Sanctions are coming, Will Wade is gone, and the Tigers are no longer around to find out what it looks like. LSU basketball probably won’t receive the death penalty from the NCAA for their former coach’s transgressions, but it was the team that sent the show into a virtual death spiral.
With the passing of sophomore Mwani Wilkinson, every member of the LSU 2021-22 men’s basketball team scholarship recipients have departed, declaring their intention to either enter the NBA draft or brave the transfer gate. more filled. In the weeks following Wade’s dismissal, the roster turned empty, with 10 of the 12 scholarship recipients choosing to try playing elsewhere in the NCAA and two turning pro. The only members left in the carnage were four walkers.
The Tigers, usually in the middle of their conventions, finished fifth in the SECOND this year before dropping a first-round game to Iowa State under the guidance of an interim coach. Newly hired HC Matt McMahon, who has coached Murray midfield for the past seven years, will have the unique challenge of building a program from the ground up – to be honest, he’s going to build from the ground up. tunnel and above, because so is LSU pass away commitment of all recruits in 2022 following Wade’s departure, as well as their 2023 single-commitment recruitment. Ground is an overly generous term.
Now with less than two weeks to go, the date of national signing is rapidly approaching, and McMahon is practically empty-handed at this point. Oklahoma State, another show implicated in the FBI investigation, lost its status after a one-year season, and you can’t blame the newcomers for seeing what’s right in front of them.
The good news for McMahon is that the ease with which his current players are entering the transfer portal will go in the other direction and he can pick a handful of experienced seniors from the gate to fill out a messy list. roll over it. at the moment, and is said to have convinced some of his former Murray State players to move to LSU. But it was impossible to escape the seven Level I violations the NCAA is still investigating over the men’s basketball program after Wade allegedly paid recruits and their families as an incentive to sign up.
G/O Media may receive a commission
710% off
Actigun: Percussion Massager
4 massage heads to provide targeted treatment for every muscle group.
Built-in high capacity lithium battery allows for 120+ minutes of continuous usage.
This is an unprecedented mass departure, effectively a self-inflicted penalty decided by the players and made manifest by their actions. The players are looking out for themselves and using the autonomy and freedoms granted by the transfer portal’s relaxed rules — as they ought to be. And they’re also punishing LSU to a level that even NCAA sanctions might not be able to replicate. You can come back from a postseason ban or a $10k fine, but coming back from something like this? Good luck to Matt McMahon — he’s going to need it.
