Breaking News: LSU to hire Stanford's Men's Basketball Coach (1 Viewer)

[LSSpam]

I don't know why not. The girls do and the state certainly produces the caliber talent that can lead teams to the Final Four on a consistent basis. Brady was a good recruiter and a good enough motivator, but a horrible coach and he managed to get LSU to a Final Four.

If Johnson can lock up the state talent in basketball like Saban did and miles has continued for football, then LSU's men's team will be a perennial contender just like Kentucky and Florida.

Nobody "locks up their state" in Basketball. That's not how recruiting in basketball works. Entirely different beast.

You mention Florida and Kentucky, and for all their accomplishments (referring to UF) they are still not a basketball school. Can LSU repeat what Florida has done? Possibly, but even then that doesn't mean they are competing yearly for the national title. It simply means they had an above average spike. That's not to diminish anything Florida did, because I think any fan would take those two years in a heartbeat. But they've only made the sweet 16 or better 6 times in the last 2 decades.

Billy Donovan hasn't coached there the last 2 decades.

Being a "perennial power" in basketball is strictly a question of your coach and, to a lesser extent, fan support/facilities. LSU certainly has the money (though they have to choose to apply it to the basketball program).

 

[Waymer]

Billy Donovan hasn't coached there the last 2 decades.

Being a "perennial power" in basketball is strictly a question of your coach and, to a lesser extent, fan support/facilities. LSU certainly has the money (though they have to choose to apply it to the basketball program).

That's a good point, but he has been there 12 years which is a fair sampling I think. He's had his good years certainly, including 4 sweet 16s and more importantly 3 finals where he has won 2. But when you compare that to other great coaches (specifically his consistency in terms of reaching the round of 16), his numbers simply don't match what the top level coaches did and have accomplished.

He's certainly got a chance to build a program and capitalize on recent years, but let's see how Florida (and similar schools like LSU in this case) apply their support and money. Those schools have yet to prove they will sacrifice their love of football, as you noted.

 

[LSSpam]

He's certainly got a chance to build a program and capitalize on recent years, but let's see how Florida (and similar schools like LSU in this case) apply their support and money. Those schools have yet to prove they will sacrifice their love of football, as you noted.

Well and that's the core problem. There has a to be a "will" amongst both the fans and the administration to apply their "resources" to basketball (or baseball, or soccer, or any other sport outside of football).

Football is pretty unique in that you can't just throw money and a talented head coach at it and expect success to follow. The nature of football recruiting, the BCS structure, the size of the rosters and sheer scale of it, etc. It's a lot harder to "move up" in football.

Not the case with basketball (or most other sports). The core problem there is, generally, creating the necessary will to succeed. In particular, if you find a successful head coach are you willing to freeze football assistants salaries to keep your basketball coach from being poached by Kentucky for 2 million a year? Or put off those additional stadium luxury boxes so you can get a basketball IPF built?

It's the problem Ole Miss is facing with Andy Kennedy. Our basketball facilities are abysmal, but we've had to put it on freeze because we just couldn't tolerate the football situation anymore. Even though we had what we believed could be a very successful basketball coach, he still played second banana to forking over the cash for someone like Nutt. I fully expect Andy Kennedy to Tuberville use in the next year or two for someone like Kentucky.

 

[MLU]

So by Wayner's definition, only Duke and perhaps UNC are teams that compete year;y for the NCAA Basketball title. You set some mighty high standards my friend. LSU fans will be ecstatic for a string of sweet sixteen appearances with the occasional visit to the Final Four. In fact, I think most schools would be pretty happy with that.

Also, Louisiana produces about 3-4 very good players a year that almost always end up someplace else. There's no reason whatsoever to think that LSU can't develop the network and resources that would result in these kids looking at LSU before other schools out of state. Brady practically did that already with the occasional good guy slipping through the cracks for lack of schollys.

 

[LSSpam]

Also, Louisiana produces about 3-4 very good players a year that almost always end up someplace else. There's no reason whatsoever to think that LSU can't develop the network and resources that would result in these kids looking at LSU before other schools out of state.

Yeah there is. That's just not the nature of basketball recruiting. Between AAU, USSSA. USBA, McDonald's All-America, etc, virtually all top basketball players are national recruits and virtually all top basketball programs nationally recruit. I think UCLA is about the only top program that largely recruits locally. Just this year NC pulled players from Cali, Virginia, and Indiana. Kansas pulled 3 from New Jersey, just 1 from Kansas. Duke went to Neveda and Tennessee for their 2 recruits this year.

 

[MLU]

The same can be said for football programs at USC, Notre Dame, Miami, etc...

 

[LSSpam]

The same can be said for football programs at USC, Notre Dame, Miami, etc...

USC pulled 15 recruits from California. Miami had 23 from Florida.

Football programs recruit much, much more locally. And top recruits stay local much, much more often.

* I'm not going to check Notre Dame but I'm going to bet they are a unique exception, being Notre Dame and all.

 

[Waymer]

LSU fans will be ecstatic for a string of sweet sixteen appearances with the occasional visit to the Final Four. In fact, I think most schools would be pretty happy with that.

I don't doubt that, and I never said that people wouldn't be happy.

But you specifically said:

perennial contender

Correct me if I am wrong, but a perennial contender is one that contends every season (obviously you know the definition of perennial, I'm not patronizing you), not one that makes:

the occasional visit to the Final Four.

Your words, not mine. So either you have a very odd definition of perennial contender which includes just an occasional visit for a chance to win a national title, or your first statement was just a bit of a reach.

 

[MLU]

The very definition of a successful program or a perennial contender would be a team that is pretty much a lock to get to the Elite 8 and makes the occasional final four appearance. I only say that because that's how I would describe the most successful programs in Division I basketball. I think it's pretty unrealistic to expect LSU to be in the championship game every year when the elite programs can't seem to do it either.

 

[Waymer]

The very definition of a successful program or a perennial contender would be a team that is pretty much a lock to get to the Elite 8 and makes the occasional final four appearance. I only say that because that's how I would describe the most successful programs in Division I basketball. I think it's pretty unrealistic to expect LSU to be in the championship game every year when the elite programs can't seem to do it either.

I happen to completely agree with this statement.

But there's a jump between being one of the 16 best teams year in and year out, which LSU fans would be ecstatic about, and being one of the best 8 teams year in and year out. Because usually there are only about 8-10 teams (if that some seasons) that actually have a legitimate chance of winning the tourney. So if LSU is just a sweet 16 team, they are in no way a perennial contender.