with reed out for the year, Collins and chest and fountain and Rob Miller are gonna have to play well. chest I suspect will be awesome, owing to massive motor and athleticism. fountain is just a basic player, but his defense is solid. miller is improving but cant shoot yet. Collins has been a FORCE on defense and a competent dunker. I actually don't think the loss of reed is catastrophe. its not great, but the minutes taken by Collins and chest are in good hands. there will be a new starting lineup in the post-reed era sunday. my guess is Collins and chest up front. the first game it was reed and Miller.
well the next three games are against absolutely miserable teams. one of them is literally the lowest ranked team in the country. like 360th or something. so all 3 should be easy wins. a loss would be hugely destructive to the NET rankings. after these 3 wins this week and next, LSU will have a NET ranking of 55-65. this is no reason for alarm because the SEC is a weekly opportunity for a massive win. go 500 in the league and you are positively going to the dance. so every SEC win should be considered a huge step towards tournament entry. the problems with the ream continue to be: 1. inability to score or shoot the 3 when carter and sears are not in the game and playing well. 2. stretches of wild play and turnovers and lack of calm. this is how they lost the game to SMU. in the second half they started throwing the ball away and to SMU. will wade used to say he would rather you throw the ball into the stands than make a live ball turnover, becasue live ball turnovers lead to transition baskets. and that's what happened, and they lost the lead, and the game because of it. seems like a problem they can solve.
