By Hunt Palmer
Saturday night’s second half was disastrous for the LSU basketball team.
But was it worse than that for the program as a whole?
Program momentum is vital in this era of college sports. Wins create fan support which translates to dollars that go back to more players that pile up more wins. The cycle needs all of its parts working together.
Ultimately, the booster money has to funnel to the players. That happens for two reasons. One, the aforementioned cycle takes hold or, two, the fan base and boosters get fed up with losing and pony up—SEE: 2024 Ohio State football.
Apathy is the death knell.
Saturday night felt like the onset of apathy with LSU men’s basketball. An embarrassment like a 31-point loss to a .500 Texas team might spur on the purple and gold supporters of football or baseball. I’ve lived in Baton Rouge long enough to know that doesn’t happen as easily in men’s basketball.
Fans don’t get pissed off; they tune out.
Based on the first eight conference results, it’s reasonable to suggest the next 10 won’t look much different. That would mean something along the lines of a 3-15 league record.
Much of the roster will move on. Cam Carter, Jordan Sears, Dji Bailey and Derek Fountain have to move on. Like every underclassman in the NCAA, the rest of the roster can explore its options.
Matt McMahon will need players to fill those spots, and players cost money. Raising money is tough when Year 3 produces a hypothetical 3-15 SEC record.
McMahon has done a lot of things right.
He has inked seven top 50 high school players in four signing classes. He took the program from 2-16 to 9-9 from Year 1 to Year 2. This was the year LSU had to sneak into the tournament to keep the momentum going.
Instead, the program has hit a buzzsaw.
We’ll never know how Tyrell Ward and Jordan Reed could have helped this team. We’ll never know how this LSU roster would have handled a 2015 SEC slate instead of a 2025 slate.
What we know is that LSU has butted heads with the elite of the SEC and lost. And now the middle of the league is having its way with these Tigers in the Assembly Center.
And I’m not sure a lot of LSU’s fans care.
I know how many people stream our weekday radio segments on football, on basketball, on baseball. I know how many people click on basketball game previews and baseball practice reports.
A baseball practice report or a football recruiting update would dwarf the basketball game recap. Practice reports. Recruiting stories. Those aren’t even on-field results. The basketball game actually counts.
That’s a massive hurdle for McMahon to navigate moving forward, and it just gets harder as losses pile up.
Make no mistake, Baton Rouge will rally behind basketball if given a reason. Just look at the PMAC when the women play or the gymnastics team competes.
What remains to be seen is Baton Rouge and the booster base lifting basketball out of mediocrity. That’s an entirely different thing.
McMahon has recruited high level prep prospects. Whether it be due to injury, portal additions taking playing time or otherwise, those prospects haven’t become stars.
Ward left the team in November. Reed will miss nearly his entire junior season after averaging 6.3 points per game through a little more than two years. Mike Williams doesn’t play much. Corey Chest is contributing as a role player. Curtis Givens, Robert Miller and Vyctorious Miller are battling through their first SEC gauntlet.
But there’s a reason LSU is 1-7. The other rosters in the SEC have a higher level of talent.
Jalen Reece, Matt Gilhool and Mazi Mosely represent another top 25 class. They’re signed. We won’t have a handle on the rest of the roster until early summer when the portal heats up. Revenue sharing may alter things to an extent, but the almighty dollar will find a way to reign supreme.
Schools like Alabama, Tennessee and Auburn are in the cycle and continue to find stars via transfer. Arkansas and Kentucky are sure to get in that mix. Looks like Florida will, too.
Climbing rungs in this league is brutal. Doing it without any momentum is even harder.
