Magic at the PMAC

The 2018-19 LSU Tigers men’s basketball season has been a campaign for the ages involving seven overtime contests, upset victories, a looming FBI investigation, and the Tigers’ first SEC Regular Season Championship in a decade. LSU is averaging over 80 points per game (81.6) for the first time since the 1993-94 season (80.0) and their position at 10th in the AP Poll is the program’s highest ranking since reaching 5th in 2006-2007 season.

The Bayou Bengals finished the regular season with a 26-5 overall record and will be the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament with a 16-2 conference mark. LSU’s 16 conference wins are the second most in school history after the program won 17 games back in the 1980-1981 campaign. After securing the hardware for the regular season, LSU now has a legitimate shot to double down and win their first SEC Tournament Championship since 1980.

Assessing their overall record, four of LSU’s victories have come against ranked opponents. In mid-December, they defeated the then No. 24 ranked Furman Paladins 75-57 at home. Given that Furman is 25-6 and third in the Southern Conference standings, this win still looks very good on LSU’s resume.

Fast-forward to the third game of conference play in mid-January when an unranked LSU went into Oxford and bested the then No. 18 ranked Ole Miss Rebels 83-69 in mid-January. Even though Ole Miss went on to drop four of their next five after the LSU loss, the Rebels finished sixth overall in the SEC standings and stand at 20-11.

The two sweetest Tiger victories of the season would come about a month later. Facing a then No. 5 ranked Kentucky Wildcats team who had won 10 games in a row, LSU relied on a last-second tip-in from Kavell Bigby-Williams to escape with a stunning 73-71 upset win at Rupp Arena.

11 days later, LSU would again match up against the No. 5 team in the country when the Tennessee Volunteers came to town. Overtime would be needed and last second heroics would again take the forefront. Taking the place of an ill Tremont Waters, freshman Ja’vonte Smart sank two free throws with less than a second remaining to propel LSU to an 82-80 victory.

Both games would be difference makers, as Kentucky finished at 26-5 and Tennessee finished at 27-4. Both teams were just one game behind LSU in the SEC standings, giving the Tigers an outright conference championship.

Looking at LSU’s five losses, they can be split into “quality losses” and “bad losses”. Let’s look at the quality losses first. In mid-November, the Tigers suffered an overtime loss to the then No. 14 ranked Florida State Seminoles in the AdvoCare Invitational Semifinal by a score of 79-76. The Seminoles have climbed and fallen in the rankings throughout the year, but currently they sit at No. 14 with a 23-6 overall record. This is not a bad loss.

Three games later in mid-December, LSU traveled to Houston and at one point held a 14-point lead on the then No. 24 ranked Cougars before losing 82-76. Houston finished the regular season as the No. 12 ranked team in the nation with a 27-2 record and losses to Temple and UCF. Though the Houston game was one that LSU should have definitely won, this is not a bad loss either.

Now the three bad losses for LSU are sprinkled throughout their schedule. After losing a heartbreaker to Florida State, LSU dropped their next game to the Oklahoma State Cowboys by a score of 90-77. Oklahoma State wound up second-to-last in the Big 12 with a 12-19 record.

After the Oklahoma State loss, the Tigers ripped off a 10-game winning streak before falling at home to Arkansas by a score of 90-89 due to poor late-game play calling. Arkansas ended the regular season in the bottom five of the SEC with a 17-14 record on the year.

Finally, LSU’s last regular season loss came in mid-February when the Florida Gators came into Baton Rouge and shocked the Tigers with an 82-77 overtime win. The Gators finished the regular season 17-14 and are one of the last four teams projected to even make the NCAA Tournament.

Despite the tough loss to Florida, LSU remained in the driver’s seat and won their final five games of the regular season to win the SEC. They are now guaranteed to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2014-15 season and are currently a projected No. 3 seed in the West bracket according to Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology.

If this projection comes to fruition, LSU would have their highest tournament seed since the 1980-81 season. That year, LSU was a No. 1 seed and lost to the eventual National Champion Indiana Hoosiers in the National Semifinal.

Though much credit should be given to head coach Will Wade in just his second season at the helm (amidst rumors of his alleged connection to the college basketball corruption scandal), the players making the magic happen on the court should not be overlooked.

Here’s a quick glance at the team leaders for the Tigers throughout the regular season. In the blocks department, senior forward Kavell Bigby-Williams leads the team with 2.0 blocks per game. In free throw percentage, junior guard Skylar Mays has converted 85.5% of his shots from the charity strike. Sophomore guard Tremont Waters leads the team in a plethora of categories as he is averaging 15.3 points, 6.9 assists, and 3.1 steals per game. Rounding out the group, highly touted freshman forward Naz Reid leads the team with 6.9 rebounds per game.

Winning the SEC Tournament would be the next logical step for this LSU team to take, but the bigger goal is only two weeks away. If LSU can rip off six more victories in mid-March going into early-April, then they will bring home the first basketball national championship in school history.

Wading in Deep Water

Will Wade is entering his second season as the head coach of LSU’s Men’s Basketball team. In his first year at the helm, Wade led the Tigers to an 18-15 (8-10 SEC) record and a second round finish in the NIT Tournament. This had been LSU’s first winning season since 2015-16, and their first NIT Tournament appearance since 2013-14.

Wade had a very encouraging track record before taking the LSU job. He posted a 51-20 (28-8 A-10) record as the head coach at Virginia Commonwealth University while taking the Rams to two straight NCAA Tournaments and winning an Atlantic-10 Regular Season Conference Championship in 2015-16.

Prior to his VCU stint, Wade began his head coaching career at the University of Chattanooga. In his two seasons as the Mocs’ headman, Wade had an overall record of 40-25 (27-7 SoCon), placed second in the regular season standings in both years, guided the program to its only CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, and won Coach of the Year honors for the 2013-14 season.

As the 2018-19 season approaches, the expectations have risen for Wade and the LSU basketball program. He has the Tigers ranked No. 23 in the Preseason AP Top 25 Poll and has an incoming recruiting class ranked No. 3 in the nation and No. 2 in the SEC behind Kentucky. Despite this newfound optimism and excitement surrounding LSU basketball, there is still a dark cloud that lingers not too far away from the program.

That dark cloud manifested itself as a 2017 FBI investigation regarding corruption, fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery in NCAA Division-1 Men’s Basketball. The main parties involved included apparel company Adidas and over 20 Division-1 college basketball programs. In sum, this entire scandal was a pay-for-play scheme.

The leading men were Christian Dawkins (an aspiring sports agent), James Gatto (an Adidas employee), and Merl Code (a former Adidas consultant). They would essentially bribe high school basketball prospects to attend Adidas-sponsored universities and then pay the coaches (mostly the assistants) to make sure that these same players then signed with Adidas and certain sports agencies upon entering the pro level. The coaches who were indicted would also receive payments to sway certain recruits to come to their schools.

LSU was not in the first group of schools initially implicated, but in a second sweep it was revealed that guard Tim Quarterman had supposedly received $16,000 during his three-year career for the Purple and Gold. This money came from ASM Sports, a sports agency who Christian Dawkins was affiliated with until his termination in 2017.

By itself, this allegation would be concerning. However, it does not pertain to Will Wade because Quarterman was no longer with the team when he began his coaching tenure. Instead, Wade has something a tad more difficult to explain. According to phone records, Wade exchanged three phone calls with Christian Dawkins between June 19th and June 30th in 2017 that were recorded with a wiretap.

One conversation in particular related to improper benefits concerning the recruiting of 7-foot-tall center Balsa Koprivica from Montverde, Florida. When Dawkins asked if Wade wanted Koprivica, the LSU coach was quoted in the transcript as saying, “OK, but there is other [expletive] involved in it…. Wait, I’ve got to shut the door … I can get you what you need but it’s got to work.”

During the October 16th trial of Dawkins, Gatto, and Code in federal district court, Adidas defense attorney Casey Donnelly tried to admit this taped conversation into evidence. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan denied the entry of the evidence, but Donnelly did get to read the transcript aloud. When asked about the use of these statements at SEC media days on October 17th, Wade denied having any interaction with Dawkins and also pointed to the fact that the evidence was not let in.

He also refused to answer any “yes” or “no” questions regarding if the conversation did in fact take place. LSU athletic director Joe Alleva has come out in support of Wade and stated that the university would be ready to comply with the NCAA to “ensure compliance in all athletic programs.”

This is now the second time that Wade has been mentioned in the FBI’s NCAA probe since being hired at LSU. The NCAA has been exploring his recruiting methods all the way back to his time at VCU, but has found nearly nothing out of the ordinary in their prolonged search. As far as the FBI is concerned, they are not even looking into Wade despite the hazy LSU connections to the investigation.

Top 5 NCAA D1 Basketball Teams to Never Win a National Championship

In sports, sometimes the best teams on paper do not necessarily take home a championship year in and year out. In college basketball, it is no different as the wackiness of March Madness has ended the seasons of many teams who looked built to win a National Championship.

In this article, I am going to give my take on the Top 5 NCAA Division 1 basketball teams who never got the chance to cut down the nets and raise the trophy. Without further adieu, let's begin!

5) 2013-14 Florida Gators (36-3)


During my freshman year at the University of Florida, I was fortunate to witness the best basketball season in school history as the Gators went 36-3. They lost just two games in the regular season, won the SEC regular season and tournament championships, and became the first team in SEC history to go 18-0 in conference play.

This team was loaded with experience as the starting lineup consisted of four seniors and one sophomore. The starting five was: senior Scottie Wilbekin at point guard, sophomore Michael Frazier II at shooting guard, senior Casey Prather at small forward, senior Will Yeguete at power forward, and senior Patric Young at center.

After a record-setting regular season and a thrilling victory over Kentucky in the SEC Championship, the Gators went into March Madness as the #1 overall seed. Many picked them to win it all and bring Gainesville its third basketball National Championship overall and first since the 2006-2007 season.

Florida cruised through its first four tournament games and had a date with the UConn Huskies in the Final Four semifinal game. UConn had been the last team to beat Florida when star point guard Shabazz Napier hit a buzzer beater to win the game. In the rematch, Florida again had no answer for Shabazz as the senior had 12 points and six assists. The Gators lost 63-53 and their National Championship run was over. UConn would go on to beat Kentucky 60-54 for the National Championship.

I have one theory as to why the Gators choked in the semifinals. With Kentucky (who Florida had beaten three times that season) looming in the other semifinal game, Florida had to have been looking ahead towards their fourth meeting of the year with their arch rival. While doing that, they overlooked a very hot UConn team and ended the best season in school history without a championship.

4) 2007-08 Memphis Tigers (*38-2)


The Memphis Tigers became a virtually unstoppable force after recruiting a five-star point guard from Chicago, Illinois, named Derrick Rose. With Rose leading the way, the Memphis lineup was: freshman Derrick Rose at point guard, junior Chris Douglas-Roberts at guard, junior Antonio Anderson at guard, senior Joey Dorsey at forward, and junior Robert Dozier at forward.

The Tigers lost just one game (to Tennessee) in the regular season on route to both a Conference-USA regular season and tournament championship. They would be named the #1 overall seed going into March Madness and cruised to the National Championship relatively unchallenged (though they beat Mississippi State by just three points in the second round).

Memphis's opponent in the National Championship was the Kansas Jayhawks, led by guards Mario Chalmers and Darrel Arthur. The game was Memphis's to win, but poor free throw shooting in crunch time gave the Jayhawks one last chance to tie the game with ten seconds left. Down three points, Kansas moved the ball up the court and handed it off to Mario Chalmers who nailed a game-tying three-pointer with 2.1 seconds in regulation! Kansas would go on to win 75-68 in overtime.

In the end, it would not have mattered if Memphis had won the National Championship. As noted on their final record, I put an asterisk because Memphis would eventually forfeit all of its wins for the 2007-2008 season due to NCAA infractions. What was their offense exactly? Well, Derrick Rose had gotten somebody else to take his SAT for him in high school, so his SAT was voided and he was ineligible to play his entire freshman year.

It was as if the season had never happened for Memphis. Still, to come so close to the school's first ever National Championship with a team this stacked and not finish the job was still demoralizing for Memphis and its fans nonetheless.

3) 1982-83 Houston Cougars (31-3)


Known simply as "Phi Slama Jama" because they unleashed vicious dunks on everybody, the Houston Cougars were loaded with future NBA talent. Their starting five consisted of: sophomore guard Michael Young, junior forward Clyde Drexler, sophomore center Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon, senior center Larry Micheaux, and sophomore forward Benny Anders. All but Anders would go to the NBA. Micheaux was the only one not taken in the first round of the draft.

Houston tore through the Southwest Conference as it went 18-0 in conference play and won the SWC regular season and tournament championships. At 31-3 overall, Houston was the #1 overall seed once March Madness rolled around and they took care of business on route to the National Championship game.

Their opponent would be the underdog NC State Wolfpack, who had survived game after game in the tournament just to get to the championship. The game was an instant classic, as Houston's conservative play in the second half allowed the Wolfpack to come storming back. In the last 40 seconds (there was no shot clock back then), NC State held the ball for the final shot.

After nearly losing the ball, NC State's Dereck Whittenburg chucked up a shot from deep with three seconds left. The shot fell short, but Whittenburg's teammate Lorenzo Charles leaped up and dunked the ball as time expired to win the National Championship for the Wolfpack! It was one of the greatest upsets in sports history and Houston was left standing there shocked at what had just occurred.

The very next season, Houston would again return to the National Championship and again would lose. This time the victor was a Georgetown Hoyas team led by Patrick Ewing. With two superstar-caliber teams, Houston failed to claim the program's first National Championship in back-to-back years.

2) 1991-92 & 1992-93 Michigan Wolverines (24-8 & *31-5)




The Michigan Wolverines brought in what some call one of the greatest recruiting classes of all-time prior to the 1991-92 season. Known simply as the "Fab Five", Michigan's starting lineup would eventually consist of: freshman point guard Jalen Rose, freshman shooting guard Jimmy King, freshman small forward Ray Jackson, freshman power forward Chris Webber, and freshman center Juwan Howard. All of them would make it to the NBA.

Together, the Fab Five led Michigan to two consecutive National Championships which they both lost. The first go around was against the Duke Blue Devils. The game was 31-30 Michigan at half, but then Duke ran away with it in the second half. Star forward, Christian Laettner, got hot and scored a game-high 19 points as Duke routed Michigan 71-51.

The next year, Michigan went up against the North Carolina Tarheels. This game was much closer as Michigan trailed 73-71 with less than 20 seconds in the game. After a missed Tarheel free throw, Chris Webber nabbed the rebound and brought the ball up-court. Michigan was doomed from the get-go.

As soon as Webber took off, he traveled. Fortunately for Michigan, the refs had missed it. Then, Webber brought the ball up and ran into the corner. This was exactly what North Carolina wanted him to do. They trapped him with a double team and Webber tried to call a timeout. Only problem was that Michigan was all out of timeouts. Webber was assessed a technical foul and UNC was rewarded two free throws and the ball. They would go on to win the game 77-71.

To make things worse for Webber, he took improper benefits while at Michigan. As a result, the Wolverines' 1991-92 Final Four appearance was vacated and all their wins from the 1992-93 season were vacated as well. Similar to Houston, Michigan lost in back-to-back National Championship games and similar to Memphis, winning would not have mattered as all of their wins were eventually vacated.

1) 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats (38-1)


Coming in at No.1 is a team that I thought would be one of the greatest college basketball teams of all-time. The Kentucky Wildcats brought in an insanely good recruiting class that featured four highly touted recruits in guard Devin Booker, forward Trey Lyles, center Karl-Anthony Towns, and guard Tyler Ullis. In addition to these outstanding recruits, Kentucky was returning key players like sophomore twin guards Andrew and Aaron Harrison, sophomore center Dakari Johnson, junior power forward Willie Cauley-Stein, and junior forward Alex Poythress.

Kentucky was loaded at every position and looked absolutely unbeatable as it just stomped teams game in and game out. This team was so talented that head coach John Calipari had to use a first and second-team platoon system for substitutions. Kentucky won the SEC regular season and tournament championships and equaled Florida's 18-0 SEC record just a year after it had been set. They were 34-0 entering the tournament.

Indisputably the #1 overall seed going into the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky ripped through its opponents before pulling out a close 68-66 victory against Notre Dame in the Elite Eight. In the Final Four, Kentucky was pitted in a rematch of last year's semifinal game against Wisconsin. Led by senior power forward Frank Kamisky's 20 points and junior small forward Sam Dekker's 16 points, Wisconsin got its revenge and upset Kentucky 71-64 to end the Wildcats' pursuit of perfection. Wisconsin would go on to lose in the National Championship to Duke 68-63.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Kentucky and its fans to stomach as they could not fathom losing any games with such a talented team. Kentucky's Final Four loss had three ramifications. First, it ultimately showed how difficult it it is to go undefeated in college basketball. Second, it showed why games are played on the court and not paper. Finally, it knocked them out of consideration for the greatest collegiate basketball team of all-time and landed them right on my list. Now that might actually be the greatest honor of them all.

Honorable Mention:
2013-14 Wichita State Shockers (35-1)

*Wins vacated

Conclusion:
I hope you enjoyed this Top 5 article! My next article will be on the Florida/Miami baseball game in the College World Series in addition to some miscellaneous projects that I am currently working on. Until then, stay tuned!

*All stats accredited to www.sports-reference.com/cbb/, Wikipedia.com, & ESPN.com

*All pictures accredited to bleacherreport.com, zimbio.com, chron.com, usatoday, & usatoday.com