There’s no denying that LSU men’s basketball must take a massive step forward in 2023-24.
Coach Matt McMahon’s first season in replacement of [autotag]Will Wade[/autotag], who was fired for NCAA violations, began with quite a bit of promise after he brought some of his top playmakers from Murray State.
The Tigers began the year 12-1, but they went just 2-16 in SEC play in large part thanks to a 14-game losing streak as the team finished just 13-18 overall.
After largely overhauling the roster once again, LSU is expected to take a leap forward this season. McMahon isn’t shying away from those expectations or last season’s disappointment after he inherited what he called a “dumpster fire.”
“There’s a long answer that involves reality and perspective,” McMahon said per On3. “I’m right where I’m supposed to be. It’s an incredible honor to be here coaching at LSU. I understood the challenge that was ahead when I got here. I love the group of people we’ve been able to put together to move our program forward.
“The reality, No. 1 we didn’t win at the level I expect to win at nor the level our fans deserve. The second reality is coach Wade did a good job here at LSU and won a lot of games during his time. Reality three, when I got here in April, all of that was gone. No players, no foundation, no culture, no nothing. It was essentially a dumpster fire and we have to go about a methodical process of rebuilding it. We were able to do that by signing a top ten portal class in the spring with six guys, then there’s an asterisk depending on what happens with [autotag]Jalen Cook[/autotag], We’ll end up signing a top 15 recruiting class in 2024. The other reality is there was an NCAA investigation hanging over the program that was a black cloud and made it very challenging to start a program over from scratch. That’s now complete and that’s now over.”
McMahon certainly has a point as when he arrived at LSU, the roster featured zero players. Through convincing a couple players in the portal to stay, adding a number of transfers and some quick work on the high school recruiting trail, he was able to build a roster, but things were far from ideal.
With a new group in place, the Tigers will hope for a bounce-back this season in Year 2 under McMahon.
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