Tag Archives: NCAA tournament
The Dust Settles and LSU Basketball is #17
What a season for the Tigers! This year’s team surpassed all preseason expectations and played with a new attitude, thanks to 1st year LSU coach, Trent Johnson. The Tigers had the best conference record in SEC (13-3) winning game after game down the stretch. Only SEC losses were the first game at Alabama and the last two against Vanderbilt and at Auburn. We will even admit here that when the season kicked off, we knew we had some talent and exciting players, but we didn’t think LSU would have the season they did.
The Tigers relied on the offense of Marcus Thornton, Bo Spencer, and Tasmin Mitchell. The bulk of the defense was left up to Garrett Temple and Chris Johnson. All of which except for Spencer and Mitchell, are leaving LSU as seniors. It should be noted that Tasmin Mitchell is testing the NBA waters, but has not hired an agent, leaving a return to the Tigers as an option.
Anyway, back to my thought; the Tigers were very shallow and inexperienced on the bench this year and the above five guys would have to carry the weight of the team most of the way if they were going to do something special. Much to Tiger fans’ surprise, that’s exactly what they did. Night in and night out, the tigers found a way to win games and won the SEC conference title. Awards were passed out (Thornton-SEC Player of the Year, T. Johnson-SEC Coach of the Year, Mitchell-1st Team SEC, Temple and C. Johnson-2nd team SEC) and LSU got ready for what was next.
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Don’t Count Us Out Yet
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So we made it past Butler and are now rewarded with playing North Carolina in North Carolina, but don’t count us out quite yet. (even though I did in the first round versus Butler!) We played NCAA basketball royalty killer back in 2006 and could very well do it again this year.
There was no way our Tigers were going to beat the all mighty Duke Blue Devils to reach the Elite 8 and eventually the Final Four. But we did, with play that is very similar to how this team has played all year: hustle, heart and defense. Garrett Temple completely shut down national sweetie pie Gay Gay Redick (remember this pic?) and Coach K (is it me, or does his mouth look like an anus? sorry, had to ask, I’ll get on to Lou Holtz’s mouth in the football season) and there was just enough scoring from our offense to seal the win. Read the 2006 game recap here. Keep reading, I’m not done with you yet.
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ESPN Tournament Challenge
March Madness is finally here and the brackets are out! Unfortunately LSU is sitting in a horrible position right now with the possibility of having to play #1 seed North Carolina but the games are still fun to watch especially when you have a bracket going with your friends. It gives everyone an opportunity to see how horrible they are at picking winners.
Normally we have a bracket among a small group of friends but this year we decided to open it up to readers of LSUTOPIA to make it interesting. So, come sign up and make your picks!!! It will not cost you a thing and should be fun. Click this link to take you to the action –> http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/group?groupID=46847
Message from ESPN:
Get in on the excitement of this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Compete against other fans as you fill out a bracket and earn points for every correct pick! Come out on top and you could win $10,000. Get a group together and earn plenty of bragging rights amongst your friends by winning it all. Best of all, it’s free to play and win.
LSU Draws 8 Seed, Will not make it out of 2nd Round
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After a season that the LSU basketball Tigers went 26-7 and won the SEC regular season title, “the comittee” rewarded them with an 8 seed and a potential second round meeting with North Carolina……IN NORTH CAROLINA. Yes, you read it correctly, North Carolina in Greensboro, NC. But, before they have to deal with that, on Thursday they’ll have to get past Butler (26-5) out of the Horizon conference. Butler is a top 25 team, ranking 16th and 17th in the two major polls as of last week…making their 9th seed all the more puzzling. If a team is a top 25 team, then traditional thinking would lead you to believe that they are a 6 seed, 7 seed at the lowest. The same could be said about LSU, however, after losing three of their last four and losing by double digits in 5 of their 7 losses (remember the 30 point ass whipping Utah put on us?), an 8 seed seems about right.
Now, lets talk about how fuckin bad an 8 seed sucks. Not only do you typically play a 9 seed that is a pretty powerful team that is undervalued because of their conference, but you then get the 1 seed in the second round. If the committee had given LSU credit for the body of work they put together prior to the last ten days, and given them, say a 7 seed…then you get a 10 seed in the first round and a 2 seed in the second. There is a HUGE difference between playing Michigan and then Oklahoma as opposed to Butler and North Carolina. Hell, we’d have been better off being a 10 seed! The cynic would say that LSU shouldnt have shit the bed the last two weeks of the season, and I agree, but I still think we’re a 7 seed.
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LSU Stumbles in Final Home Game vs. Vandy, 75-67
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LSU had only a single lead in this one….. 2-0. After that, the Tigers’ goal closed up and they decided defense was overrated. We knew Vanderbilt had a big guy that would give us trouble. We didn’t think A.J. Ogilvy would come in and score a career high 33 points. The ‘Dores took complete advantage of mismatches all night and the Tigers had little to answer back to keep their 10 game winning streak alive. More after the jump……
Not to mention, LSU shot an abysmal 36% to Vandy’s 51% tonight. The Tigers also struggled from the line shooting only 68%, and from the 3-point line, 28%.
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LSU Basketball Continues to Overachieve
LSU comes from behind to beat Kentucky in Lexington and now owns the 2008-2009 SEC title outright!! These guys continue to find ways to win and have done so 10 games in a row overall and for 13 consecutive SEC games.
The visiting team locker room doors were closed Saturday night in Rupp Arena, but ESPN’s Pat Forde could hear chants of “LSU, LSU, LSU” coming from inside. It was just a part of the story of LSU’s season of which he found compelling enough to write one of his own……. click here (more after the jump)
Now that the Tigers are 25-4 and have won 4 straight while being ranked in the top 25 nationally, there is no doubt they will move up in those polls and possibly receive a 3-5 seed in the NCAA tournament. However, I believe that with still 2 games left; one at home against Vandy and another at Auburn, Trent Johnson will coach each of them the way he has coached the last 13 SEC games the Tigers have played and won….. not thinking about the postseason.
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LSU Road “Woes” Continue
LSU coming off an embarrassing 30 point loss to Utah continued their road struggles as they lose the SEC opener to Alabama 65-59. LSU never had the lead in this game and still haven’t won a game in Tuscaloserville since 2004. With LSU (12-3, 0-1) in foul trouble the entire game, the bench did nothing to contribute offensively. Quintin Thorton was the lone bench player to score with 2 points. Tasmin Mitchell was called with 2 fouls in the first 10 minutes of the game and sat the rest of the first half. This game was a very physical, foul happy, contest. If a player farted they were called with a foul. This is a funny stat to me, Alex Farrer, LSU’s “white knight” received 7 minutes of playing time and fouled out with as many points as you or I, 0 points.
The first half was filled with sloppy shooting by LSU with them shooting 31% from the field. Alabama shot 43% from the field and took a 6 point lead (30-24) going to the locker room. The second half was filled with more offense. LSU was lead in scoring by Marcus Thorton with 21 points. Bo Spencer and Tasmin Mitchell both had 10. Chris Johnson led the Tigers in rebounding with 10. Alabama was led in scoring by Senario Hillman with 24. The game was very close going into the closing minutes. The deficit became as many as 9 with 11 minutes left. LSU cut the lead to 2 at the 3:30 mark and had a chance to tie the game. This is the play of the game for Alabama, and if LSU misses the NCAA tournament by one game, so far this will be the play that cost them……Marcus Thorton had the ball in the front court trying to tie the game and he was raped, murdered, felt up, what ever you want to call it, and the officials in a foul happy contest let the ball go and Alabama scored on the break away. That pretty much took the wind out of LSU’s sail. LSU returns home to play a tough South Carolina opponent Wednesday night at the PMAC. South Carolina is 12-2 on the year and beat Auburn yesterday 68-56. This tiger fan is eager to see how the team will respond at home after suffering 2 straight road losses.
