The LSU Tigers were supposed to have a veteran team that was ready to take the next step last season, but that idea never fully took root. LSU did not win a number of close games in a season that took so many wrong turns.
After all those wayward stumbles in 2014, can the 2014-2015 Tigers be any different? It will be interesting to see how this team moves forward with a number of changes in place.
2013-14 Recap
The Tigers got the season off to the wrong start by losing a shootout at Massachusetts. The Tigers lost confidence and missed a chance for a resume-building win against the Minutemen, and even though it was just the first game of the season, that game felt really large. Massachusetts went on to make the NCAA tournament after winning the opener. LSU went in the opposite direction and never fully recovered. In non-conference games, the Tigers didn’t beat most of the better teams on their schedule. They lost to Memphis, an NCAA team. They did beat NCAA-bound Saint Joseph’s, but they suffered a really bad loss at home to Rhode Island just before embarking on the SEC part of their schedule.
Once in the SEC, the Tigers varied wildly in how they played from one game or week to the next. They started their SEC schedule by losing by 18 to Tennessee. They lost by 14 to Ole Miss eight days later, but then they turned around and beat Vanderbilt by 23 and Missouri by six. LSU beat Kentucky at home on Jan. 28 but got whacked by 13 at Georgia on Feb. 6. LSU lost seven of its last 12 SEC games of the season, a hugely disappointing turn of events for a team that was supposed to have been NCAA tourney material in the eyes of a lot of experts.
The Tigers were crushed by a few specific statistical measurements last season. First off, they were 271st in the country in free throw shooting percentage, at 66.9. LSU played quite a lot of close games, so a shaky track record at the foul line was not something this team could have afforded.
Had the Tigers shot over 72 percent from the charity stripe, they might have won three or four more games than they did. That’s point number one. Point number two is that the Tigers could not defend the arc. They were 256th in the country in three-point field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to hit 35.8 percent of long balls. The third stat that ambushed LSU was turnovers. The Tigers committed an average of 18.6 per game, 250th in the country. Being awful in three important categories was something this team couldn’t surmount.
Offseason Changes
The Tigers lose power forward Johnny O’Bryant III, who averaged 15.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game but was not a consistent game-in, game-out star. O’Bryant’s level of play looked solid, but it was the result of being tremendous in a few games here and being so-so in a few games there. He wasn’t relentlessly consistent. LSU also loses guard Andre Stringer, who averaged 11.8 points per game, and point guard Anthony Hickey – 8.4 points and 3.7 assists per game – who transferred to Oklahoma State. The Tigers will rely on returning starters Jordan Mickey – 12.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game last season – and forward Jarell Martin – 10.3 points and 4.6 points per game last season.
New guards Keith Hornsby, Josh Gray, Antonio Robinson, Carlton Speight, and Jalyn Patterson, along with returning guards Henry Shortess and Tim Quarterman, will try to fill in for Stringer and Hickey. It will be interesting to see how the pieces fit together in this new rotation.
Projected Finish
There is a need to not be too high on LSU basketball until it proves that it can perform. The Tigers have a lot of holes to fill this season. They might have good young players in place, but they have to step up and show they belong. Right now, this feels like an NIT team.
Pick: Fifth in The SEC, NIT
