BATON ROUGE — There have been only preliminary glances at the team and its workouts since basketball practice began on Oct. 13. Other than a few practice regulars and a brief Sixth Man Club workout for the men last Tuesday, this will be the first main public appearance for both the men’s and women’s basketball team when Fan Day activities take place Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Doors of the Assembly Center will open at 3:30 p.m., with the event to begin around 4:30 p.m. prior to Saturday’s LSU-Ole Miss football game which is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Tiger Stadium. Admission to Fan Day is free and the first 200 LSU students in the Maravich Assembly Center will receive free Coca-Cola and Popcorn.
Both teams will conduct shoot arounds and possible brief scrimmages and coach Sue Gunter and Coach John Brady will introduce their teams and visit with the crowd. The Tiger Girls will be on hand to perform and one lucky fan will have a chance for a half court shot worth $10,000.
Season tickets for both the men’s and women’s teams will be also be on sale at the Assembly Center during the fan day activities on Saturday.
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Coach John Brady is continuing his speaking tour both on and off campus this coming week in preparation for the opener. Among the notable stops is a Monday appearance in New Orleans at the weekly meeting of the New Orleans Quarterback Club. The Tigers make two appearances in New Orleans this season, Dec. 18, at Lakefront Arena against the University of New Orleans and Dec. 27 at the New Orleans Arena against Miami (Fla.) in the Sugar Bowl Classic doubleheader.
Brady will also finish up his tour of fraternities and dorms with some events Monday and possibly Tuesday evening. This has turned out to be a very successful event as he has been met at several dorms and sorority houses with standing room only crowds.
Both coaches will be in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday afternoon for the annual Southeastern Conference media day event the league puts on. For the first time, the event is a one-day affair for basketball with all 24 coaches and selected players on hand.
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The basketball magazines are on the shelves and Ronald Dupree is featured on the cover of the Athlon Sports edition. Dupree is listed as either a first or second team pick in the magazines as he is the leading returning scorer in the conference as last year’s league leader at 17.3 points per game and the second returning rebounder at 8.8 points per game. Torris Bright, LSU’s junior point guard, is the second leading returnee in assist average at 4.1 per game, while Dupree’s 48.5 percent field goal shooting accuracy is the fifth best of the returnees in the SEC.
The LSU men are picked either fifth or sixth in the SEC West but all the magazines are leaving themselves plenty of wiggle room for the Tigers to improve. Quoting The Sporting News’ Mike Strange, “John Brady deserved coach of the year consideration for squeezing 13 wins out of last year’s depleted roster. …If Brady can get the Tigers to play as hard this year as last, they’ll make a big leap from last year’s 2-14 record.”
In Basketball News’ listed of the top 100 college players in the nation, 20 at each position, LSU’s Bright is listed as the 19th best point guard in the country and the same position on the CBS Sportsline poll.. In the Slashers category, Dupree is listed 15th best. The Sporting News lists Dupree as the fourth best small forward in the country. CBS Sportsline lists Dupree the sixth best small forward in the country calling him, “the nation’s best unheralded player.”
On the women’s side, Basketball News lists the Lady Tigers 44th in the nation’s top 64 teams. The men’s team’s best national ranking in the pre-season magazines was 85th.