I went to the first game against Northweastern & was very encouraged.. since then this team is just plain bad, no defense, no inside rebounding, we are slow & this team will still be slow at the end of the year. Gotta have quickness in basketball & we don't have any. North Texas went where they wanted to go when they wanted to. Trent Johnstons program is not impressing me so far at all..
I am still in his corner but if this year turns out like last year and at this point it certainly looks like it could, next year we will need to see some major improvement or he will need to be replaced. I know Brady did'nt leave him with much but at the same time this is a 5 man game it does'nt take that long to turn a basketball program around.
Wasted $18 and it was not close to entertaining. Malcom Scott can't shoot if someone is guarding him and he nor Storm Warren are aggressive at all on the boards. We are getting outhustled bad. I could go on and on, I see very little talent.
After watching my third game this year the only word that comes to mind is painful. Gonna be another rough year unless these kids can come together.
Garrett Green is playing good ball, but he is really the only guy I can say that about. We can't get it all together right now. Mark of a young team I guess.
Wow. I didn't watch the game, but after seeing the score and watching "highlights" I have to guess that SabanFan, CTJ anti-fans and other negatigers are licking their chops afer this one.... So, I did not see this one coming. Now, I did say from the beginning "expect growing pains" with this team and furthermore, I knew UNT was going to be a dangerous team. First, they were a NCAA tourney team having won their conference tourney last year. Like UCC, Nicholls State, you've got experienced teams taking advantage and having more confidence against a young, inexperienced Tiger team. Second, you have Johnny Jones and Josh White probably wanting to come in and play their best in front of a BR crowd. But, 20 point loss at home is bad no matter how you slice it. To some extent you chalk this up as the perfect storm. Bad shooting night for a team that relies so much on it's outside shooting, and not enough experience/defense to weather the storm. There's no denying that Trent has some coaching to do right now, and the players have to have a gut check time. I think the team probably again, being young, felt like they had enough to stay close with Wichita State and got "comfortable" thinking they'd just beat UNT. Bottomline, this team can't assume that their talent will allow them to beat anyone without competing for 40 minutes. That I think is part of it, they have to develop that killer mentality and winning mentality, that hasn't been part of the LSU DNA for over a year. This is to me, still, growing pains. A 7-5 LSU team isn't anything to be proud of yet, but I still want to see the season play out. This is going to be a rocky season, to say the least. Johnny Jones on LSU: "I can assure you they will get it going when the chemistry gets together and let their experience catch up to their talent level some great things are going to happen for this LSU basketball team."
Well, the cupboard seems like it's pretty bare talent wise for LSU, but I'm willing to be patient with Trent Johnson. He had a good program at Stanford, so hopefully he'll turn it around here too. If he doesn't, then I'd like us to go after UNT's head coach Johnny Jones, he's made a really good program in a very tough enviroment. Plus, he's a former Dale Brown guy.
You know, there are a few folks that would agree with you! Including Dale Brown! :yelwink2: Seriously, though, I have to say some of my peace about this rocky start. As the games continue to leave Tiger fans perplexed, I'm hearing more and more of the following about the "why?"... 1. How come it takes so long to turn things around--in basketball, one or two good players can make a difference! 2. No fundamentals, bad coaching must be the reason. First, let's just be real about 1. While it may seem like basketball is all about one or two recruiting classes, how many teams, other than Kentucky, can you really say are "turned around" instantly with a coach? CTJ won in his first year with Brady's players.... it was a senior laden team that he just came in and gave direction and purpose to. But, truthfully, there was a hole of talent after that. It is a misnomer to ignore the practical reality of college basketball, which is programs are built by experienced players who have been in a system for a few years. If you are expecting a team to be elevated in a one year turnaround, go and find the examples. Kentucky did it last year with 5 McDAAs, and 3-4 draftable freshman... Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe, + Junior Patterson. Ok, is that what you expect LSU to do? Kentucky is the aberration not the norm. Syracuse won it all with Carmelo Anthony (plus some Juniors and Seniors around him), who was, a lottery pick. By and large, programs do not "turn around" themselves with over night recruiting (see Brady and Anthony Randolph). If that were the case (and I posted the records of these guys recently), all of the coaches that LSU were considering when they canned Brady would have "instantly" elevated their programs (see the records of Anthony Grant @ Bama, Bennett @ UVA, Sean Miller @ Arizona, Tom Crean @ Indiana. Travis Ford at Ok State has done alright, but still is mid-tier in Big 12). Even Johnny Jones in his first few years as a head coach barely broke .500 (he is now, in his 9th year!). So, none of these guys have "overnight" set the world on fire. Programs are still built slowly on recruiting well and keeping the kids developing in your program. When I look at this roster, kids like Stringer, Turner, Derenbecker are making a difference. When you compare them to what guys like Markel Brown, Kourtney Roberson, Langston Galloway, Brian Williams (the reasonably good LA player prospects last few year that Trent could have possibly signed) are doing on their respective teams, you'd say, Trent actually did a GOOD job recruiting landing this 2010 class. So, that leads me to the next issue. "Is it coaching"? Well, that's a little harder to parse out. I'm not going to give Trent a complete hall pass here. If your team is going beat by 20, something is wrong. No doubt some times a team is completely cold and the other team is hot... that leads to a blow out and everyone has 'em. Could Trent have adjusted tonight? Possibly. Do you play zone, do you press? Do you slow down the other team? All things that you could do to mix things up... assuming you had a more experienced team that you could try things with. But, I'd point out we are, after all, relying on two freshman GUARDS to run the LSU team. I think this is in part the difficulty with not only having a young team, but the problem of having your youth at the guard positions. Talk all you want about bigs, but the game starts with your point and starts with the guys that run the offense and defense. Now, I'm not going to bash Andre Stringer or Chris Bass, but let's be real. They are at this point, incomplete players. Stringer is a good shooter, but right now an incomplete defender... he also hasn't had the benefit of running the point at LSU for more than, uh, 12 games? (let's also not forget that Trent also had KC Ross-Miller as his second PG recruit that wasn't cleared by the NCAA!) Think about Spencer as a Freshman, Tack Minor as a Freshman, even Darrell Mitchell as a freshman. Darrell Mitchell wasn't even really good until he was a Jr, and frankly, he was played more at the SG. Ralston Turner is still learning how often to shoot and when to shoot. He shot a lot tonight and missed a lot--LSU shot 36% and lost--no surprise. Some games, he's hitting them and those games LSU are in it-no surprise. BUT, do I like Andre Stringer as a Junior? Yes. If Trent signs Javon Felix in 2012? I then start to feel good that there is a groundwork for consistency. So, is it coaching, or is it fundamentals? Hard to say, when many of your better players are just starting to play college ball. And, to those that would argue that White, Warren, Green, Harris etcs are Juniors... well, we have to be realistic as well about that. There are some chemistry, getting the ball often enough, stupid foul and execution issues there too. There is also a baseline there of are these guys (many whom were recruited by the other guy) as talented as the likes of Glen Davis, Brandon Bass, or Greg Monroe? No, clearly not. Are they more talented than the players on UNT's team, or CCU' team? Well, frankly who's to say whether a 6'8" 230 lb UNT post is that much less talented than a 6'7" 230 lb Storm Warren, or a 6'10" often injured 2* Garrett Green, or a 6'9" 2* Malcolm White? There is generally a lot of parity in the game of basketball, folks. I'm not giving CTJ a pass for losing to the likes of CCU, Nicholls and UNT. These were all more experienced teams that played hard with something to prove, and they took it to the Tigers. But, there were also logical reasons why they were in better positions to win. My point is, you have to look at this program on a macro, year over year basis, realistic basis. Take into account that you do have guys like Justin Hamilton, Johnny O'Bryant, and John Isaac signing up to be Tigers. Also take into account that Ralston Turner, Andre Stringer, Matt Derenbecker are freshman. The sky is not falling yet, folks--it's just a little bit cloudy right now. :geaux::bball::geauxtige
