Not just a football school: LSU basketball making waves with Will Wade
By Jacob Lane
In Will Wade’s second season as the LSU head coach, the Tigers have firmly established themselves as more than just a football (and baseball) school.
Three seasons ago LSU was viewed as a potential sleeping giant due to the star power of former No. 1 recruit, and the eventual No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Ben Simmons. Much like this season with Duke, LSU owned nearly every bit of college basketball air-time on ESPN and every big game was marketed as “the” game.
While the season didn’t go the way they expected, finishing 19-14 overall (and turning down a chance to play in the NIT) it paled in comparison to the year that was set to come. With Simmons turning pro, LSU was back to square one, left to try and figure out how to pick up the pieces and reclaim national relevancy. The Tigers would finish the 2016-17 season with an embarrassing 10-21 (2-16), leading to the long overdue dismissal of Johnny Jones. The once promising star power never translated into staying power for the Tigers.
In came VCU’s Will Wade, a coach tasked with replacing Shaka Smart after he left for greener pastures, and proceeded to go 51-20, guiding the Rams to their first-ever Atlantic 10 regular season championship. In his first season as coach of the Tigers, not only was Wade able to land a class of three-four stars, highlighted by four-star guard Tremont Waters.
Year one had its ups and downs, but Wade was able to put together one of the best turnaround jobs in the country, leading LSU to a 17-14 record and an NIT birth.
Fast forward to Friday and the program sits at No. 13 with a game against No. 5 Tennessee on Saturday that presents the next big test for Wade’s Tigers.
How did this turnaround happen so fast?
It all starts with the recruiting prowess of Wade who was able to put together a top 25 class in 2017 with just a few months to get it done. While one player remains still enrolled at LSU from that class, it’s Tremont Waters who’s leading the charge on the floor.
In his first full recruiting cycle Will Wade was able to do something that no LSU coach had done in 15 years; put together a top 5 class. Led by five-star big men Nazreon Reid and Emmitt Williams, Wade’s class ranked at No. 4 according to 247Sports and also featured four star’s JaVonte Smart, Darius Days, Oregon transfer Kavell Bigby-Williams and junior college transfer Marlon Taylor.
Recruiting only goes so far when talking about turning around a program. The other big part of that is coaching and winnings, and that’s exactly what Wade has done this season. Picked to finish 6th in the SEC, Wade’s team has simply overachieved.
The Tigers currently hold wins over the likes of Furman, Ole Miss, Auburn, Alabama, and Mississippi State, and possibly their biggest win in several seasons — No. 5 Kentucky, who they defeated on a dramatic and controversial last-second tip in on the road, which also marked the first time they had defeated a top-five team on the road in almost 40 years.
Time and time again Wade’s team has shown resiliency when faced with obstacles winning big games on the road, including Kentucky, Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State, while also picking up three wins in hard-fought overtime games. The team continues to get better and better
The team has been one of the more dynamic scoring teams, having four players scoring in double digits, led by the sophomore Waters and freshman sensation Reid, who looks like a potential lottery pick.
But to say it’s been one or two players who have led the charge would be a travesty. The Tigers currently rank in the top five in the SEC in points per game, field goal percentage, rebounds and steals, all showing that this is a team built to make a run.
A recent tough loss to Florida has diminished a little bit of what Wade’s team has accomplished as of late, but a big against No. 5 Tennessee would easily change that and fast. To a team once seen as an “up and coming,” they now are squarely in the mix for the SEC and could potentially be a dark horse final four contender. How is his team handling the pressure? In a recent press conference Wade told the media:
"“We always say we want to be nationally ranked and nationally relevant. I think I’ve said that from the first day since we got here. We’re nationally ranked and now we have a little bit of relevancy to us. We’ve got to keep it going.”"
In recent year’s it’s been the football team and even the baseball team that’s gotten the majority of coverage in Louisiana, but now the Tigers basketball program has put an end to that.
Wade has LSU basketball back on track.