LSU basketball season not anticipated like this in decades
BATON ROUGE – There was a time long ago that basketball season at LSU was actually as hotly anticipated by fans as football season – if not more.
The summer was 1989. Chris Jackson had just set an all-time scoring record for freshman by averaging 30.2 points a game in the 1988-89 season and became the first freshman in history named to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association All-America team. He led LSU to a sixth straight NCAA Tournament berth and an 11-7 record in the Southeastern Conference – its best SEC finish since winning the regular season title in 1985 at 13-5.
Joining Jackson on the court for the 1989-90 season would be 7-foot centers Stanley Roberts and Shaquille O’Neal, a pair of McDonald’s All-Americans from Hopkins, South Carolina, and San Antonio, Texas, respectively. The anticipation for a third Final Four in a decade was scorching hot. LSU did not get there, but the Tigers went 64-29 overall and 37-15 in the SEC over the next three years with an SEC title in ‘91 and three more NCAA Tournament berths. A 10th NCAA Tournament would follow in 1993. Meanwhile, the football team was mired in its darkest period – five straight losing seasons from 1989-93.
One of LSU basketball coach Dale Brown’s assistants at the time was Johnny Jones, who begins his fourth season as LSU’s head coach in 2015-16. Jones has signed perhaps the best high school player for LSU since Shaq in 6-9 forward Ben Simmons – the consensus No. 1 player in the country out of Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida. He has also signed the No. 13 prospect in the nation in 6-3 shooting guard Antonio Blakeney of Oak Ridge High in Orlando, Florida. They join four key returning players - guards Keith Hornsby, Tim Quarterman, Josh Gray and Jalyn Patterson - from an NCAA Tournament team last March that finished 22-11 and 11-7 in the SEC, which was the Tigers’ best league mark since winning the league in 2009 at 13-3.
Anticipation is heated and high again.
“I think our fan base has had an opportunity to see the rise of the program,” Jones, who inherited a program after the 2011-12 season that was 40-56 overall and 12-36 in the league the previous three years, said on the SEC summer teleconference on Monday. “We’ve continued to improve each year.”
Jones is 61-37 with a 29-25 mark in the SEC in three seasons with NIT and NCAA Tournament appearances the last two years.
“And to have a lot of those guys back and the No. 1 high school player in the country, I think lends itself to excitement,” he said. “We’re excited for our fan base, and I think it can be compatible with some of the better years that we’ve had in LSU basketball during my time here.”
And this after LSU lost its two best players in the first and second rounds of the NBA Draft in forward Jarell Martin to Memphis as the 25th pick and forward Jordan Mickey to Boston as the third pick of the second round.
“The impact that Keith Hornsby had on our team last year (13.4 points a game) along with Tim Quarterman (11.5 points and a team-high 133 assists), I think that brings a lot of excitement to our fan base,” Jones said. “And when you culminate that with a really great recruiting class, we have a lot to sell.”
And LSU began selling tickets and its rising brand not long after the 2014-15 season ended with the “25 Is Coming” promotion as Simmons will wear No. 25. http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=27826&SPID=2166&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=210098591&DB_OEM_ID=5200.
“He has the ability to handle and distribute the ball and make people around him better,” Jones said. “Antonio Blakeney has the ability to really shoot the ball, has skills, plays extremely hard, is passionate about the game. He’s a gym rat.”
There is also incoming freshman Brandon Sampson, a 6-5 guard who played with Martin at Madison Prep in Baton Rouge and 6-8 transfer forward Craig Victor from Arizona. Sampson is the No. 42 overall prospect in the nation, and Victor was the No. 40 prospect in 2014.
“I’m really excited about them because I think all of them bring something a little bit different,” Jones said. “I look forward to the bonding and chemistry with this team to hopefully move forward and certainly challenge to end up at the top of our league again next season.”
AND FOR 2016-17: LSU has secured a commitment for the 2016-17 season from 6-6 forward Wayde Sims of University High in Baton Rouge. Sims is the son of former LSU forward Wayne Sims, who played for the Tigers from 1987-91 out of DeRidder High School.
Sims averaged 17.6 points and 9.5 rebounds a game for University High last year and was the Class 3A MVP and Gatorade Player of the Year in Louisiana. The Cubs won the last two 3A state titles.