SEC Basketball: Maybe LSU should sit out next season

Sometimes, pulling the plug on a failed effort is the only sensible response. LSU might need to consider skipping the 2022-23, SEC basketball season. That might be better than finishing last, with no post-season opportunities. The Bengal Tigers could line up a full schedule of lightweights instead, and maybe win 10 games.

This post is being written on Apr. 1 but it is no ‘Aprils Fools’ joke. There is a joke. It is the LSU basketball program. It should receive no sympathy because by tying itself to the nefarious Will Wade, the Bengal Tigers basketball program deserves any pain it will suffer.

SEC Basketball will not LSU slide

Unfortunately, for all involved, LSU will play SEC basketball next season. The conference will give LSU no opt-out option.

Readers not following LSU’s offseason might find this post confusing. Asking – what the heck is going on in Baton Rouge? The answer is simple. Since Will Wade’s dismissal, LSU has lost two players to the next NBA Draft; 11 players to the Transfer Portal and four future players in the 2022 and 2023 classes.

ESPN reported on LSU’s replacement for Will Wade, quoting new coach, quoting Matt McMahon saying,

"… we’ve hit the ground running. We’re gonna invest a lot of time with our players. I want people who want to be here, want people who want to be a part of something special because that’s what we’re gonna build here."

McMahon may be a great guy and a good coach, but the best thing he brings to Baton Rouge is that he is not Will Wade. With time, McMahon can bring LSU back to a level better than it ever was under Wade, when, from indications, success was more bought than earned.

McMahon is adding new players to fill the huge gap, starting with zero scholarship players from last season. Joe Borzello reported,

"(LSU) has already landed three transfers and one high school recruit."

So far Northwestern State transfer, Kendal Coleman, who is from Shreveport, appears to be the best of the new players. There are so many more, available players in the Transfer Portal, than there are available roster openings, LSU can fully meet needed roster numbers. How good the roster will be is unknown. Whatever magic MaMahon can conjure, next season’s roster will be less talented.

Even with a normally ineffective NCAA enforcement process, LSU’s seven, Level 1 “violation allegations” are almost assured to bring severe sanctions.

It takes the NCAA so long to act, LSU might play next season before learning its future penalties.