LSU to Play in the NIT

LSU has been selected to play Indiana State in the NIT Tip Off Tournament Nov. 16 in the PMAC. LSU is the #3 seed in the 16-team field.

If the Tigers win, they'll play the winner of Western Kentucky/Milwaukee. The goal is to win two games and make it to Madison Square Garden. If they lose either of the first two games, they are still guaranteed two more games in the consolation round.

This will be great exposure for a rising LSU basketball program. They are predicted to be down this year after winning the SEC in Trent Johnson's first year. But this exposure will be great in the long run.

Top programs like Duke (#1 seed), UConn (#2 seed) and Arizona State (#4 seed) will also compete this year.

Bracket Busted

Congratulations to LSU on a great season. They just didn't have enough left to take down the South Region #1 team, North Carolina on Saturday. The Tigers fell 84-70.

The Tigers gave the Tar Heels everything they could handle, but Ty Lawson took over the second half, and that was all she wrote. It didn't help that LSU had about a five minute scoring drought toward the end of the game. But for 32 minutes, LSU did everything right.

It will be a tough offseason, as the Tigers are losing some of their top players. But fans should feel good about what Trent Johnson is building. This won't be the pattern of the John Brady Tigers, where a tournament appearance was followed by and NIT berth, or no postseason at all.

LSU Advances

LSU beat Butler 75-71 in the first round (actually the first game played, besides the meaningless Play-In Game) of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The Tigers will now get to face the South Region #1 team, North Carolina on Saturday.

North Carolina defeated Radford 101-58. LSU is a long shot to beat UNC, but stranger things have happened. If Marcus Thornton gets hot and LSU's defense can slow down the Tarheels and keep them from getting second chance points, the game may go LSU's way.

At any rate, it's been a great first year for Trent Johnson. LSU won the SEC and advanced in the NCAA Tournament. Not bad for a team that only won 13 games last year.

Going Dancing

After winning the SEC outright, having the AP SEC Coach of the Year and Player of the Year and the SEC Coaches Coach of the Year and Player of the Year, it's safe to assume that this was a successful season for the LSU basketball team. So what does LSU get for its success this year? A trip to the NCAA Tournament as an 8-seed.

The Tigers get to travel to North Carolina to take on the #22 ranked Butler Bulldogs. Oh, and if LSU beats the team that is only one spot below them in the AP poll, they'll have a date with #2 North Carolina...in North Carolina. Talk about a huge mountain to climb.

Overall, the SEC was said to be down as a conference and the selection committee took that to heart. Only three SEC teams were selected for the Big Dance. LSU, the conference champ, got the 8th seed, Tennessee got a 9 and SEC Tournament champion Mississippi State sits as a 13 seed. While the conference was down, these seeding are a joke. LSU should have been a 6 or 7 at the worst, but they played themselves into an 8 by going on a skid to end the season. Mississippi State got no respect as a 13. Now, the only way to show the rest of the nation that the SEC was better than believed is to pull off a few wins and none would be more impressive than LSU beating North Carolina (a tournament favorite) in the second round in the Tarheels backyard.

But LSU can't look ahead just yet. Butler is no slouch and has been a surprise team in the NCAA Tournment before. It all gets started Thursday morning. What a great time of year!

Great time to be an LSU fan

What a time to be an LSU sports fan! The men's basketball team has won the outright SEC Championship and has moved up to 11th in the ESPN/USA Today Poll and 12th in the AP Poll. The Lady Tigers basketball team is coming off a win over rival Tennessee and won a share of 2nd place in the SEC. And the LSU baseball team has opened up the new Alex Box Stadium in style by going undefeated in their first seven games and are the consensus #1 team in the nation.

That doesn't even mention the LSU softball team who are currently 11-2 and ranked 19th and 22nd in the polls or the LSU gymnastics team who are working toward their second straight Super Six appearance.

Geaux Tigers!

LSU Breaks into Top 25

The LSU basketball team has broken into the Top 25 polls. The Tigers are ranked 23 in the AP and 24 in ESPN/USA Today. After beating both Mississippi State and Ole Miss this week, LSU sits at 21-4 overall (9-1 in the SEC). LSU is now solidly being projected for the NCAA Tournament.

Congratulations goes to Coach Trent Johnson for turning around the program in such a sort time. LSU is now in the driver's seat to win the SEC title. Who would have thought that could happen a year after the John Brady era ended.

LSU Moves into First Place in SEC West

With LSU's victory over Miss State last night, the Tigers have moved into a first place tie with the Bulldogs in the SEC West. LSU beat the Bulldogs 81-57, just a few days after beating the other SEC school from Mississippi, Ole Miss, 83-51.

There's still a lot of basketball to be played, and Saturday's game against Xavier will be a big test for the Tigers to gauge if they really are a legitimate NCAA Tournament team. Regardless of how the rest of the season plays out, one thing is clear, Trent Johnson has the program headed in the right direction.

LSU Makes Their Choice?

Local media outlets are reporting that LSU has chosen Stanford's Trent Johnson as its next men's basketball coach.

Johnson led Stanford to the Sweet 16 this year and led Nevada to the Sweet 16 in 2004. His career record is 159-122.

His Wikipedia page has already been updated, saying that he's the LSU coach so you know the report must be true. As Michael Scott says, "Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information."

Edit: LSU introduced Trent Johnson as men's basketball head coach on April 10.

LSU Coaching Search Heats Up

Now that LSU has hired a new athletic director, the school can turn its attention to finding John Brady's successor as basketball coach. Numerous names have been floated as possible candidates and more will surface in the near future.

While at the Final Four, LSU officials talked to a few candidates, reportedly including Washington State's Tony Bennett and Standford's Trent Johnson. Bennett has since released a statement stating his intentions to remain as Washington State. The other top candidate for the job was UMass coach Travis Ford, but in an email release last night, he said that "I do not want to be considered for the job." Another coach who pulled his name from consideration is Clemson's Oliver Purnell. So where does that leave LSU's search?

Throughout the season, Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant was the hot candidate. Basically, everyone in Tiger Town thought it was a done deal that Grant would be on the LSU sidelines next year, especially with Grant being a former Florida assistant and LSU System President John Lombardi's ties to Florida. Since the season ended and VCU didn't make the NCAA Tournament, Grant buzz has died down. It's unclear if he's even still being considered, but with other candidates withdrawing their names, Grant's name may resurface.

With new AD Joe Alleva come to LSU from Duke, many former Duke players and assistants are being mentioned as possibilities. Guys like Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins and Notre Dame Mike Brey have surfaced as candidates this week. Other names that have been thrown around include Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy, Baylor coach Scott Drew, North Texas coach Johnny Jones or even interim LSU coach Butch Pierre.

With the landscape of college basketball being what it is today, LSU needs to have more of a sense of urgency with its coaching search. LSU was one of the first schools in the country to have a coaching vacancy, yet many other programs have hired coaches in the past few weeks. The LSU job still sits unoccupied. With recruits wondering who the coach will be and players like freshman Anthony Randolph deciding to enter the NBA draft, it's key that LSU get a coach in place sooner rather than later.

I'm not saying the new coach could have convinced Randolph to stay at LSU, especially with him being projected as a top 5-10 pick, but it wouldn't have hurt for him to know that a top-notch guy was in place if he wanted to stay at LSU.

John Brady Out?

A few local media outlets are reporting a 1 p.m. press conference today to announce the firing of LSU Coach John Brady. He left practice early yesterday, and supposedly, that's when the firing came. He'll still coach this weekend's game against Tennessee, but he's done after that.

So what's next for LSU? Is Bob Knight in the Tigers future? Check out http://firejohnbrady.net/ for a list of potential replacements.