by Joey Papania
LSUsports.net
BATON ROUGE — It has been seven years since the LSU basketball program has earned the right to play in the NCAA Tournament. But on Sunday, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee granted the Tigers a No. 4 seed in the West region. LSU will head to Salt Lake City to face No. 13 Southeast Missouri St. on Thursday.
The biggest knock against LSU is the lack of post-season experience entering the NCAA Tournament. The only postseason experience for freshmen Torris Bright, Collis Temple, III and Ronald Dupree, and first-year junior college transfer Lamont Roland is a 71-60 second round win over Vanderbilt and a 69-67 loss to Arkansas in this season’s SEC Tournament.
The returning Tigers can add only a first round loss in last season’s SEC Tournament to their post-season experience. But head coach John Brady feels it is important to remind his players that it is still just a game.
“I’m not really nervous about (the NCAA Tournament) at all. To me it is just another game,” Brady explained. “It is the NCAA Tournament, but once the game starts it’s still a 40-minute basketball game, it just happens to be played (in Salt Lake City). I think it all boils down to execution and quality play once the game begins.
“Now, all the things that add up to the game are certainly different. Our players will anticipate that, hopefully they won’t get caught up in it. At some point in time they will have to recognize that it is just another game, and we are going to prepare for just that.”
Brady feels the Tigers also need to concentrate on its offensive execution in preparation for the tournament. The Razorbacks forced 25 Tiger turnovers in Saturday’s contest. The Tiger defense and rebounding has been solid throughout the season, but LSU must better execute its half-court offense to advance in the field of 64.
Joining the Tigers in Salt Lake City are the No. 1 seeded Arizona Wildcats, the same team that LSU upset in Baton Rouge on Jan. 29, 86-60. They will take on No. 16 Jackson St. in the first round. The winner of that game will play the winner of Wisconsin – Fresno St., the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds respectively. Texas is the No. 5 seed. The Longhorns will face-off against No. 12 Indiana St. The winner of that match-up takes on the winner of LSU and Southeast Missouri St.
This is the first meeting between the Tigers and the Indians. Head coach Gary Garner’s team will make its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Indians have only been in Division I since 1992. They finished the season with a 24-6 record and winners of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
The Tigers’ No. 4 seed places them as one of the top 16 teams in the country entering the NCAA Tournament. It is the highest seed for a Tiger team since the 1981 Final Four team.
“I’ll say this again, the people that I’m most happy for and the most pleased with are the players and what they’ve accomplished and what they’ve done,” Brady said. “The college basketball game is a player’s game; this is a player’s tournament. Certainly our team has worked hard to earn the right to be included. Certainly the inclusion of the LSU team (as a No.4 seed) is very good considering nobody gave us any credit to accomplish anything of this significance before the year, and our players were able to do it. That’s who I’m excited for. That’s who I feel good about.”
LSU will have to rattle off six-straight wins to claim the national title. But the 2000 Tigers are not strangers to winning streaks. LSU began the season with a 13-game win streak and closed it with a 10-game win streak that ended against Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.
“To win six straight games at this level of competition will be tough,” Temple said. “Everyone plays at another level when they get to the NCAA Tournament. I know we can do it. But we have to get ready to play because anybody can beat anybody in the NCAA Tournament. You can’t take anyone lightly, and we know that.”
The last NCAA appearance for the Tigers was in 1993. Jason Kidd led California to a 66-64 upset win over LSU in the first round. In 1992, LSU was knocked out of the tournament in the second round against Bobby Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers. The last time the Tigers advanced past the second round was in 1987 when Indiana eliminated LSU in the Elite Eight.
Although the Tiger program has an impressive track record in the NCAA Tournament, this year’s team is without any tournament experience. When the Tigers and the Indians step onto the floor for the first time in Salt Lake City, it will be the first taste of the Big Dance for either club.
“It’s not just another game. You’re going to have butterflies,” senior Jabari Smith said. “But after the jump ball, you have to put all the nervousness behind you. Just because we are playing the No. 13 seed doesn’t mean we can’t be beat. Everyone that is in the tournament is there for a reason.”