something i wrote for SECfanatics: http://www.secfanatics.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=124553#post124553 John Brady’s LSU Tigers are coming off a rather disappointing season last year. The season started off wonderful winning 17 of the first 21 games including returning home from Gainesville with a great road win against a quality team. However, Jaime Lloreda was injured that game and after a blow-out loss to Auburn, he never set foot on the basketball court as an LSU player. LSU lost 17 points per game as well as their best rebounder. After breaking the top 25 for the first time in the season, we went on to lose 6 of the final 7 games including blow-out losses to USC in the SEC Tournament & OU in the 1st round of the NIT. This season though, LSU appears to have its best team since 1999-2000 when LSU made a sweet 16 appearance with NBA star Stromile Swift and company. LSU returns all 5 starters and has potentially the best front court in the SEC with the SEC freshman of the year & all-SEC 1st teamer Brandon Bass. Bass is complimented by the #3 prospect in the nation with true freshman Glen Davis (6’8” 320). Brady is going to be implementing a new run-and-gun of offense this year to suit our team speed and athleticism. Most LSU fans will agree that this is a great idea. Brady’s teams always play great defense, but have had trouble scoring points the past 2 seasons. Using this new offense, Brady Ball should become more effective with athletic, quick guards. The key to this team may depend on the play of senior point guard Antonia Hudson. I am expecting big things from Antonio Hudson this year. I hope I am not setting myself up to be let down. He played phenomenal against USC in the SEC tournament and played good against OU in the NIT tourney as well—two real solid games (20 ppg) to end the season. We all know the kid can play. When he wants, he can take over a game with his driving and lay-up abilities. When he's not there mentally, he's a hiccup both offensively & defensively. If Hudson can gain some confidence, he has the potential to be a star. Tac Minor has shown flashes of brilliance. He can break your ankles on every play—very exciting player. With that being said though, he still lacks fundamentals. He isn't in the game mentally. He shot more shots per minute than any player on the team and he drives in the lane and throws up a prayer with 4 6"5 players in his face. I'm assuming he did all this in high school and got away with it (i.e. 70 points in one game his senior year). Brady needs to instill in his mind that he needs to be a supporting player and he's not the man anymore. Based on what I have read, Tac has realized that he needs to be a pass first, shoot second type of player for LSU to be successful. We will see how much he has matured. I don't know much about Glen Davis except from a few highlight video, and the fact that he was the #3 recruit in the nation coming out of high school. I do know he will play a significant role especially in freeing up Bass in the lane. Brandon Bass is a monster. A complete monster. He has the potential to be SEC POY easily. Bass attended several NBA camps this summer and from the reports I have read he has improved greatly. I am looking for great things out of him this year Regis Koundjia plays excellent defense. Although he sucked last year (15% from 3, less than 40% from the field), supposedly, he is an awesome 3-point shooter too. Until he finds his stroke, I don't see him contributing except from a defensive standpoint. Still, the athletic ability Regis has gives him the potential to be a playermaker. Darrel Mitchell is one of my favorite players on the team. He is a very quiet fella and he just goes out and takes care of business on the floor. He shoots an incredible 40+% from 3 point range and at 5'10" he might have more ups than anyone on the team (he can dunk easily flat footed). He also plays good defense and handles the ball effectively. His only drawback is being small. Big guards can just overpower him sometimes. He also drives in the lane too much resulting in offensive charges. He needs to let the game come to him and he should quit trying to force things. Xavier Whipple will probably be our starting guard. He handles the ball extremely well and doesn't make poor decisions. He plays solid defense; however, when he is on the court, it's like being 5 on 4 on the offensive side. His 4 points per game just won't cut it in the SEC. I like Whipple b/c he plays hard and doesn't make stupid mistakes, but I really hope he finds an offensive game this year Darnell Lazare is going to be a great SEC player his junior/senior seasons. He probably plays harder than anyone on the team when he's on the court. I love his aggressiveness. He is a solid bench player right now but you can't expect him to win any games for us. Ross Neltner is sub-par. He was Mr. Kentucky 2 years ago and Louisville nor Kentucky even offered him a scholarship. He's a very tentative player. Whenever he touches the ball, he passes it to someone else within 5 seconds. He did score a few points towards the end of the season. On a positive note, Brady has said that Nelter has been very impressive in pre-season work-outs so we'll see how a year in the system has helped his game. Tyrus Thomas & Garrett Temple are both true freshman who bring different styles to the game. I've heard that Garrett has a better 3-point shot than CTIII. We'll see when the games start. Tyrus Thomas has Ronald Dupree jumping skills. He won the slam dunk contest with a 360 slam. I expect 5 to 10 minutes for each player. Josh Maravich, Paul Wolfert, and walk-on David Fleshman will not contribute this season, but will give added depth to the LSU bench in case of emergency. Overall, I see LSU finishing 2nd in the west this season behind Mississippi State. If things go as I expect, LSU will earn a #4 seed in the NCAA tourney and make it to the Sweet 16. The talent is definitely in place this year—the key will be the ability of John Brady to turn this team into a winner. If the NBA doesn’t hurt LSU, look out in 2005-2006 though. Final 4 potential with two top 30 recruits already committed to LSU.
Can we go ahead and get all the excuses out of the way NOW in case this team doesn't do as well as expected? 1. We are young 2. Probation 3. Someone will quit and/or get runoff Feel free to add to my list of excuses...
even though we have the talent to make a sweet 16 run, we ARE still a young team ... if we lose in the 1st round, i would give Brady one more year to see what he can do with Tasmin, Rolle, Davis, Bass (doubtful but I can hope), DMitch, Lazare, Minor, Koundjia, etc.. with that being said, anything short of a sweet 16 appearance in 05-06 is unacceptable
Anything less than the NCAA Tourney will be unacceptable. It's time to move this basketball program forward ... with or without Brady.
