Progress can be difficult to quantify.
Judging progress through the lens of the eye test plays a role in the assessment, but in the world of sports, wins and losses are the ultimate measuring sticks.
Because of that reality, it’s hard to pinpoint any significant step forward the LSU men’s basketball team made during coach Johnny Jones’ second regular season as coach.
Adding freshmen forwards Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin to play alongside junior forward Johnny O’Bryant III gave LSU an imposing front line in combination with a veteran backcourt that had everyone, including the team itself, believing an NCAA tournament bid was not just likely, but expected.
And around the halfway mark of the season, following back-to-back home wins against Kentucky and Arkansas, it seemed like LSU was well on its way. But from that point on, not much went right for the Tigers as they finished the season 19-13.
After an 85-67 thrashing at the hands of Kentucky in the third round of the Southeastern Conference tournament, it appeared LSU would once again miss the postseason entirely.
But after the NCAA predictably passed on the Tigers, the National Invitational Tournament didn’t, and LSU was unexpectedly picked among the 32-team field late on Selection Sunday. It was a welcomed reprieve after more than two days of prognosticators across the country projecting LSU was too far down the ladder to grab an NIT bid.
Granted a No. 5 seed, LSU will head west to play No. 4 seed San Francisco at 9 p.m. on Wednesday. A win against the Dons and the Tigers would advance to play the winner of top-seeded Southern Methodist University and UC Irvine.
Because of the injection of athleticism and talent to a team that overachieved in 2013, NCAA-or-bust was the stated goal of the players, fans and media heading into the season.
In hindsight, they may have had too high of expectations for such a young team, but it was fair to expect some amount of progress in Jones’ second year at the helm.
Obviously, it’s not what Jones and company envisioned heading into the season, but it’s better than where they finished last season, and progress is progress.
Making the NIT is as good of an opportunity as LSU makes of it. It’s not as prestigious as it used to be, but for a team that struggled mightily on the road all season, it’s an additional chance to work on figuring out how to win basketball games outside of the PMAC.
It’s an opportunity to gain the postseason experience LSU missed out on when it passed on a College Basketball Invitational berth last season.
I didn’t fault them for turning down a bid to a third-rate tournament at the time, but after another season of ineptitude on the road, it’s hard to argue the practice wouldn’t have been valuable.
The NIT wasn’t Jones’ dream ending for year two, but a deep run would be a sign of progress and would build momentum heading into next season, especially if Martin, Mickey and possibly O’Bryant return for another season together.
At the beginning of the season, it seemed like a forgone conclusion that 2014 would be O’Bryant’s and Martin’s last campaigns in purple and gold. A yearning to make the Big Dance may be exactly the appeal that brings them back for another year in Baton Rouge.
Currently, one would need a magnifying glass to figure out how this team’s season is any better than that of the mismatched group that overachieved to win 19 games in Jones’ first season at the helm.
Winning a couple games in the NIT, or dare I say a trip to New York to play in the finals in Madison Square Garden, is the kind of progress we can all point to and see real improvement. It’s not the ultimate goal, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
James Moran is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Beacon, N.Y.