Postseason hoops are in full swing across the country as the Southeastern Conference Basketball tournament tips off today in Atlanta.
With No. 1 Florida and Kentucky being the conference’s only real locks to reach the Big Dance, the rest of the league is desperately scrambling to grab one of the last remaining seats.
LSU has a bye and doesn’t play until Thursday, facing Alabama at 6 p.m., but finds itself one of many teams that need to win the SEC tournament to get in because there’s no chance it will receive an at-large NCAA bid.
That makes the scenario very simple for the Tigers — either win four games in as many days or go home empty-handed. Coach Johnny Jones and company are all in with four rolls of the dice, and all they can do now is try not to crap out and let the chips fall where they may.
Considering the enigmatic ups and downs of LSU’s season, the survive-and-advance nature of what LSU players are calling the “third season” may be exactly what brings out the best in the Tigers.
There’s no need to run through all the peaks and valleys — LSU’s regular season has already been vigorously dissected and autopsied — but the bottom line is LSU is talented but frustratingly inconsistent.
During the course of a full regular season, that combination landed the Tigers in the middle of the pack in a down conference. But in an all-or-nothing tournament setting, that’s precisely what makes them exceptionally dangerous.
LSU has struggled to string together victories and build on success — each emotional high has been closely followed by a setback — but no off days means there’s no time to dwell on the past.
That’s not to say LSU won’t go one-and-done by losing to Alabama again, but if it has success early, it will be easier to sustain it moving forward.
Without time to install a game plan and over-analyze film, natural instincts take over. Veteran guards Anthony Hickey and Andre Stringer both welcomed the change in style, and agreed it could be exactly what their team needs to get hot.
“It helps me a lot because I spend a lot of time thinking back on games and what I did wrong and what I could have done better,” Stringer said.
“You’re not worried about nothing and all you can do is go out there and play,” Hickey said.
That’s not pure conjecture. LSU had a strong showing in the Old Spice Classic in Florida earlier this season. It’s not a perfect comparison, especially since there are no do-or-die games in November, but the experience gained was invaluable for such a young team.
Senior forward Johnny O’Bryant III and freshman forward Jarell Martin said it reminded them of their days playing Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball, where it’s common to play multiple tournament games a day for multiple days at a time.
Whatever approach or mindset players want to take into Atlanta, winning four games will still be a tall order. But given recent history, it’s not impossible.
Georgia and Mississippi State accomplished the feat in 2008 and 2009, respectively. At 4-12 in the SEC, that Georgia team was one of the biggest longshots to grab an automatic bid in recent memory.
Florida enters the tournament as an overwhelming favorite, but the regular season champion has only won the SEC tournament once in the past six seasons. The fact that LSU wouldn’t have to face the top-seeded Gators until the finals doesn’t hurt the Tigers’ chances either.
According to Bovada, a gambling website, LSU is sitting at 25-to-1 odds to win the SEC tournament. It’s a major roll of the dice, but it’s not an awful investment.