Who said the learning has to stop when school’s out? I learned a few things while watching the men’s and women’s basketball teams along with the football team during the break.’ ‘ The men’s basketball team can’t afford to beat itself, meaning it needs to stay out of foul trouble and not turn the ball over. LSU coach Trent Johnson said it himself – this team’s flaws are magnified when they make mistakes. Those mistakes and flaws became more than apparent when the Tigers hosted Alabama last Saturday. Alabama was able to open up a small lead in the first half against LSU, purely because the Tigers were turning the ball over.’ Alabama had a 15-point lead at the game’s halfway mark and 13 of those points were attributed to the LSU turnovers. Meanwhile, foul trouble is keeping one of the Tigers’ best players off the court. Sophomore forward Storm Warren is a big part of the Tigers’ offense and defense. When he has to sit on the bench because of foul trouble, opposing defenses can afford to throw double teams at senior forward Tasmin Mitchell, which in turn puts more pressure on junior guard Bo Spencer. The Tigers aren’t as deep as they were a year ago, particularly at the two guard spot. Because of this lack of depth, whoever Johnson plays at the two guard spot has to stay out of foul trouble, whether it’s sophomore guards Chris Bass or Zach Kinsley or freshman guard Aaron Dotson. There are four walk-ons on the team, including Kinsley, so keeping Dotson, Kinsley and Bass in the game is important, especially on the defensive end. Dotson has played well in recent games, but that is negated when he gets into foul trouble. The Lady Tigers are nearly unbeatable when playing the Lady Tiger way. Their second loss of the season only happened because Auburn was able to control the boards in the first half when LSU’s shots just weren’t falling. The basis of the Lady Tiger way is dominating defense, and when they are playing dominating defense they can shut down just about anyone. But in both of their losses, they were out rebounded. The football team has one major problem, and it is called offense. To start, they can’t run the ball. In the Capital One Bowl, LSU averaged just 1.6 yards per carry. The offensive line struggled all season to move the ball on the ground, partly because of injuries to the first, second and third-string running backs, but mostly because the offensive line wasn’t able to block as effectively as it did last year. The Tigers rushed for 2,168 yards last season and only 1,596 this season. This poor running game puts way more pressure on the passing game, which ailed from play calls that warranted a head scratch. In that same bowl game, the Tigers were down by two with less than a minute to play and were attempting to drive into field goal range. The Tigers inexplicably called a screen pass up the middle of the field. The play was stopped for a 4-yard gain, but the clock kept running, and LSU senior guard Lyle Hitt was flagged on the play for unnecessary roughness, which negated the screen pass’ gain and a 10-yard run by sophomore quarterback Jordan Jefferson. Poor play calling haunted the team all season.’ Anyone who watched the Tigers play this season watched as they repeatedly attempted to run the option. And anyone who watched them run the option watched it fail, yet it was repeatedly called even when the proper personnel were not in the game. The main thing with all of these teams is they beat themselves before their opponents have a chance to do it. Amos Morale is a 22-year-old history major from Houston, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_AmosMorale3 or contact him at [email protected]