Tirk, LSU had been winning National Championships. If the rest of the SEC has risen to that level then some of those teams should have won a National Championship in the last few years. Those teams have caught us for a fact. However, they have not reached the level we attained when Skip was the coach. If someone from the SEC wins it all this year then I reseve the right to change my mind and agree with you.
The talent level has not just risen in the SEC. It has been raised at the smaller state schools and throughout the south. Every year we are competeing against more and more schools for talent. Tulane or ULL might get a guy who was a lock for LSU 10 years ago. Then the draft comes along and screws us. Its like Skip said. You can have a great class coming then you lose a few players to the draft and someone gets injured all of a sudden you are average. Every year the record for schools participating in DI baseball is broken. Parity is becoming the norm.
you might wanna look up the definition of parity. let's pretend I have 100 jelly beans in my jar but none of the other skinny kids in my neighborhood like them. then 5 years later all the other little kids get fat and decide they want my jelly beans. keep in mind there is only a finite number. then all the fat kids come over and take the jelly beans for themselves leaving me very few. now no one has many yet everyone has some. just like the top 100 baseball recruits each year. see how that works? that's why there's no more dominant teams each year in baseball and you'll never ever see 5 NC's in 10 years by one school. Hell you may have to wait 50 years or more to see that again.
LSUDAN, while your opinion isn't popular with some.... You are correct about LSU's talent level being down. Unfortunately, LSU fans will truly see how much the talent level has dropped next year. I have been to quite a few games and practices over the last 15 years or so and I can definitely see a drop in the talent level. There's simply no doubt about it.
Re: LSUDAN, while your opinion isn't popular with some.... next year will be the first small ball year for LSU baseball since the Skip Bertman era. something I've never seen. and likely the toughest year for the program since the '80's.
Re: LSUDAN, while your opinion isn't popular with some.... That same Jelly Bean argument was made after Skip won his third National Championship. I remember an Article in either Tiger Rag or Purple and Gold explaining how the other universities were putting more emphasis on baseball. Fans could expect LSU to drop because of the talent pool becoming diluted. Skip won two more then retired. There is always an excuse.
If the ball players are now spread across all the teams in the SEC and country, which team in trhe SEC has today's Larson, Todd Walker, Furniss, Brad Hawpe, Cresse? Where are they? Does the SEC have one player on the level of any of those players? Nope. IMO the talent level at the other SEC schools was better in the 90s than now. LSU has fallen more than those have raised their game. Sure they built stadiums and put more money into the sport, but they still don't have the players that were here and at Bama, Florida and MIss- St. 10 years ago. There are maybe two position players and two pitchers from LSU today that would see the field on LSU team from 97.
