LSU journalist thinks they could go from last place to Elite Eight

Then I guess Missouri is winning a national championship.

I think this board will be pretty shocked with LSU's team this season, whether we get that kid or not.

LSU is maybe an NIT team right now. That dude is out of his mind thinking LSU is an elite 8 team with Mitchell Robinson.


Robinson will probably have to sit out if he transfers anyway. However if he comes with Naz Reid and Javonte Smart, LSU is going to have 3 5 star Mcdonald's AA and a lot of 4 stars behind them. If that happens LSU is a contender in 2018, sure.

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I think this board will be pretty shocked with LSU's team this season, whether we get that kid or not.

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I agree, because 5-7 years ago this roster would have won the SECW. Now the conference is so stacked to the point I'm not sure how we finish better than 9-10th. However, everyone on the board seems to unanimously agree LSU is going to finish last, and I don't see the gap between 9-14 being as much as posters think

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This journalist wrote an article on the world being made up of candy canes trees and unicorns and skittles waterfalls So take it for what it's worth

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care to elaborate? all i noticed was his last name was the same as their stud pitcher this past year.

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I think that LSU fans will be shocked at how much more work and time it takes than they thought to rebuild a last place basketball team

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Just because it's taking Pearl forever doesn't mean it'll take forever for everyone else.

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Yeah, I've been saying for a couple months now that even just 2-3 years ago I would have felt without a doubt confidence that Auburn's current roster would make the NCAA Tournament. I think our team now has more overall talent a depth top to bottom than our 2003 team that went to the Sweet 16 and lost by 1 to Carmelo Anthony's national championship Syracuse team... But this league is loaded right now. I think there's still a better than not chance we make it, but it's going to be a struggle and it's definitely no sure thing.

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I have to admire your patience, but you and other Auburn fans have every right to be furious if Auburn does not go dancing this season. Pearl has had plenty of time and gets to recruit out of an awesome facility, plus he's paid a handsome salary.

To be fair if Johnny Jones were at LSU still, recruiting at Pearl's level right now, and Johnny still hadn't made the tournament, you guys would be calling us fricking idiots for not expecting to go dancing right now

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LSU didn't finish in last place.

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You were tied for last.

2-16 in SEC is beyond last place most years. Y'all were literally minutes away from the worst SEC basketball team in 50 years.... So Your little moral victory about "not sole possession of last!" is actually a bit sad

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And Trent Johnson won an SEC title in his first season

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He inherited a roster that was much better than even what Wade had built up already for LSU.
Your program right now is a dumpster fire, Johnson inherited a still viable program two years removed from a Final Four that still had some NBA caliber talent.

Johnson also just won the NIT with TCU.... LSU is in no shape to talk shite about him or his coaching... the exact opposite actually.

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recruiting at Pearl's level right now,

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Pearl has had plenty of time

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This is where the general public is a little ignorant of the situation.

A) Pearl hasnt had as much time as you think. He wad still under a show cause when we hired him. He didn't come off until right before the first season began. He couldn't contact recruits before that. So whatever time you think Pearl has had to build, go ahead and take 1 year off that.

B) people seem to also be inflating how well he had actually recruited. By Auburn's pre-Pearl standards it's a whole new world for us, sure.

But in reality the first 2 recruiting classes Pearl essentially had to rely heavily in JUCO and transfers to even field a roster. Pearl inherited 1 single player worth an SEC scholarship. By year 2 with Pearl there was literally 1 scholarship player in the rotation left over from the Barbee era. The term rebuilding when talking about what Pearl did at AU is not just an expression, it is 100% accurate.

The first class was ranked #36 overall. Only the last two have been top 15, and Pearl has not yet had the luxury of a top 10 class. So while recruiting has been solid, it's not world beating recruiting.

And again, because the first two classes were heavy in JUCO and transfers to make sure we had enough players to field a team, that means that only the last two classes Pearl has been able to focus on bringing in the highly rated HS prospects that he wants and can develop how he wants.
Meaning this season is really the first that the whole team his really his talent. This is the first season that we've had quality depth to where we don't have to play walkons in the regular rotation and single injuries won't doom the entire team.


Pearl has also improved our SEC record all 3 years, so its not like he hasn't shown us something each year to build our hope further


We're you questioning Carolina fans patience with Martin before this season? Their program was coming from nearly an identical place as Auburn's, and Martin and Pearls first 3 seasons were nearly identical. Martin is two seasons ahead in the process though so its a good thing Carolina fans kept the patience since this is the first year he took them to the NCAA.

First three years for Pearl and Martin neither one made any post season.
Year 1: both went 4-14 in SEC
Year 2: both improves to 5-13 in SEC play
Year 3: Martin went 17-16 (6-12) while Pearl went 18-14 (7-11)

In year 4 Martin went 25-9 (11-7) and made the NIT... don't be surprised for AU and Pearl to continue to nearly identically mirror that same progression