re: Predict your teams basketball season

NCAA bubble team lock.

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Some of you LSU guys need to temper your expectations a little.

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Sounds boring.

As far as they want to.

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We will be squarely on the bubble in March... Have to win a few SECt games to get in.

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The NIT, maybe.

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The same as the past 3 years - beat the bad teams, lose to the good teams, on the bubble come march.

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Sounds a lot like a corollary to us, we beat everyone at home but lose to even the horrible teams on the road.

We went 14-18 last season and 4-14 in conference play. We lose 6 players from that team, including primary starters Lakeem Jackson and Eric Smith.

IMO, Coach Frank Martin now has a team mostly comprised of players he wants for his system. The talent has been upgraded and the height of the roster has been upgraded substantially.

However, the team is also younger and less experienced at the college level and against SEC competition. So for me if there's ANY improvement on our record from last season - even minor improvement of 1 or 2 games - I would call that substantial improvement.

We did lose a number of games last season late in the contests, and most feel that we left a few wins on the floor. I expect due to the youth that there will be inconsistent play at times, and we may see more of that this season, but we were pretty inconsistent last season with several juniors and seniors, so that may not matter.

We also don't get our two most experienced PGs - Ellington and Tyrone Johnson - until January, so that'll probably impact our early success.

We do return our top 3 scorers from last season, so that's a positive. Williams who led the team was often in CFM's doghouse and often sulked as a result: he's become more of a team player and acclimated himself to Martin's defensive philosophy more this offseason, and Martin seems pleased with him, so perhaps this helps him stay on the floor more often.

Carrera dealt with a chronic hip inflammation that often prevented him from practicing between games last season: that has healed and he reportedly is coming into the season in his best shape ever. He is a dynamo on the floor and if he can keep his emotions in check and not pick up fouls, he should contend for leading scorer this season...

Newcomers to watch this season:

SG Sindarious Thornwell: very talented guard out of Oak Hill Academy, Thornwell will looks to factor early in the offense.

PF/C Demetrius Henry: highly regarded big man out of HS, will provide a long presence and shot blocking ability in the paint.

PG Duane Notice: talented and physical guard, he will get plenty of court time early on in Ellington's and Johnson's absence...