Let the madness begin.
On Friday at 6:20 p.m. CT, the LSU Tigers will tip-off against the Iowa State Cyclones in Round 1 of the NCAA Tournament.
There has been a lot of noise surrounding the program lately with the firing of former head coach Will Wade a week before the tournament started. A lot of questions have been posed about how this team would respond to the adversity that they faced heading into a game against a good Iowa State squad.
That’s not a concern for the team, though, senior forward Darius Days said.
“A lot of people may feel there’s a dark cloud around LSU basketball and that’s how it’s been since I got there,” Days said, per Sports Illustrated’s Glen West. “We had a couple of shirts made ‘LSU vs. the World’ so at all times that’s how we feel.
“I feel pretty confident in the team, been working hard and not letting the distractions keep us away from our goal, winning a national championship. We’ve been locked in with each other, leaning on each other but we’re gonna on alright.”
Star forward Tari Eason, one of the top players in all of college basketball, concurred.
“We had meetings before the season on how to make us tight, a close knit group so I think when adversity hits, the best thing about this team is we only get stronger,” Eason said. “This week has been a little hectic with the new changes to the staff but I feel like everybody’s doing their part to step up. The assistant coaches, the players, we’re all trying to step up and rally together to make this a special run.”
Kevin Nickelberry was named the interim head coach after Wade was fired and he made it a priority to sit down and speak with the guys about how some things have changed while others remain the same. The team has adopted the mantra of ‘LSU vs. The World’ because that is how the team views this possible run in March Madness.
LSU VS. THE WORLD. pic.twitter.com/vkEvxgzzcR
— LSU Basketball (@LSUBasketball) March 13, 2021
Point guard Xavier Pinson elaborated on what the message has been from the coaching staff during this tumultuous time.
“The message has been just to play basketball,” Pinson said. “We can only control what we can control, we’re players so we keep the same goals and objectives.”
There may be a “dark cloud” surrounding the LSU program from the outside looking in, but from the players’ perspective, they are ready to go to war.
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