BATON ROUGE – With just over a week left before LSU’s free to the public basketball exhibition game against Morehouse at the Maravich Center on Nov. 7, several rankings are coming out that shows some of the national respect the Tigers are getting for the 2014-15 season.
CBSsports.com Frontcourt
CBSsports.com put the LSU men’s basketball front court fifth in the country in its top 10 behind only Kentucky, Wisconsin, Arizona and Texas.
Of the LSU frontcourt, writer Sam Vecenie said, “Last season, LSU might have had the best frontcourt in the entire country. Combining returning players Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin with the now-departed Johnny O’Bryant, the Tigers dominated the interior and nearly earned an NCAA Tournament berth. However, the guard play just never caught up to the interior’s dominance, so they had to settle for an NIT berth.
“This season, sophomores Mickey and Martin return, which should again give the Tigers a fearsome twosome that teams will try to avoid playing attacking. Mickey is the defensive wizard, a long shot-blocking dynamo who relies on his tremendous athleticism to create an impact on the game. Offensively, he’s best off the dribble and in transition, where he can allow that athleticism to shine. On the other end of the spectrum is Martin, the more skilled player of the two who can knock down shots from the outside and has a more polished dribble-drive game. These two should combine to dominate the paint for the Tigers and lead them back to the NCAA Tournament after a six year absence …”
The writer noted in his decision-making, “pure wings were not considered as forwards for the purposes of these rankings.”
Two Tigers In Top 100
CBSsports.com College Basketball Insider Gary Parrish selected his top 100 players for the 2014-15 season and backing up the frontcourt rankings, two of the LSU Tigers are in his top 50 selections. Parrish and writers Matt Norlander and Sam Vecenie combined to put this list together.
The trio has Jordan Mickey at No. 31 and Jarell Martin at No. 47.
Again proving different people see things differently, ESPN is starting to reveal their top 100, 20 at a time. So far the 100-60 has been announced as of Thursday with the selection by the network using the ESPN Forecast model, our engine for creating more accurate sports predictions and opinion. ESPN asked a panel of 35 ESPN experts from across our various platforms to come up with a list of the top 100 players in college hoops.
Martin is No. 98 in this poll but the comments are what everyone came to know by season’s end last year – “After suffering a foot injury in the first game of his career, Martin brushed off a slow start and finished strong. The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 11.4 points in SEC play and passes the ball well for a big man.”
We will wait for the reminder of the polling to see where Mickey is.
ESPN’s Jay Bilas tweeted out an All-Underrated team last weekend and not one, but Louisiana players are on that quintet: Mickey of LSU and Kenneth Smith of Louisiana Tech.
Good Openings
Former LSU SEC POY Marcus Thornton in his first game as a Boston Celtic played 14 minutes Wednesday night in Boston’s win over Brooklyn and had 10 points, while his LSU teammate Brandon Bass, also an SEC POY, had 8 points in 16 minutes.
Tigers on NBA Opening-Day Rosters
The Washington Wizards Wednesday lost to Miami, but former Tiger Garrett Temple got the start at the two guard and played 31 minutes, scoring six points on two treys with seven rebounds. Justin Hamilton was dressed for Miami, but was a DNP-Coach’s Decision.
As mentioned in an LSU-NBA story earlier, rookie Johnny O’Bryant remains out for Milwaukee with an injury and Glen Davis’ Los Angeles Clippers team was to open on Thursday night against OKC.
Exhibition Game
The exhibition game on Nov. 7 against Morehouse will feature a pre-game fan zone out front of the Maravich Center starting at 5:30 p.m. in preparation for the 7 p.m. tipoff. Admission is free of charge for the game.
Morehouse is an NCAA Division II school located in Atlanta. The school’s nickname is the Maroon Tigers, and they are members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC).
The Athletic Director at Morehouse will be well-known to longtime college basketball fans, former college basketball referee Andre’ Patillo. The Maroon Tigers struggled last season, but won 20 games as recently as the 2012-13 season.
Season tickets and mini-plans remain on sale for the 2014-15 men’s basketball season as well as single-game tickets for all of LSU’s non-conference home games. Group tickets for all games with the exception of Kentucky and Florida are also available. Tickets start at $6 for adults and $5 for children ages 3-12.
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