NASHVILLE, Tenn. – LSU head men’s basketball coach Will Wade, senior Duop Reath and junior Brandon Sampson spent two-plus hours taking pictures, offering relevant social media thoughts and taking dozens of questions (some repeats) from local, regional and national media at the annual edition of the men’s basketball SEC Tipoff.
The event was held at the Omni Hotel and the lobby of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The coverage was carried live on the SEC Network and the Paul Finebaum show, the latter of which the three LSU attendees made an appearance on.
The Tigers were picked 14th in the league by the panel of media that was selected from each league city and here is how Coach Wade on one occasion answered the question regarding being chosen 14th in the league.
“It was about what we expected,” the first year Tiger mentor said. “We came in last place last year. We lost our leading scorer (Antonio Blakeney). If you are looking at us on paper and don’t follow us that closely, that’s a fair conclusion to make … It puts some perspective on why we work so hard. Why we are attentive to every little detail that we do. I think it gives our guys some perspective on what it will take to win and how difficult it will be for us to win …”
The Tigers open the 2017-18 regular season on Friday, Nov. 10, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center against Alcorn State. The 7 p.m. game is the night before the LSU-Arkansas football game in Tiger Stadium. Tickets start at $1 for that game and are presently available at LSUtix.net.
All 14 teams took part in 30 minute sessions in the general media room with breakout rooms for CBS, ESPN Photo, Social Media and Video along with the SEC Network.
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Here are some of Coach Will Wade‘s comments transcribed from his interview Wednesday afternoon with Paul Finebaum on the Paul Finebaum show:
On being picked to finish last in the SEC …
“Well there is nowhere to go but up. We came in last place last year and we lost our leading scorer to the NBA. If you look at it that is what most logical people would probably say. Now do I think we are going to finish there? No. Does our team think we are going to finish there? No. It’s a logical place for us to be picked and we just need to go into work each day to improve and make sure that we don’t prove everybody right.”
On how difficult and how long it takes to change the culture of a program …
“You just start at each day. I always tell our players to never bet against consistent behavior. The more consistent you are, the better you are every day. Then you will position yourself to where you will have an opportunity to win or an opportunity to be successful. We just want to create good habits every day, hold our guys accountable for certain habits every day, and I think we have already made some major dents in our guys understanding that this is the new normal and these are the new expectations that we have. It is either going to be done this way, or we are going to do it again until it is done the proper way that we want. I think we have made a lot of headway with that and we need to continue with that as we move forward here.”
On translating the success he had at other programs to LSU …
“We basically say, ‘we have been where everyone wants to go. Here is how you get there.’ It is not easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it and I would not be here. This is where we are deficient, this is where we need to improve on, and let’s go to work and attack these areas. Certainly you tell them ‘here is the formula, follow this formula, and let’s see what works. Where we have been it has always worked, and the way you guys have been trying probably has not worked as well.’ So we need to attack these areas because there are certain characteristics that tournament teams have and we need to develop those characteristics. If we do that, then maybe we can position ourselves to make a run at it.”
On the timetable for success for the LSU basketball program …
“I think that we want to win immediately. I think for us to be fully up and running at a high level to where we can sustain it, I think that will take three years. I know most people tell you four or five years, but in basketball it is a little bit different. You do not need a ton of guys in basketball to get it done. In three years I expect our program to be up and running in full mode going full steam ahead. That doesn’t mean I don’t expect us to have success this year or next year. I don’t think you ever want to say ‘give us two years,’ or ‘give us time.’ We want things done as quickly as we can. I think for to have to program exactly how we want it and in a position where you just reload every year and you don’t have ebbs and flows to it I think will take three years.”
On how being one of the youngest coaches in the country helps him …
“Certainly when you are older you have some advantages. You have been around a while and you know some tricks to the trade. I think when you are younger you have some advantages. You are energetic, enthusiastic, you can relate to players and spend time with them. I can play video games with them, there are a lot of different things I can do with them that maybe some other people cannot. There are some advantages to being young and you really have to press those advantages and work and study as hard as you can (to) overcome some of those disadvantages. I have been a head coach for four years. There are people you have been in the league for 24 or 25 years. You just have to overcome that.”
On having a successful coaching career before LSU …
“I have been fortunate to be in places that have had some success. When we took over at Chattanooga, we were in a similar situation that we have at LSU. We were picked to finish at the bottom. We had come in the year before and we ended up coming in second. Now I am not promising that or saying that is going to happen. There is a big difference between the Big South Conference and the SEC. It was a similar situation and we were able to build that thing and turn that thing around. In the first year we got it moving in the right direction and in the second year we were really good and won 20 plus games. At VCU we took over a program that was very successful. We have good players, players that really believed in what we talked about and want to be successful. That is one thing we have at LSU. These guys don’t want to go through a season like they did last year. They are working as hard as they can and giving everything that they have to make sure that does not happen.”
On what is realistic internally for himself …
“We just want to look different. We want to be tough. We want to be tenacious. We want to be aggressive. We want to be a connected team, a team that looks like they care about each other. We want to be a team that really take on the traits of Louisiana. A team that is tough, blue collared, works hard, and a team that cares about each other. I think that if we do that then we will position ourselves to win. Now whether or not we make shots or make plays down the stretch, I think that will come as we get in more of those type of situations. We really weren’t in a lot of conference games last year. We lost a lot of them well before we had a chance to win them in the last five or six minutes of the game. I think we can maneuver our way through our non-conference schedule and play well and put ourselves in position down the stretch of conference games. I think if we keep doing that we will gain confidence because we will bust through and win a couple of those and I think that will help us this year and help us set up as we move the program forward in future years.”
On finding the right mix of tough non-conference games …
“Our only true non-conference road game is at Memphis. We always want to take our guys to an NBA arena (every) year so we are going to the FedEx Forum this year. In the past, we have been to Atlanta and I played in Miami last year with my team and I always wanted to do that. I think that is good when preparing our guys for the NCAA tournament and helping our guys move along. The Maui invitational is going to be a major challenge for us. We open with Michigan. Coach (John) Beilein does a phenomenal job and their team is always well disciplined, well coached, and a very good team. I think our non-conference schedule is challenging enough for us, but it sets up well for us as well. Anytime you have eight home games and one road game like we have, that really gives you a chance to get some momentum and hopefully get our guys some confidence and get used to winning as we move toward the SEC slate.”
On the LSU football team …
“Coach O is doing a fantastic job. Huge win over Auburn this weekend. Biggest comeback in Tiger Stadium. The place was rocking. It was just a lot of fun. Our football weekends are second to none. The tailgating and the whole atmosphere around our program is really good and we look forward to going up to Oxford this week and hopefully get another SEC win.”
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The LSU players also appeared on the Finebaum show and here are a few of their comments:
GUARD BRANDON SAMPSON
On the challenges of last year and starting fresh this year ….
“We had a lot of rough challenges last year and think we used it as a stepping stone. It was most definitely a punch in the face and things like that, but we know what we have to correct. We are trying to put it in the past and with the new coach coming in I think that they are trying the push us to use it as a stepping stone and use it as motivation every day in practice and it pushes us harder.”
On the biggest change they have felt since Will Wade became coach …
“Just focusing on details and the little things that matter. Just putting an emphasis on those things and focusing on the things that we need to do and things will be right in the end.”
FORWARD DUOP REATH
On the biggest change they have felt since Will Wade became coach …
“All of the players feel that the coaches are focusing more on details and that the details matter to win. That and in life in general, you need to focus on the little things. I felt like that was one of the major changes for us this year.”