SECT

[oldude]

I think if this team can make a S16. That would be a successful fist year for Harper.

Creme currently has TN as an 8/9 seed. If he is correct that probably places the LV’s at one of the #1 seeds for the first 2 rounds. Since it won’t be SC, that leaves Baylor, OR, MD or Louisville..,,,,,

 

[stwainfan]

Creme currently has TN as an 8/9 seed. If he is correct that probably places the LV’s at one of the #1 seeds for the first 2 rounds. Since it won’t be SC, that leaves Baylor, OR, MD or Louisville..,,,,,

Yes. His rankings are not always accurate. I will wait for the selection show.

 

[oldude]

Yes. His rankings are not always accurate. I will wait for the selection show.

In any event, the LV’s are going to have to beat 1-2 ranked teams to get to the Sweet 16, something they haven’t been able to do all season. However, if they are somehow able to make it to the Sweet 16, I absolutely agree that it will be a successful year for KJH.

 

[SCGamecock]

She runs a clean program. Kids graduate and play hard, which I respect a lot. As a fan, I may seem selfish but I want more. Personally having a top 25 team that goes on occasional runs in NCAAT isn’t too much to ask. Why play the game if you aren’t going to strive to be great?

I just feel like we are mediocre. We play hard but that’s it.

IMO Nikki would be a terrific bench coach. As a hc she has flaws that keep us from getting to the next level!

Man I just love Nikki though. I would hate to see her get the boot at LSU. Such a fun coach and I love the way LSU plays. And like you said, she runs a clean program and has always come across as very classy to me. They are the only other SEC team I seriously root for when they aren't playing SC.

 

[oldude]

She runs a clean program. Kids graduate and play hard, which I respect a lot. As a fan, I may seem selfish but I want more. Personally having a top 25 team that goes on occasional runs in NCAAT isn’t too much to ask. Why play the game if you aren’t going to strive to be great?

I just feel like we are mediocre. We play hard but that’s it.

IMO Nikki would be a terrific bench coach. As a hc she has flaws that keep us from getting to the next level!

Losing your best player in early February doesn’t help much either. If Mitchell was still healthy, there’s a good chance that LSU wins 2-3 more games and earns itself a much better seeding in the Big Dance.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Losing your best player in early February doesn’t help much either. If Mitchell was still healthy, there’s a good chance that LSU wins 2-3 more games and earns itself a much better seeding in the Big Dance.

Definitely. Just really bad luck for us. Another big issue for me is we seem to fold like cheap tents in the NCAAT. We had a team with Mitchell, Moncrief and Chloe Jackson get bounced in the first round which was a bad look. We have yet to get past the first round in over 5 years. We missed the dance a couple other times.

This is year 9 for her? Meanwhile Vic and Dawn have transformed bottom dwellers into national powers all while she has been here. The competitor in me wants more though.

 

[garddog]

Definitely. Just really bad luck for us. Another big issue for me is we seem to fold like cheap tents in the NCAAT. We had a team with Mitchell, Moncrief and Chloe Jackson get bounced in the first round which was a bad look. We have yet to get past the first round in over 5 years. We missed the dance a couple other times.


This is year 9 for her? Meanwhile Vic and Dawn have transformed bottom dwellers into national powers all while she has been here. The competitor in me wants more though.

The question is will LSU pay top tier coaches salary for WBB. Isn't Nikki at 350k one of the lowest paid in the SEC?

 

[SECbbfan24]

The question is will LSU pay top tier coaches salary for WBB. Isn't Nikki at 350k one of the lowest paid in the SEC?

Her salary is about the same from which we hired her in 2011? She was considered a hot hire at the time given she was a Summitt disciple, UCLA had some good records, but had not so good NCAAT success. Ironically, when she was originally hired, a UCLA fan came onto the LSU forum and warned us of some recruiting issues that eventually hit them hard after she had left.

Van Chancellor (previous coach at LSU), recruited pretty damn well but his teams were so poorly coached and just didn't play together. We had quite a bit of talent originally when Nikki came in, we also got to host NCAAT the first few years which was extremely beneficial for us. Over the years, the recruiting dropped off significantly, we had multiple key players kicked off the team or transferred which has resulted in multiple NCAAT misses and first round exits.

LSU has the money to make changes to athletic programs if they truly wanted. Last AD (Joe Alleva), was completely useless and awful (thanks @triaddukefan) gave up on multiple sports programs. We currently have a new one. There is a lot of pressure currently among boosters to elevate certain programs. No WBB will never be football, baseball or basketball at LSU but put a good product out there, people will come and support. No one wants to pay money to see an overall poor product on the floor. Attendance has dropped pretty dramatically over the last 4 years. I don't see Nikki getting let go after they over achieved this year but she is not on good terms with current fanbase/boosters. If they don't sign a good class this coming year, there is a potential for a disaster considering the current roster is so messed up and unbalanced. We will lose Trasi, Aifuwa, Pointer, Cherry, Spencer.


As Geno said when he came to LSU recently and beat us bad. This isn't the same program of the past. He said they just don't have the players, and he is correct. Got to have talent to win.

 

[garddog]

Never heard Van didn't coach well. Known his family all my life and have a lot of friends that played for him at Ole Miss. He is a MSU graduate, which we let get away.

 

[SimpleDawg]

LSU definitely had the smallest fan support among the 4 teams I saw yesterday. MSU has the worst band though - I prefer Kentucky, Tennessee, and LSU's fight songs over ours by far. But I like our cheerleaders... lol, they got the moves.

 

[triaddukefan]

LSU has the money to make changes to athletic programs if they truly wanted. Last AD (Joe Alleva), was completely useless and awful (thanks @triaddukefan) gave up on multiple sports programs. We currently have a new one. There is a lot of pressure currently among boosters to elevate certain programs.

Glad to have yall take him off our hands.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

South Carolina- Miss State is a good one.

Prior meeting is the only down to wire game South Carolina has played all season, which worries me for the ncaa tournament.

I sure hope that we've got something for stopping penetration off the weave.

Jackson is gonna be more difficult to deal with every time we meet.

 

[SCGamecock]

South Carolina- Miss State is a good one.

Prior meeting is the only down to wire game South Carolina has played all season, which worries me for the ncaa tournament.

I sure hope that we've got something for stopping penetration off the weave.

Jackson is gonna be more difficult to deal with every time we meet.

She's gotten better. So have we.

 

[SimpleDawg]

my impressions of the losers so far:


We saw Arkansas' weaknesses, trying to play the inside game against South Carolina today, balls swatted and contested in the paint all game along, a taller player was always over Ramirez or Tolefree, and turnovers were incessant. South Carolina ran down the court and wore Arkansas down mentally. Arkansas always worried about where the players are on the court and those shots blocked in the paint created transition opportunities for SC. SC had as much transition 3s as Arkansas, Ramirez shot 6-9 from 3 and they still lost by 26.

Kentucky's weaknesses also evident. Rickea just had a bad day the last time. When she has a normal day, Kentucky goes back to same old Kentucky 1 quarter team, 1 player offense. And even their best gun goes 10-26 and 2-12 from 3. I guess their midrange was good but that's it. Their transition game was matched if not bettered, couldn't even win the 3-point shooting, and their inside game got 5 blocks for Morris and 10 rebounds each for Jackson and Morris combined. Rhyne Howard is superb, but I felt like Rickea was more efficient. She can really create shots, and steps through and maneuvers around better and locates better easier spots, and she's comfortable with a lot of different angular body positions. I think Howard creates space better and she has the fadeaway shot with accuracy, but.....eh. But it was probably more about her teammates who couldn't do enough to stay in the game.

And Texas A&M.... eh. Probably need more shooting guards besides just Carter (they just don't score enough with the guards that they have), and their point guard play... is meh. They got some bigs, but should probably dominate more than they have so far. Don't get me wrong... they're great in the inside but I just expected them to be more dominating..... 69.73 points scoring average is just underwhelming for a team with some players that should be ordinarily superior to an average opponent's.

 

[militarydog]

my impressions of the losers so far:


We saw Arkansas' weaknesses, trying to play the inside game against South Carolina today, balls swatted and contested in the paint all game along, a taller player was always over Ramirez or Tolefree, and turnovers were incessant. South Carolina ran down the court and wore Arkansas down mentally. Arkansas always worried about where the players are on the court and those shots blocked in the paint created transition opportunities for SC. SC had as much transition 3s as Arkansas, Ramirez shot 6-9 from 3 and they still lost by 26.

Kentucky's weaknesses also evident. Rickea just had a bad day the last time. When she has a normal day, Kentucky goes back to same old Kentucky 1 quarter team, 1 player offense. And even their best gun goes 10-26 and 2-12 from 3. I guess their midrange was good but that's it. Their transition game was matched if not bettered, couldn't even win the 3-point shooting, and their inside game got 5 blocks for Morris and 10 rebounds each for Jackson and Morris combined. Rhyne Howard is superb, but I felt like Rickea was more efficient. She can really create shots, and steps through and maneuvers around better and locates better easier spots, and she's comfortable with a lot of different angular body positions. I think Howard creates space better and she has the fadeaway shot with accuracy, but.....eh. But it was probably more about her teammates who couldn't do enough to stay in the game.

And Texas A&M.... eh. Probably need more shooting guards besides just Carter (they just don't score enough with the guards that they have), and their point guard play... is meh. They got some bigs, but should probably dominate more than they have so far. Don't get me wrong... they're great in the inside but I just expected them to be more dominating..... 69.73 points scoring average is just underwhelming for a team with some players that should be ordinarily superior to an average opponent's.

After the MSU loss at Kentucky I made the remark about how they were mentally tough. They started off the same against MSU this game. However I was very surprised how quickly they folded when MSU punched back, especially R Howard.