Looking ahead is finally appropriate, though fans have been doing so for weeks. The 2009-10 LSU men’s basketball team finally and mercifully ended its season Thursday with a 59-49 loss to Tennessee in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference tournament. Now the Tigers can move on. The team will take two weeks off and start offseason training March 29, LSU coach Trent Johnson said after the loss. Things seem to be heading in the right direction. Only senior forward Tasmin Mitchell is slated to leave, while redshirt junior forward Malcolm White will finally be able to play. White will join Johnson’s highly touted recruiting class, which includes four signees and one verbal commitment thus far. “It’s a pretty good class,” said Rivals.com recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer. “We have them ranked No. 20 in the country. It’s one of the better ones coming into the SEC. What stands out about the five-man class is that it’s a versatile class.”Two four-star recruits, forward Matt Derenbecker and guard Andre Stringer, will highlight the class. Joining them are fellow signees guard Ralston Turner and forward Jalen Courtney, both three-star recruits. “They don’t have a big center, but you have everything else in the class,” Meyer said. “A couple of wings who can really shoot in Ralston Turner and Derenbecker, a really skilled, really high-IQ guy. Andre Stringer is a potential combo guard who can really score. And then Jalen Courtney will be a very serviceable combo forward as an athletic, energy-type player.”Dallas-area point guard K.C. Ross-Miller has verbally committed to Johnson and LSU but has not signed a letter of intent yet. “I haven’t heard anything to the contrary,” Meyer said. “He should sign.”Johnson’s efforts in recruiting players in the South have been impressive considering his lack of roots in the area. All five recruits in the class hail from the South, with Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas represented. Meyer said he isn’t shocked at Johnson’s recruiting prowess, but the class is a nice confidence boost. “I wouldn’t say surprised,” Meyer said. “If he would have brought in a top-10 class, I would’ve been surprised, but this is a great start for him. It’s a good class, a solid and versatile class that’s No. 20 in the country. It’ll be interesting to see if he can keep that level of recruiting up and lock down the state of Louisiana.”Junior guard Bo Spencer will be the only senior on the roster. Forwards Garrett Green and Storm Warren fill out the junior class, while forward Eddie Ludwig and guard Aaron Dotson round out the sophomores. The team will certainly have a different identity. Gone are Mitchell’s 17 points and nine rebounds per game. Also gone are Mitchell’s intangibles. Johnson said Mitchell will be sorely missed, but he was impressed with the Tigers’ progress near the end of the season. “Again, this team’s gotten better,” Johnson said in his postgame press conference. “The end result hasn’t been what we all would like, but this team has gotten better. The key for us is spring and summer has to be very productive and that they don’t forget the hard lessons that they learned this year.”Johnson, along with Georgia’s Mark Fox and Alabama’s Anthony Grant, faces a stiff challenge in keeping a padlock on the border of their respective states. “I think it’s something to watch. It’s a big question for all the new coaches in the SEC — Mark Fox, Anthony Grant and Trent Johnson,” Meyer said. “I think for all three of them the jury is still out to see how they can seal the borders of their state.”—–Contact Chris Branch at [email protected]