Trent Johnson ... time to go???

06-4 L53-62 Nicholls St
09-2 L61-70 #21 Memphis
10-2 L69-78 Coastal Carolina
09-2 L69-70 #36 Wichita St
11-2 L55-75 N Texas

Nicholls St has lost to relatively solid teams and every other team has only lost two games so far. Makes the losses a little more easy to stomach. Hope we look better tonight against Rice.

 

LSU looking worse than pathetic again tonight.

So LSU loses to North Texas and Johnson focuses on defense. Awesome. It doesn't mean much when your team can't find the basket.

LSU shooting 13-43, only reason LSU is only down by 10 points is because they got hot in the first half making 8 three pointers (26 first half points). 5-13 free throws.


It's 51-39 Rice with under 8 to go. I am not sure LSU will break 50.

 

why are they settling so much for 3s? it's one thing to take it when it is wide open, or when you are desperate late in the game, but they almost set up for low-percentage 3s as a gameplan.

 

We've been the Ole Miss of basketball for a while (maybe a little more success). I don't settle for moral victories, but I think it is still early in Coach Johnson's plan for the overall program so I don't mind looking on the bright side. That got shot down tonight with a abysmal performance against a less than stellar Rice program. Dang coach TJ, this is borderline meltdown. I think coach TJ deserves more time, but he isn't winning any brownie points with some down right ugly performances this season.

Damn.

 

As of right now there is no bright side. If this team only win's 2 or 3 games this year and attendance is abysmal I wonder if Alleva will give him one more year.

 

Deep breath everyone ... Deeeeeep breath.

 

We're in rebuilding mode and all that. But damn.

 

In his defense, lsu-i-like is not a Miles basher.

 

I have to say, looking at the score from last night's game, I'm as disappointed as the next person. I'm a Trent fan, but frankly, I'm just a LSU basketball fan. Let me first say that in no way, did I expect to lose with regularity to the likes of Nicholls, CCU, North Texas and now, Rice. I expected to win some and lose some, given the youth, but last night is certainly disappointing and fans should have reason to question the performance so far.

That said, the thread suggests that it's perhaps time for Trent to go. That is where I kind of draw the line and say, there are good things happening here, and let's not forget what got us here.

I've posted on numerous occasions about the recruiting trends of Brady late years to Trent early years. I guess I'd say before folks just completely abandon this team and out coach, you have to acknowledge that this team was woefully bad last year, based upon largely Brady recruits and walk-ons (not to mention the APR situation which affects things). Now, again, we can debate whether Trent should have come in and signed JUCOs or McD-AAs right away, but that would be either a tad unrealistic or just dreaming. I for one was hoping he'd land a guy like Noel Johnson now at Clemson (has been average at best) or a guy like Demarcus Cousins (you know where that went---Kentucky, lottery pick), but he didn't.

Last night, against Rice, if there is a silver lining, 3 freshmen led LSU in scoring. Stringer, Derenbecker and Turner. Matt D, in particular, had a season best 17 points, and started to show why Trent signed him. These are all Trent recruits, and despite being young, they showed fight. We were a woeful 29% shooting from INSIDE the arc. Those are, shots taken by White, Warren, and Green primarily (note that Dennis Harris did not play last night due to missing bus to Houston b/c of snow). So, not to cast stones, but this is a team that is struggling to get better with what they have. Our inside play, to date, frankly has not lived up to the play of the perimeter (i.e., young Trent recruits). Now, you ask why are they taking 3 pointers? Well, that's what kept them in the game.

The other silver lining then is, next year you have Johnny O'Bryant and Justin Hamilton joining the front line. Again, Trent recruits, to go along with the outside talent his brought in this year.

I'm not a Trent apologist, b/c frankly, him getting his bigs to play better is also his staff's responsibility. But, we should at least all recognize that this was a team that 2-14 in the SEC last year and was just plain bare in terms of talent. We had Tas' Mitchell, who was a versatile college forward that could at least play down low and get you points when needed. You think about someone like him there down low with the shooters we have now, and that's the difference in a season. Warren and White are still showing some one-dimensionalism that has hurt us, and Green has been a little bit of a bright spot. Not sure why Ludwig didn't play more, but he's not going to get you 10 points a night down low (and seems like maybe he's got to get more aggressive). Harris has been hurt and I think behind the scenes Trent is frustrated with some of these guys.... (think so with him trying to develop a 7'2" tuba player?).

I'm not making excuses, but frankly, this IS a rebuilding year and part of a process that will continue. Losing is not fun, and Trent should be questioning what's going wrong and what are corrections that need to be made. But, our front line needs to step up too. No way, Trent should go now, simply because doing so, no matter how bleak it seems, would be bad for LSU basketball and the continuity of what's happening year over year. I just hope folks will take the Macro picture into account.

 

So let me ask you this, and I am not a basher, more of a skeptic. And I know this question is completely irrelevant, but you seem to put alot of blame on John Brady for the abysmal 2009 season. John Brady was the coach of LSU in 2007. So, Trent was here for the 08 season, and I know that a year is really tough to accomplish anything, but do you think Brady would have lost 20 games last year, had he been here in 08, and recruited that year as well?

Just a question, not trying to be a smart ass or anything.

My problem with TJ is he doesn't try to recruit kids that won't be here very long. I think that is stupid. Who cares if someone is not going to be in the program 4 years. As long as you aren't cheating, win at all costs. That's what I don't like about CTJ.