Show Me My Opponent, 2023-24: LSU
Oak Ridger writes about Oak Ridger
Of the numerous disasterpieces SEC basketball has produced in my lifetime, one that is certainly on the list is last year’s LSU. Starting out 12-1 with a pair of top 100 wins, there was reason to be intrigued by their future. Falling from #41 to #78 despite starting out 12-1, there was also reason to be a big seller of their future. 12-1 turned into 14-19 and dead last in the SEC in the blink of an eye. Turns out you can’t wholesale import Murray State’s good-but-not-great roster to the SEC and expect to immediately be a Tournament team.
In comparison, this year’s group is a pretty normal brand of middling SEC foe that will finish somewhere between 7-11 and 10-8. Matt McMahon, a fellow Oak Ridger, remade most of the team with a variety of transfers, both high-major role guys (Jordan Wright of Vanderbilt) and mid-major stars (Jalen Cook of Tulane, Will Baker of Nevada). The current starting lineup is three transfers, a true freshman, and one returner, a sophomore. Welcome to college hoops in 2024.
What this has produced is a rather schizophrenic grouping of results where LSU has two Quad 1 wins to go with two Quad 3/4 losses. The only other teams to complete that trifecta inside the NET top 100 are Florida Atlantic and, somehow, Appalachian State. I watched this team beat a bubblicious Wake Forest team on a neutral court exactly nine days after losing at home to Nicholls State. They’ve shot 3-19 and 14-26 from three in the same week.
This is not the least-consistent or most chaotic team Tennessee will play all year (hi Texas A&M) but it’s one of the more confusing. LSU’s an underdog in their next five and a favorite in the five after that; however those end up shaking out will probably give you a decent hint about how McMahon’s transfer-heavy strategy will work in the year(s) to come.
BEHIND THE WALL ($): A plea to Big Ed’s to open before 12 PM ET