LSU Men's Basketball - 2013-14

Also starting to get more bracketology buzz! USA Today has us in as a 12th seed play in, very speculative, but it's something. Certainly others have us as a "last out" sort of team. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...-sports-ncaa-tournament-bracketology/5177055/

RPI currently sits in the mid fifties at 54, where we see how beating a decent Arkansas team at home moved us up just one point.
http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2014/rpi

As to my previous post and the one by lsu99 a few ago, the SEC currently ranks in terms of RPI as the seventh strongest conference (and when you do the number crunching, behind the A10, of which UMass is the 5th best team--they beat LSU in a close one, as we all know. Also interesting Memphis now sits in a tie for 3rd in their conference). To me that's absolutely ridiculous given the history of this conference, and the champions from this league, but sometimes perception is reality. And "perception" is really a combination of, as I see it, (a) what non-conference games are we playing and winning, (b) what is the "intangible" respect of the players and coaches in the league, and (c) what have you done for me lately results from year to year. To lsu99's post, yes, the last few years have seen a good number of highly ranked HS players go to SEC schools--however, the reality is also that many of those folks have gone either to Kentucky or Florida (the only two schools right now in the SEC that command true national respect) or those folks have gone to mid-tier schools like Alabama, Arkansas, etc., only to not develop or transfer or leave early for the NBA. What you want to see is a guy like Johnny O' who was a McD AA, actually make a splash in a tournament and get drafted. Not just the 4 or 5 guys from UK get drafted. These other schools need to elevate and develop their talent in order to "float" the entire league. I personally think this is the macro-effect of good programs and good recruiters. LSU is well on its way with guys like Johnny O', Jordan Mickey, Jarrell Martin, Ben Simmons, etc. who are getting us national attention. But, if your conference is to be respected, it can't just be about UK, Florida, LSU and ... , if we want 5, 6 or 7 teams put in. We have a few relatively downers right now in Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Alabama, maybe a Georgia, Mississippi St, who historically have gone to the dance and done something in post-season play.

I think the keys for the SEC are to first, play more meaningful non-conference games (and win them). There's been much made about how difficult it is for SEC schools to break into scheduling other non-conference games, but the counter to that is classic "powder puff" scheduling that some schools do (ala John Brady during some of his days, and Trent). There is a fine line of course, because all of these years 'Bama has missed the cut at NCAA time despite 20 win seasons, because their SOS was so low. This year it's high and they're 8-12. LSU sits right there at middle of the SEC with a 54 RPI and 60 SOS. Tennessee gets respect because of of their SOS at 16. Florida actually is at 45 and Kentucky is at 6. Those three schools are getting "respect", whereas schools like Missouri, LSU, Ole Miss have something to prove. If players will stay in school, and SEC schools make a little bit of a splash in this year's post-season, we might see that respect go up. But, so much of this is an over time kind of thing and the work we put in this year, is more likely to have an effect next year ...

The other things we should do now is become fans of UMass, Butler, Memphis, Rhode Island, Texas Tech and St. Joes'. Their RPI affects ours, and whether it was scheduling snafu or the hoops gods playing with us--we played three A10 schools, and lost to two of them. The UMass (RPI 10) loss is respectable, the Rhode Island (RPI 142) one is not. We also happened to play a down Texas Tech team this year, from a very strong Big 12. You'd like to see them sneak up the board in the Big 12 and creep into the top 100 RPI.

Bottom line, of course, is keep winning, Tigers! Georgia is on Thursday and on ESPN. Then we hit a little bit of a lull, in terms of "big games", but nevertheless, it's like a trap week, where LSU has got to keep pushing through the motivation of playing well and continuing to improve, even against less than stellar competition. We then finish up with some RPI impacters, Arkansas and Vandy (despite a 12-8 record, Vandy at home moves us with a win) on the road, and then of course UK and UF. Make sure we win these games, continue to improve, and steal another big win near the end of the season, and we're positioning ourselves appropriately.

Geaux Tigers!

 

What is important as we are being regarded as tournament worthy now. If we keep winning that snowballs. We are in much better shape being thought of as in than being thought of as just outside or on the bubble.

 

it stinks that lsu only gets 3 of the top 4 SEC (UM, UT and UF) once. lsu needs all the marquee wins it can get.

this team can beat anyone, but they wont always beat anyone. im guessing 7-3 for the last 10. so thats winning all 4 home games and losing to Ark, UK and UF on the road. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that wont get them in. I think they need to beat UK or UF on the road.

 

What about with a win or two in the SECT?

 

history shows those wont help unless they are against UK or UF

 

Well, games like last night aren't going to help either. Ugh. Flat game against GA, and while 70% of road teams are losing in the SEC right now, and UGA was a mid-tier player right now, last night's loss shows how inconsistent this team and JOB can be. Having JOB in foul trouble and sitting most of the first half, and a relatively ineffective game against UGA's bigger guards shows how LSU can ill-afford to take games off or come out flat with their defensive intensity. Sometimes the hard thing with having a "players' coach" like CJJ is are the kids really razor sharp all the time? I also just think when we play the guys like UGA, Arkansas, Vandy, Alabama in that mid-SEC range, they are playing for NIT spots, and look at US as the big upset. We cannot afford to take nights off, period.

Let's hope LSU gets going against teams they should beat in the coming week and a half.

As for what this team needs to do, beat Arkanasas and Vandy on the road, which should have a good effect on RPI, win it's home games, and maybe steal at least a half to 2/3rds of their road games the rest of the way. Steal one again UK and/or UF, and end up in that 4 seed range for the SEC tourney, and I think they've got a good shot to get in. Right now, the committee is looking at UK and UF as definites. Tennessee, LSU, Missouri and Ole Miss are jocking for 2, maybe 3, spots, just depending on how the season goes for all of the teams. If LSU is in the 5th spot, they have to play in through the SECT. I think if they end up in the Semis of that tourney, they have a legitimate case--beat Ole Miss, Missouri, or Tennessee on the way, and they're likely in. If LSU is in that 3rd or 4th seed, they'll be looking hard at one of those "last in" kind of spots, but should still win one, preferably two games in the tourney.

 

It is amazing how far the SEC has fallen in men's bball the past decade or so.

I used to have plenty of ammunition to defend the SEC back in the day when the media or others questioned the SEC'S strength but not now.

This team really needs to limit the poor games from our best players and learn how to stop the ball at the point. They can't depend on one guy blocking shots on defense.