He’s a McDonald’s All-American, a first team All-Southeastern Conference member and has led LSU in scoring and rebounding, but there’s one honor LSU forward Johnny O’Bryant III still can’t claim.
“I want to take these guys dancing,” O’Bryant said.
The 6-foot-9 sophomore will have a shot at that NCAA Tournament experience as he announced Tuesday his intent to return to LSU for his junior season, ending nearly a month of speculation about his future.
Making his announcement at a news conference attended by seven of his teammates, O’Bryant said he made his decision last Wednesday after various meetings with his family and LSU coach Johnny Jones.
“The impact Johnny made on our team this year and the attention that we received at the latter part of the season speaks volumes about his future,” Jones said. “I think it’s a sign of maturity for him to process that type of information in a timely fashion and come to a decision.”
O’Bryant paced the Tiger offense with 13.6 points per game, finishing second in the SEC with 15 double-doubles, highlighted by a 30-point performance in a win against South Carolina.
Hampered by a lower leg injury at the beginning of the season, O’Bryant missed two of the Tigers’ non-conference contests and was reduced to only five minutes in another.
Still, the Cleveland, Miss., nativesaid he received positive feedback from professional scouts but made a decision his family deemed best.
“I got great news back,” O’Bryant said. “But me and my family decided it was the best decision if I stay. We’re going to have a great team next year, a great opportunity.”
Jones wasn’t coy about his reaction to O’Bryant’s pledge, recalling he leapt across his desk to wrap O’Bryant in a bear hug to signify the enormity of his choice.
O’Bryant asserted he will take more of a leadership role with a top-10 recruiting class coming in – correcting a criticism the professional scouts gave him.
Along with bolstering his leadership, O’Bryant cited his stamina as another flaw in his game and an aspect he’ll work to refine in the summer.
“I want to continue to improve my conditioning,” O’Bryant said. “Be in the best shape possible next year and continue to stay consistent.”
Although O’Bryant made the decision last week, Jones said he advised him to “sleep on it” to make sure it was the right choice and even held another 45-minute meeting with O’Bryant and his mother Monday.
It proved to sit well with O’Bryant, who kept the decision exclusively to himself, leaving his teammates to wait until Tuesday’s news conference.
“I didn’t even know,” said sophomore guard Anthony Hickey. “I am happy he made the decision to come back, mature himself and get better. I want to see him make a good impact to this team.”
Hickey lauded O’Bryant’s humility and family-first mentality and said if O’Bryant felt the best choice for him was to provide for his family, he would have supported him wholeheartedly.
But Hickey kept coming back to a conversation he and O’Bryant had just before he made his decision and couldn’t help but smile after his classmate’s decision.
“One thing that me and him talked about was getting to that dance,” Hickey said. “He gonna dance before he go.”
