Around this time last year, LSU was a program in disarray.
Matt McMahon, named as the team’s head coach on March 21, had zero scholarship players on his roster after a tumultuous offseason that saw former coach Will Wade be fired because of alleged recruiting violations and many players transfer out. Almost the entirety of a 22-12 team that made the NCAA Tournament as a six-seed was gone.
McMahon faced a daunting challenge: creating a team capable of contending in the SEC with no initial foundation and a shortened offseason.
There was really only one option for McMahon to turn to if he wanted to field a competitive team in the upcoming season. He had to go to the transfer portal.
McMahon’s effort started by convincing several Tigers to return, with Mwani Wilkinson, Adam Miller and Justice Williams deciding to withdraw their names from the transfer portal.
He then brought in six transfers, including three from his former program at Murray State: KJ Williams, Justice Hill and Trae Hannibal. Cam Hayes, Derek Fountain and Kendal Coleman joined them, coming from North Carolina State, Mississippi State and Northwestern State, respectively.
After adding a four-man freshman class, McMahon had finalized his roster. The team was a collection of players thrown together because it had to be. He had made a commitment to live and die by the portal; he had no other choice.
The transfer portal has been criticized by many as a harmful addition to the college landscape, as it brings a pseudo-professional free agency into amateur athletics. Beyond that, though, it’s thought of by some as an unsustainable way to achieve success as a team.
Bringing in high-profile transfers may do something for a team’s short-term success, but it does little for building a program in the long term. Many transfers are one-year rentals, especially with many graduates exercising their fifth year of eligibility due to COVID-19.
The transfer portal is best used to supplement an already sustainable program. A star transfer can be the perfect piece to add to a well-built and experienced roster. However, overreliance on transfers can be bad for a team. There’s something to be said for continuity, and a roster of players with no experience together can be hard to mold into a good team–just ask McMahon.
It’s safe to say McMahon’s first year at LSU, in which he relied heavily on the transfer portal, was not a success. The Tigers finished with a record of 14-19, including 2-16 in SEC play, which was good for last place in the conference. They lost 14 games in a row, tying for the second-longest losing streak in program history.
LSU looked every bit like a team hastily assembled. It would be silly to blame the Tigers’ struggles entirely on the transfer portal–they weren’t outstanding defensively, they suffered from poor guard play and they consistently struggled to hold leads–but it likely contributed to the lack of synergy on the court.
All in all, five of LSU’s top six players in terms of minutes this past season were transfers.
This offseason, McMahon will once again have to turn to the transfer portal. With six players already transferring out, including Miller, and KJ Williams graduating, McMahon once again has no choice.
So far, he has secured commitments from two players: Tulane’s Jalen Cook and Vanderbilt’s Jordan Wright. Both are Louisiana natives who had significant roles on teams that were in legitimate contention for NCAA Tournament berths.
Cook averaged 19.9 points per game for the Green Wave last year, a higher mark than any of the players in LSU’s 2022 transfer class had averaged the year prior for their former teams. Cook will bring an elite scoring punch from the backcourt that LSU simply lacked last season.
Wright was a productive all-around player for Vanderbilt last year, ranking third on the team in points, second in rebounding and assists and first in steals. He’s a consistent scorer with a career high of 28 and experience as a consistent starter in a tough conference, something that couldn’t be said for any of LSU’s transfers last year.
Although Cook and Wright are good players and it’s yet to be seen who else McMahon will add from the portal, it’s worth questioning if LSU’s reliance on transfers will once again produce a middling on-court product.
On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine the team could get worse, and it will have some degree of continuity compared to last season. The pivot to the transfer portal could very well yield different results this time.
For two straight years, LSU has built its team primarily through the transfer portal. For McMahon to have a chance at putting forth a competitive team–or even to fill out his roster at this point–it’s what he’s had to do.
In order to establish buy-in and attract interest from recruits so that he can build toward long-term success, McMahon needs to produce some short-term results with rosters heavy on transfer talent.
It’s unclear how effective that approach will be, but that’s the state of things for LSU as it tries to overcome the program trajectory-altering effects of the NCAA’s recruiting investigation.
