LSU - UT 59-54 loss

JayB

man, i tell ya'... i really had to have a drink after this game. these guys just keep coming soooo damn close. that was a tough one that will surely build character for the future... bo FINALLY had the game that he needed to have for LSU to get over the "hump," but tennessee is the 14th ranked team in the nation for a reason. at least you can't call these players "quitters."

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GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!!!

stevescookin

I haven't seen a game yet, but I have a feeling this year is like the early Dale Brown years...I wish I had one of those "Wanted" posters he came out with back then. The Hustlers did steal a lot of hearts.

They had nothing to lose...and played with reckless abandon...great fun because the pressure was off. It's not always about the W's.

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lsudolemite

Trent's gonna have a hell of a program in place in a couple more years.

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Cajun Sensation

This LSU team played their hearts out. The game was on National TV so I'm glad that they did. These guys just aren't going to mail it in....that kind of coaching and that kind of character will make the LSU squad VERY dangerous next season and the season after.

This is the calm before the storm, fellas.

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WHO DAT!!!!!!

".....pumpers will be pumpers and negatigers will be negatigers, but the battle for the fans in the middle has begun and it will all depend on 2010."

-LSUtiger327

gumborue

i think ctj is gonna make lsu a top 25 program, but i didnt see anything in the game last night to make me think that. it couldnt have been a much poorer performance. tons of bad shots. thats basically all that happened. pass around til the shot clock is at 5 and shoot a 20 ft contested jumper. the only good shots were off of rebounds. the team cant shoot, penetrate, fast break or post up.

on the other hand, ut got tons of good shots.

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"Tough love."---Jesus

LaSalleAve

Anyone think Brady is feeling a little vindicated right now?

Ok, would you rather a guy like TJ who doesn't believe in getting that 1 and done guy, or a guy like Calapari (minus the fact that he is a cheater) who goes after those players?

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This Tiger would kick any of the other Tigers asses!

"Imagine a place where freedom is just a word on a wall" Jason Cruz

gumborue

ctj hands down.

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"Tough love."---Jesus

islstl

If Coach Johnson had been hired a year earlier, we would have gotten the Monroe kid and this team would be about where it was last year (top 15 making a push at the end of the season).

Yes, one player would have meant that much. You would have 2 impact players on offense (like last year) and good role players in the other 3 slots.

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lp

Coach Johnson showed some emotion towards the end of the game when a call did'nt go our way, something you don't see too much from him.
I am sure he knew this season would be tough but maybe he expected things to be a little better.

GoSaints

islstl - What are you talking about..... Get a clue....

SabanFan

Is this a joke? 3 posts and all of them getting after izzy. Fess up. Who are you?

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islstl

Now 4 for 4.

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JohnLSU

I agree that TJ is going to make LSU a Top 25 program. But, keeping in mind that I'm part of the peanut gallery when it comes to basketball knowledge...

One part of me was telling me that we looked horrible out there. In the local newspaper this morning, our performance was described as "ugly," "miserable" etc. It looked like our guys were just a bunch of guys playing street ball with no coach. I was trying to read TJ's body language when the camera was on him to see what the problem was... has he just lost control of this team? Did the team just say "forget the coach, he doesn't know what he is doing... let's just do it our way?" Or was it (esp. based on his body language late in the game) more like TJ thinking: "These players are just uncoachable, they don't listen or learn." Even after we made that run to get within one at the end of the game, it still looked like TJ was thinking "this team has no chance of winning." However, I was encouraged by how the announcers said that "Trent Johnson told us that his players are trying as hard as they can." I mean it was (still is) a tough situation, we were 0-7 in SEC play (now 0-8), we had lost 10 of our last 11 (now 11 of our last 12)... and here were are at home hanging with #14 Tennessee... it could have been our players just got too excited (or "desperate" as the announcers said) and so all the coaching they got just went out the window. Of course, all but two of our guys are underclassmen, so they are still pretty much green. But TJ is still sticking up for them. In the paper this morning he said:

Tigers guard Bo Spencer was double teamed near the LSU bench and flipped the ball to Tasmin Mitchell about three feet beyond the 3-point line. Mitchell said he got a good look at the basket but his shot hit the back inside of the rim with eight seconds left and Tennessee rebounded. ... Said LSU Coach Trent Johnson: "We knew they were going to double-team Bo. Bo was supposed to turn back to Taz, which he did. It's just that Taz was too deep. You can't fault the execution.

?????????????

However, the other part of me loved the game. It was great to hang with the #14 team all the way to the end... the crowd was into it, the student section was rocking... the band was playing... it was a good game to watch. And it was great to see Bo get 25 points.

LSUsupaFan

What is pretty clear to me is that we are quite short on talent, but Johnson has some not so good players playing tough defense. I really think we see a marked turnaround next year, and call me crazy, but I say we win Saturday.

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I will now be called "el stupendo fanatico"

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Cry Babies everywhere....

gumborue

i dont buy it. certainly theyd be much better, middle of the pack SEC with a shot at ncaa, but no way top 15 without better guard play

hell, last years team wasnt top 15 (ok they were for one week)

he's said so much as he doesnt worry too much about the offensive end and there's no use in bashing the kids

crazy.

uk 78-42

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"Tough love."---Jesus

JohnLSU

Crazier things have happened.

Although this isn't the same comparison being that UK, along with KU, is the most talented team in the country...

I did see a 7-14 Univ of San Francisco team upset #13 Gonzaga at San Francisco last week... it was a team getting up to play the #1 team in their conference and the USF guy got red-hot and was dropping threes all over the place.

lsudolemite

Folks, this is the price we pay for giving Brady the boot. Many of us knew it was coming and were willing to accept it. CTJ's recruiting philosophy is a little bit too much on the other extreme from coaches like Brady for my taste, but will pay out much better long-term dividends.

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JayB

well the offense is atrocious, we all know that, but this team isn't bad defensively. 59 points isn't too much to give up to tennessee?

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GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!!!

JayB

you have to remember that the SEC is a lot better than last season too. not to trivialize what LSU did last season, of course.

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GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!!!

Bandit88

I think CTJ is a good coach, no doubt. I like his focus on defense - LSU clearly is a hustling, ball-hawking team.

Recruiting bothers me, but as has been said - he's only really had one recruiting class to pull in, and this next one looks A LOT BETTER.

Izzy is right - one player makes a huge difference in basketball, AND a freshman can definitely be that one player.

And yanking Izzy's chain is my job. Take a walk, GO SAINTS.

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"I have a fairly strong feeling that his career for the most part will be wasted at LSU."

Forum member discussing Russell Shepard's future at LSU, January 26, 2009.

http://lsutigerbait.blogspot.com

COramprat

Sixteen points in the 1st half is atrocious and I don't care what level you are playing. My sons 9th grade team put that up tonight and in 8 less minutes in a half.

We have to find some scorers besides Taz and Spenser. I was pumped at the way we came back a made a game of it. It's coming...we can taste it.

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Get On It Racing

Bandit88

Wondering if you're really straight-laced and this means nothing to you, or you just posted really, really quickly and didn't reread it...

Or, you meant it. In which case I won't ask if you don't tell (for the next few months, at least....)

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"I have a fairly strong feeling that his career for the most part will be wasted at LSU."

Forum member discussing Russell Shepard's future at LSU, January 26, 2009.

http://lsutigerbait.blogspot.com

TGer'nLHornLand

Was out of pocket some of this week, and wasn't able to watch the UT game, nor post about basketball. But, having heard about the game, and seeing some of these posts, I have to continue to trumpet some of the things I've been saying all along.

First, I have to share today's Advocate article, timely given Calipari's arrival in B.R. today, about Johnson's views on one-and-done players, his recruiting philosophy and what's in store for us... 2theadvocate.com | Sports | Johnson talks about players leaving early — Baton Rouge, LA. It kills me that Trent continues to get "heat" for his recruiting philosophy. Look, I think reading his interview that Trent is clearly trying to build consistency and stability in a program... that was largely I believe LSU fan's biggest complaint with Brady (besides his sourpuss, less than classy demeanor). To an earlier post, it is VERY FEW programs that can truly win based upon recruiting with a one and done mentality. In fact, it's somewhat of a misnomer, because even teams like UNC, Kansas, Duke, recruit McD AA who would LIKE to be one and done guys, but end up staying 3 or 4 years. Calipari, however, and maybe a few other programs like UCLA (and you can see what happened to them this year), maybe are a different breed. I think you'll actually see UK drop off considerably next year... Wall, Cousins and Patterson will all be gone. They'll live and die with Bledsoe, and whomever else Cal can sign quick late in the season, who's hanging around hoping for a one-and-done opportunity. Now, you can debate whether that's GOOD for your program, but by and large LSU IS NOT THAT KIND OF PROGRAM and hope for any consistent success with that formula.

Second, let's not continue to make the characterization that Trent's NOT recruiting well. While it took him some time, look this 2010 class is pretty darn good and part of the reason there isn't more fanfare, is that there hasn't been a Greg Monroe type of player coming out of LA in the past couple of years. And, unlike Brady's classes, it's DEEP and its balanced, with kids that could stay at LSU 3 or 4 years and get better and help out. You add to it a kid like K-C Ross Miller, who's been visiting LSU campus (and another top 150 PG), and you could have 5 signees who are top 150-ish material, PLUS Malcolm White as a transfer. You've got to commend Trent and staff for the job he's done. Go and read the quotes by Miller's dad, who's also the coach at Miller's hoops prep academy in Dallas--he's an admitted hoops guy from Indiana and he praises CTJ (http://lsu.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1048547). Basketball guys in the know, say these things about CTJ (when's the last time a high school coach or kid's parent said that about Brady), and solid recruits will get that.

Lastly, you look at this year's team and the job that CTJ is doing. Sure, 0-8 is not looking that good right now. But, do people really realize what CTJ's is playing with? First he's got only like 8 scholarship players (you can debate why that is, but most reasonable folks will come back to Brady's lack of deep consistent recruiting a few years ago leads to this ... http://lsu.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1046944). You've got injuries. You've got kids that were supposed to perform, underperforming. You've got the fact that 3 out of the 5 kids on the floor at any given time may be walk-ons. You can look at it as, boy the kids out there are not playing very well, or as, boy, Trent has kids like Populist, Beattie and Kinsley (all walkons) hanging with McD AAs from Tennessee or Kentucky. I think you've also got to realize that this LSU team is NOT going to beat anyone playing fast or getting into a shooting contest. By definition this team has to play "ugly" and keep the other team in the 50s or 60s to have a chance to win. Hence, slow play, working the shot clock down and trying to find the best shot. Next year, when you add Stringer, Turner, Derenbecker (hopefully Miller) who can all shoot or score, and you've got a different story.

Let's be patient boys. The silver lining this year is I would be excited for Tasmin Mitchell, who came back to LSU (in large part b/c of CTJ), and has a chance to go down in history as the second highest LSU scorer ever (passing Rudy Macklin, who will be honored today at the UK game). I'd be encourgaging of kids like Spencer, Bass, Dotson, Warren, Harris, Green, who need the support to get them going, to learn and get better for next year--they will continue to be needed for continuity of the program. Because under Johnson, the goal is not immediate wins but to change the face of LSU basketball. Watch these kids, and let's remember that these kids are freshmen and sophomores who have a good chance of getting better if they stay with CTJ for a few more years....and we'll see a LSU program that hopefully won't have peaks and valleys any more, but a consistent winner (again, like in Macklin's time!).

COramprat

Huh?

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