JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — LSU won the Southeastern Conference regular season title, features the SEC player of the year in Glen Davis and also boasts the league’s top newcomer in freshman standout Tyrus Thomas.
What the Tigers don’t have for all they’ve accomplished under John Brady is a victory in their last two trips to the NCAA tournament – a shortfall the coach and his players hope to address Thursday against Iona.
“The most difficult thing to have is unmet expectations,” Brady said Wednesday, reflecting on LSU’s first-round loss to UAB a year ago. “We’re the SEC champions and we need to play like that.”
LSU (23-8) won seven straight before losing to Florida in the semifinals of the SEC tournament last week, a stretch that mirrored the strong finish that also gave the Tigers momentum going into last year’s NCAA tournament.
But unlike 2005, when the Tigers came out of nowhere to win the SEC West, expectations are higher this time for a young team that starts three freshmen (Thomas, Tasmin Mitchell, Garrett Temple), a sophomore (Davis) and a senior (Darrel Mitchell).
LSU went 14-2 in the SEC and is the No. 4 seed in the Atlanta Regional. Metro Atlantic champion Iona (23-7) is seeded 13th in its first NCAA appearance since 2001.
“There’s an expectation our fans have of our team and our program because of what it has done the last couple of years,” Brady said. “And even though we’ve had some success … we need to rubber stamp the program by winning a game or two in the NCAAs.”
Iona is 1-7 all-time in the NCAA tournament, with the lone victory coming in 1980 when coach Jeff Ruland was playing for the Gaels.
“I’ve just been telling them it’s one of the greatest things that will happen in their lives, this tournament,” Ruland said.
“Everybody comes in with their slates wiped clean. I haven’t had to talk too much. They have been very focused. I’m really, really impressed with their maturity, and how they’re focused on the task at hand.”
Iona is led by a trio of left-handed guards – Steve Burtt, Ricky Soliver and Marvin McCullough – who combine to score just over 48 points per game. LSU counters with a dominating frontcourt built around the 6-foot-9, 310-pound Davis, who averages 18.5 points and 9.9 rebounds.
The sophomore is the main reason many believe LSU has the potential to wind up in the Final Four.
Even if such talk falls on deaf ears in the Tigers locker room.
“We are a team that likes to use selective hearing,” Davis said. “Day after day we have to go out there and compete. What the critics say: thanks for the pub. But it is for the birds.”