LSU basketball coach Trent Johnson is obsessed with defense. When he’s not preaching it to his players, he’s lauding the value of a defensive stop to the media.
That’s fine. History has proven - across all sports - that a stout defense usually leads to the championship promised land.
The Tigers largely held up the defensive end of the bargain this past season, ranking among the top 90 teams in the country and allowing just 64 points per game.
There’s just one problem for Johnson and LSU: college basketball doesn’t flow through defense anymore.
When Virginia, the nation’s No. 2 overall defense, can get steamrolled in the first round of the NCAA tournament by streaky-shooting Florida, and No. 15-seed Norfolk State is scoring 86 to upend high-octane No. 2 Missouri, it’s obvious that prolific 3-point shooting and a go-to scorer is necessary for March success.
LSU possessed neither of those qualities this season, which crippled its chances to make a push toward the NCAA tournament.
The Tigers scored an average of 55 points in their final five regular-season games, going 1-4 in that stretch, and no LSU player averaged more than 12.6 points per game this season.
That’s a recipe for disaster in the Southeastern Conference.
While Johnson may tout his team’s 16-1 record when holding opponents to fewer than 60 points in regulation this season as proof of defense’s importance, it actually proves LSU couldn’t score enough.
It’s unreasonable to expect even great defenses to consistently hold SEC teams to fewer than 60 points, and LSU only won twice when allowing more than that.
Defense can’t overcome a 242nd-ranked scoring offense and a 40-percent shooting average that finished 303rd in the country.
LSU’s biggest problem may be that its offensive woes have implications beyond the win-loss column. Johnson’s insistence on pick-and-roll sets with lots of perimeter passing commits a crime far worse than ineffectiveness.
It’s boring.
With the basketball program suffering from fan apathy at almost unparalleled levels, an offensive shake-up is necessary not only for more wins, but also to put butts in the PMAC seats.
So what needs to change for LSU to boost its offense, recapture an NCAA tournament bid and stimulate fan interest?
Luckily for Tiger fans, the pieces are already in place to create the offensive culture.
Johnson should loosen the reigns on point guard Anthony Hickey, who established his intuitive basketball smarts and dynamic playmaking ability with a solid freshman season.
Freshman forward Johnny O’Bryant III took better care of the basketball down the stretch, but he has to learn how to pass out of a double-team.
Meanwhile, the coaching staff should spend this offseason drawing up more sets for the athletic forward to play above the rim instead of only in the post.
Junior center Justin Hamilton made an immediate impact in his first season at LSU, but lanky interior defenders gave him fits, and the 7-footer proved most effective with his mid-range game.
Guard Ralston Turner finally snapped out of his sophomore slump with an improved shooting performance during the final month, when he stopped settling for 3-pointers and embraced 15-foot pull-up jumpers.
All these pieces nicely fit the puzzle of the motion offense.
LSU experimented with motion sets when it played exhibitions in Italy last offseason, but the stagnation fans came to expect when watching the Tigers this season obviously showed the experiment didn’t make it out of the laboratory.
With quality depth being a potential problem for LSU next season, when the Tigers lose three seniors, it’s understandable if the staff doesn’t want to strain the players with constant offensive running.
Either way, LSU’s offense needs to catch up to the 21st century. Low-post looks and pick-and-rolls alone won’t cut it in this era of college basketball. Packing the paint defensively won’t be enough to help LSU pack its bags for an NCAA trip next March.
The Tigers’ offense has to stop looking so offensive.
Chris Abshire is a 21-year-old mass communication junior from Baton Rouge.
—- Contact Chris Abshire at [email protected].