All kinds of graphics have been circulating on social media during the preseason, posts like this one, indicating that, according to LSU’s official roster, the Tigers had five coaches, 11 support staff members and… just four players.
The graphics were everywhere – so much so that my friends who don’t even follow college basketball too closely were randomly asking me things like, “So what’s going on at LSU? Does Wade only have four eligible players. Is that really true?”
Again, this was technically true when the questions were asked. But it was still something that a judge somewhere would be able to resolve eventually, as long as SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey didn’t try to get in the way again. Eventually, a judge resolved the issue. And now LSU has more than four eligible players, and Wade used exactly eight of them Saturday in an 81-80 win over Gonzaga, which served as a reminder that whatever his approach, and no matter what anyone thinks, if Wade is your coach, you’ll likely have a successful program.
“We’re just getting started,” Wade told his team afterward in a celebratory locker room at Spokane Arena. “We didn’t play very well. We’re just getting started. They don’t want to see us when we get good! They don’t want to see us when we get good! But, for now, the (expletive) Tigers are back!”
What a scene.
Gonzaga actually led 68-55 with less than eight minutes left Saturday. The game was obviously not over, but it seemed decided. Then Abdi Bashir Jr. made a couple of 3-pointers, LSU went on a 7-0 run, and suddenly in the final seconds Donovan Dent found himself with the ball and his Tigers were down just two points.
Here’s what happened next:
A huge gunshot. Great moment.
He will forever be the jumper who took a team that had just four eligible players at one point in the preseason to a 4-0 record with a monster win over one of the sport’s best programs. Yes, as Wade shouted in the locker room, it looks like LSU is back. And now it appears that the man who was once most famous for talking wildly over a wiretap will likely finish this season coaching in the NCAA tournament for what would be the ninth time in 10 years for him on the sidelines, even though, in that span, he has changed jobs three times and been fired once.
LSU is No. 19 in the daily CBS Sports Top 25 and 1 college basketball rankings updated Sunday morning. Gonzaga is ranked 20th. The Tigers’ next game is Wednesday against Louisiana Monroe. Their next test against a power conference opponent will be a week later, against Arizona State in Palm Springs.
Rankings Top 25 And 1
IN: LSU | OUT: Texas A&M
Gn sports
