The 2014-15 season hasn’t gone exactly according to plan for the LSU men’s basketball team, which is gearing up for a crucial nonconference game against UMass tonight. 
The Tigers have trudged to an uninspiring 4-2 mark with a pair of late-game collapses against Old Dominion and Clemson. LSU also struggled to put away a Texas Tech squad picked to finish last in the Big 12 this season. 
But regardless of their previous outcomes and whatever happens against the Minutemen in the PMAC, the Tigers shouldn’t be judged on what they’ve done in November and December. 
It’s still too early in the season to make any proclamations about this team, or any team for that matter. 
I know I’m speaking to deaf ears. In today’s sports culture, projections and opinions change on a game-to-game basis, with pundits going back and forth about what a team’s latest meltdown or victory means for its future. 
If LSU had started 6-0 with six double-digit victories, the team would be hailed as a potential threat to Kentucky or Florida’s claims to the Southeastern Conference crown. 
The Tigers won’t contend for the SEC title this season — the Wildcats and Gators simply have more talent filling their rosters, and No. 1 national recruit Ben Simmons doesn’t arrive in Baton Rouge until next season. 
But that doesn’t mean this LSU team can’t finish in the upper echelon of the SEC at season’s end and earn an NCAA Tournament berth. 
Talent wins games, and in this era of one-and-dones, veteran talent can be a significant advantage when the games get tougher and tighter in the dog days of March Madness. 
Fortunately for LSU coach Johnny Jones, he has four such players, both skilled and battle-tested, in his starting five that could lead the Tigers to meaningful games in March for the first time since 2009. 
After wisely choosing to return to LSU rather than enter last season’s NBA Draft, sophomore forwards Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin are both a year older and a year more refined. 
Through six games, Mickey and Martin are averaging a combined 11.3 points per game more than they did as freshmen. Mickey leads the Tigers with 17.8 points and 10 boards per game, and Martin is right behind with 16.5 points and 9.3 rebounds a night. 
With an entire offseason to ease into his new perimeter position, Martin in particular has stood out. He’s scored at least 20 points in two games this season, something he did just twice during his freshman campaign. He’s also notched four double-doubles — something that happened only once last
season. 
Despite going through early-season shooting slumps, LSU junior guards Josh Gray and Keith Hornsby form a dynamic backcourt duo that will be a problem for teams to defend, including Kentucky and Florida. 
The 6-foot-1-inch Gray, who led the junior college ranks in scoring last season at 34.7 points a night, is a deceptively elusive point guard with smooth ball-handling skills that help him get to the paint whenever he wants. 
On the outside, Hornsby — with his unorthodox yet effective shooting stroke — shot 37.9 percent from 3-point range during his last full season with UNC Asheville. 
Both Gray and Hornsby have struggled to find their shooting touch in the early going this season, but they’ve taken shots on good, open looks. Eventually, those rattled-out misses will drop in.  
LSU will need to get more production from the bench as the season continues, especially if it hopes to steal a game or two in the NCAA
Tournament. 
But the Tigers have four players that are as talented and experienced as any other four starters they’ll tipoff against this season, and that type of forgotten ability can still win in college basketball. 
David Gray is a 25-year-old mass communication senior from Gastonia, North Carolina. You can reach him on Twitter @dgray_TDR.