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Message: [QUOTE="SECbbfan24, post: 3544622, member: 9360"] Van did a really poor job coaching his teams at LSU based on the talent. I know he had success in the past but it was just not working out in BR. He recruited decently but not close to the level of Pokey. He landed many top 100 players although he struggled to mold a team with an identity. Van hovered around 19-20 wins for 3 years afters Fowles left. Nikki seemed like a hot hire at the time because of her record at UCLA and the fact that she was a Summitt disciple. Nikki was solid at UCLA although did not do much in the NCAAT. Many don't realize after she left, some of her recruiting issues (foreshadowing) left some major holes and issues for UCLA and it took a few years for Cori Close to right the ship. Nikki came to LSU with some solid talent in place (many top 100 kids). In all honesty her teams the first few years were some of her most talented teams and she has yet to keep or upgrade the talent since she has been here. We simply do not have enough good players. She has gotten some really good kids, Moncrief, Mitchell, Danielle Ballard but was later dismissed. Chloe Jackson was a major surprise before bolting to Baylor. The issue with Nikki isn't a great recruiter, she doesn't attempt to go after the big fish very much on the recruiting trail a lot. She settles for much less and is much more concerned with building a team around defense instead of recruiting top talent that is well rounded and work towards molding it. Her teams may play good defense but it lacks the athletes necessary to execute at a top level offensively and on the boards. Which is why LSU is rarely in the top 25 and is a fringe seed in the NCAAT. You have to recruit kids who can score too. There is much more to the equation than playing good defense. Our last AD Joe Alleva is now gone so things are much different moving forward. She is winning barely enough to keep her job as of now. Although, the attendance and booster donations speak volumes on the current support of the program. I don't think Nikki is a bad coach at all but she lacks in critical areas that keep us from getting over the hump competing for SEC titles or making NCAAT runs. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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