Hoops Post-Mortem (Part 2 of 2): What’s coming and What to hope for.

Agreed with both of yall. The primary focus at this stage should definitely be putting a quality product on the floor. Everything else is moot if that doesn't happen. And having students involved will play a big role. At this point LSU basketball doesn't sell itself the way football does, and getting that to change will take a lot of hard work. But it will pay off if the commitment is there from everybody from Trent all the way up to Alleva.

 

Again, it's somewhat sick but nevertheless entertaining to watch the coaching carousel. So, what do you think of UNLV now finding itself recovering from Lon Kruger's decision to leave and go to Oklahoma?

UNLV names four head coaching finalists - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN

I'm sure the general LSU poster is asking himself, who?

For the record, Lon is a guy I actually respect, again a "mid-tier" but proven guy, with SEC ties at Florida, and respectable showings at UNLV. A guy that LSU could have gotten? Perhaps... but Oklahoma was willing to shell out $2.2M per for seven years.

Is Trent's $1.2M for 5 years looking like a deal now?

 

Lon Kruger is a great coach. Won at Illinios, bombed in the NBA with my Hawks, and then has turned UNLV into a respectable team. He's not a sexy name anymore (if he ever was) but he's a proven winner.

Having said that, I'm still perfectly happy with our head coach. It's the players that need to be better.

 

As the world turns in SEC basketball.

For those that would love to have the one and done factory, looks like Kentucky will lose another talented point guard after a one and done season. Brandon Knight will stay in the draft and now we wait for Liggins and Jones.

Kentucky's Knight keeping name in NBA draft | General Sports | 2theadvocate.com — Baton Rouge, LA

Also for folks that wonder why someone like Anthony Hickey didn't get an offer from Kentucky, this is why. Calipari doesn't really have time for developing players or 4 year players.

Lastly, on the LSU front, looks like the out of conference schedule is set.

Marquette highlights a decent non-conference schedule, including return games with Virginia at home, along with Boise St, and UCIrvine. The Charleston Classic will also have some punch. If there are return games with Wichita St or North Texas (who will be very good with more recruits coming in), those will also be challenges. Oh, and we get Kentucky at home.

The recruiting piece of my "what to come" is done, and a Mr. Basketball in Kentucky joins the fold. No apparent changes in the coaching staff. Let's see how offseason development goes---that seems to be the key. Hopefully the kids are motivated to get better.
:geauxtige

 

HornLand, if you're taking requests , could you put together a little bit of info on our assistant coaches and their background/job description/responsibilities? Your work is highly appreciated, as always.

 

I appreciate the compliment. I'll tell you what, there's no sense in me repeating what is a good backgrounder on LSUsports.net - The Official Web Site of LSU Tigers Athletics...

Men's Basketball - Coaches - LSUsports.net - The Official Web Site of LSU Tigers Athletics

There's mostly there what you'd want to know on their backgrounds. For the most part, what you can say is that Trent has recruited guys who are "Trent" disciples. Donny played with Trent at Nevada. Brent Scott, during the Rice tenure, when Trent was an assistant. Larry Nance was of course, the reverse--Trent was an assistant under Nance at UWashington. Lastly, Nick Robinson was a player for Trent at Stanford.

So, my complaint, if there is one, is that (1) there's no real LA/LSU ties (since the departure of Keith Richard who went on to ULM), and (2) there's not anyone that wows you with their NBA pedigree. I think now more and more, college programs are going to either former NBA players to legitimize (or frankly, recruiting gurus ingrained in the AAU scene) their staffs. Scott has the closest thing to it, having played in the NBA briefly and the European pro leagues for quite some time. I'm not as familiar with his day to day coaching skills, but at least he strikes you as a likeable guy who's been through the pro grinder. Donny G was an All-WAC academic scholar, who was a decent player, but went straight into coaching. I think the NBA ties gives you credibility and helps in recruiting. That's not to say that good solid coaches have to have played in the pros, but it helps. I think that Donny and Brent do most of the assistant coach recruiting, and so far I think the results are decent. They have good demeanors and they were smart players, who understand the game. Both are younger though and have to make a name on Trent's and LSU's success.

Nance is an old timer, and most staffs have 'em. I just worry again, that the philosophy there probably resonates what Trent preaches. Defensive minded fundamental basketball. But, who's teaching the offense?

In any case, what we've been told is that the staff isn't changing. Although, I'll wait to see what happens this summer. I've stated on here before I think finding a LSU player with some NBA ties who could help recruit and lock up the borders would make me happy, but often times, like any executive management team, the personalities, hiring criteria and what a coach wants to build, takes some finessing.
:geaux:

 

Great info, just what I was looking for.

Trent's immediate problem on this front is he's out of time for finessing. He's under a lot of heat to start producing results now, and I'm sure he understands that better than any of us. We can differ on what expectations should be for this season, but I'm still looking at a middle-of-the-pack West finish at a minimum to constitute real progress and start looking at Trent's longer-term future at LSU.

 

Agreed, agreed.

Look I'm torn on the whole coaching thing. Afterall, it's a chicken and the egg sort of thing. Is it the players that make the coach or the coach that makes the players? I think that fundamentally, a good coach can be defined by what players he's recruited and developed, but often that's not a measure of whether someone is a good coach. And let's be fair, over the long-haul, Trent has had his fair share of talented players play for him. And, there should be more credence in what they say about him, than perhaps what is the immediate reaction of fans. Afterall, what do Tasmin Mitchell, Garrett Temple, Marcus Thornton, Robin/Brook Lopez, Mark Madsen, Casey Jacobsen, Travis Knight, Landry Fields, etc., say about him? Clearly a coach's legacy is not purely defined by his W-L record, is it? That's why when by and large folks consider the opinion of coaches and players, their reactions on Trent are overwhelmingly positive. The fans obviously have different motivations in mind. As we saw this year in even baseball (and I've been reluctant to bring this up), are we now saying that Coach PM isn't a good coach? After winning the NC just 2+ years ago? Is it recruiting or coaching or just luck?

But, then, how do you explain the losses? When you talk success of a program, there isn't necessarily only one formula. There's the Calipari formula, but frankly, that is not only a rare one, but a dangerous one. Then, there's the Bobby Knight formula... or frankly for that matter in current day terms, the Mike Brey (Notre Dame), Tom Izzo, model. Hard work, plus 3-4 year recruits, plus good coaching usually defines some baseline of success. How many assistant coaches does the average fan know from those programs?

In the end, I'd still rather have good fundamental, smart coaches, who have a way of imparting motivation and wisdom to a group of players that play hard and get better. So, frankly, one of the unsaid things, but that needs to be said, is what are kids like Turner, Stringer, Derenbecker, White, Warren, doing right now? Are they in the gym, or not? This falls to a large degree on them too. I do hope we see a fast turn around this year, but it will largely fall on the players and mix of players to reverse field. I do think that we'll very quickly come to appreciate these recruits, O'Bryant, Isaac and Hickey (and Hamilton). Frankly, they are a very different set of players than Stringer, Turner and Derenbecker. We're adding an element of physicality and athleticism on top of skill here, that I hope will be seen right away.

We will be deeper than we've ever been in a long time, and I hope that now, "impact" recruits will understand that...

:geaux:

 

Frankly, baseball is even more of a head-scratcher IMO, given LSU's stellar recruiting classes. But unlike basketball, the SEC is extremely competitive and has several top-notch teams that are legit NC contenders. LSU is fairly young all around, and has all the problems youth brings, same for basketball. Baseball has also been subject to some of the worst bad luck I've ever seen, and to a certain extent the same is true for basketball with injuries to key players on a team with questionable depth. But then there's the luck that you make for yourself, which leads to...

Here's the thing that makes me uneasy about what Trent is capable of doing here. If LSU is losing to solid-to-good teams by 5-6 points, but the games are close and competitive to the end, then that is a sign of progress and something to build on going forward. When you lose half a dozen conference games in blowouts in a lackluster SEC, and there's few signs of team improvement as the season goes on, that's a cause for concern. Non-casual fans have to look at more than just the final score to find those glimmers of hope, and while we've seen flashes of individual improvement (Derenbrecker, Turner), team performance is as much a problem now as it was at the start of the season.

All the more reason why this will be a crucial season for Trent.

 

Trent talking about the Italy trip
Trent Johnson Previews Italy Exhibition Tour - LSUsports.net

I wish the freshman were going