It is a cliché that has been used time and time again in the history of professional sports – “Defense wins championships.” Forget championships. Defense does not even win games nowadays – just ask the LSU men’s basketball team. The Tigers have held Southeastern Conference opponents to 41.7 percent shooting over six conference games this season. LSU is tied for No. 4 in the conference in steals per game and No. 3 in scoring defense, allowing 63.7 points per game. All the Tigers have to show for the outstanding defensive effort is a 2-4 SEC record and a spot outside the Associated Press Top-25 for the first time since week 14 of the 2005-2006 season. Despite the recent struggles of the team, it is not yet time for the Tiger faithfuls to call for coach John Brady’s head. As is apparent to even the casual LSU men’s basketball fan, the offense has been appalling since the start of conference play. The Tigers have not scored more than 66 points in a game since a 92-58 beat-down of Mississippi Valley State University three days after Christmas. Taking into account SEC games only, the Tigers are ranked dead last in the SEC in scoring offense (57.8 points per game), field goal percentage (37.8 percent) and 3-point field goal percentage (29.4 percent). It may be hard for LSU fans to believe, but the problems the Tigers have had so far this season are not entirely their own fault. This season the SEC has been the best overall conference by far in college basketball. Six of the 12 teams in the conference have been nationally ranked at some point this season. It is one of only two leagues in Division I-A (the other being the Missouri Valley Conference) in which every team has at least 11 wins, and – if you take Mississippi State University out of the equation, – every team in the SEC would have a baker’s dozen in the win column. This trend of improvement in SEC basketball began toward the end of this past season when the conference placed two teams into the 2006 Final Four, LSU and eventual national champion University of Florida. If that was not a sign that SEC basketball is becoming more like the powerhouse known as SEC football, the University of South Carolina brought back its second-straight National Invitational Tournament title to Columbia in 2006. Obviously the level of competition in the NIT is nowhere close to the talent level of teams that participate in the NCAA Tournament, but a win is a win, right? The Tigers, along with every other SEC West team, have been dominated by the SEC East this season. The eastern division is 15-4 against its western division counterparts so far. The University of Georgia and Vanderbilt University are both two wins away from matching their win totals from this past season, and Auburn University has already surpassed its 2005-2006 total. If you believe LSU is the only team struggling in the conference, just take a gander at what has been happening in Tuscaloosa, Ala., as of late. The University of Alabama Crimson Tide began the season ranked No. 11 in the preseason polls but have fallen to No. 19 in the Associated Press’ latest edition. The Tide are 15-5 this season but, like the Tigers, are 2-4 in conference play. Since the start of 2007, Alabama has lost on the road to the University of Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Auburn by a total of 72 points. To make matters worse for the Tide, the Razorbacks traveled to Tuscaloosa on Saturday and handed Alabama another loss, 63-57. LSU fans need not worry yet about having to “rebuild” or “retool” the team next season. Every member of the SEC West has at least four losses, so technically, the Tigers are still in the hunt for their second consecutive division championship. A home win tonight against the nationally-ranked Crimson Tide could be just what the doctor ordered for Brady’s Bunch. But if the Tigers do not right their offensive ship soon – very soon – fans will even further forget the “Cinderella” story that former LSU players Tyrus Thomas and Darrel Mitchell helped provide in 2006. In this world of instant gratification, they will only recall the disappointment and lost hope supplied by this group of Tigers in 2007.
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