BATON ROUGE — LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson officially put the cap on the 2008-09 season with a post-season state of the program press conference on the fifth floor of the athletic administration building.
Johnson took a look back on the season that saw LSU win the Southeastern Conference championship and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, finishing with a 27-8 record and a 13-3 mark in the SEC. He also discussed scheduling for next year and other topics. Here are a few of his opening comments to the media on Wednesday:
LSU Basketball Post-Season Press Conference
March 25, 2009
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON
Opening Statement …
“It’s taken me a while to bring closure to the Carolina game because we were in a great situation with six minutes left, tied, playing extremely hard, playing extremely well. I made the comment in the locker room after the game that I wished I could’ve helped them more down the stretch. I thought the guys played extremely well and extremely hard and probably the best basketball we’ve played all year for a 30 minute stretch there.
“With all that being said, us moving forward, we’re going to have to be a tougher, more disciplined basketball team going into next year. There are a lot of guys on this team that are very unproven and are going to have a lot of opportunities to contribute to this basketball team this year.
“Tasmin (Mitchell) and Bo (Spencer) have proven themselves, but when you lose a player the caliber of Marcus Thornton, who was the SEC player of the year, you don’t replace that. You don’t replace that with any high school or junior college player, I don’t care how good he is. You don’t replace Garrett Temple‘s leadership and what he’s done here these four years. You don’t replace Chris Johnson‘s ability to pass and catch and his length and his presence in the program for four years. You don’t replace a guy like Quinton Thornton, whose role was as big as anyone’s on this team. Then, obviously Terry Martin is a guy whose commitment to buying into what we did during the course of the year. You don’t just replace that with a guy in the spring or summer who you pick up and you don’t replace that with the guys we have coming in like Eddie Ludwig and Aaron Dotson. Those guys are going to be mainstays in this program and they’re going to have to contribute, but they’re not going to be able to replace what I just talked about.
“The biggest thing for our basketball team is this spring and summer. For me it’s been interesting because every step of the way this year we got better. Expectations rose from the outside, not from the inside; all our expectations were being as good as we could possibly be every day. The expectation for this team, unlike the last team, is to prove that we are worthy. These players have to prove that they are worthy of competing at a high level and worthy of what happened this past year. The recruitment for 2010 is going very well. I can’t comment on the verbal commitments we have, but there’s been a lot of positive feedback about LSU basketball.
“As far as scheduling goes, our scheduling is always going to be conducive to our personnel and conducive to what we’re doing in the classroom. We’re going to be in the preseason NIT. I think the number one seeds are (North) Carolina and Duke and I think we’re in that bracket. Our league is going to be very tough; other than Auburn and LSU, 85% of everybody else’s roster returns. From a facility standpoint with the new practice facility, it’s a great time for LSU athletics and LSU basketball.”
On the future of Tasmin Mitchell …
“I’ve had a conversation with Tasmin as of yesterday and we’re compiling as much information as possible so he’ll have facts and he’ll be able to make a decision that’s best for him. One of the things I’ve told Tasmin is that I want what’s best for him. He’s going to graduate this summer and he’s in a great position. My advice is to look at the facts and before he makes that decision, and Coach Johnson and this coaching staff will have the necessary information.”
On if he was satisfied with the way the season ended …
“I feel a sense of accomplishment for them. This whole business for me is predicated on overachieving and maximizing what you have. For the most part, I think this team did maximize and overachieve. For me a sense of satisfaction? No. It was hard for me because of how much they gave of themselves. We had a lot of guys on this team that were selfish coming in and they just bought in to what we were doing in a short period of time. For me, that’s what I was happy about for them. I don’t want this next team to be judged by the team that we just had. It’s a whole different year and a different group.”
On the condition of Garrett Green …
“The best thing for me and for this basketball team is I want Garrett Green completely healthy, walking without pain by the first day of school. I don’t care if he doesn’t do anything all summer, but by the first day of school I want him to be healthy and ready to start over. He’s a guy that, in drills last spring, really shoots it well. All the physical attributes, all the skill sets you like he has. I just want him to get to a point where he’s healthy and he’s happy and we’ll go from there.”