LSU coach Johnny Jones hates what surrounds Ben Simmons.
The hype; the perception; the pressure; the play. All of the things that have become concrete landmines to Simmons’ 19-year-old, college freshman life, Jones hates them.
He’s hated it from the first day until Friday when LSU will face Tennessee at approximately 2:30 p.m. in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
“It’s unfortunate for Ben,” Jones said. “People have targeted him and really gone after him. He obviously has a lot of exposure and good press. I certainly feel for him because the kid is trying to be a normal kid and be on the campus like others. … It’s unfortunate, and I hate it.”
First, the hype.
Before the season began, Simmons, the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year, was held to thousands of one-way promises from Tiger nation to be the best player in LSU history.
Has he been that? No. Does he care? No.
Those pledges, which were possibly inconceivable from the beginning, weren’t and aren’t held closely to Simmons heart, and he’s worn that on his sleeve all season.
“I don’t worry about that,” Simmons said. “It doesn’t mean too much to me.”
Simmons said that on Monday, and its a sentiment that’s been apparent since his first go-round with local media toward the beginning of LSU’s season.
Expressing to fans he simply doesn’t play to live up to their expectations has made him a local villain with “attitude problems’”in the eyes of his thousands of beholders.
What Simmons is saying isn’t reckless. His truthfulness is conceived as uninterestedness of a condemnable offense.
Simmons said on Monday he “missed a couple of classes,” which also made the Tiger faithful believe he simply doesn’t care about what has happened during his expected only year in college.
Does he care about LSU? When asked earlier in February, Simmons said in hindsight he wouldn’t take a different collegiate route and reaffirmed LSU was the right place for him.
But his college experience hasn’t been easy, he said.
“I’m enjoying it, really,” Simmons said. “I’m learning new things with people. I’m just trying to be a college student. It’s not easy for me, because of who I am. I’m trying to enjoy the little things. The little things like missing a couple classes and things like that get brought up. If it was somebody else, it may not have been brought up. Now, it’s everywhere. But, I’m not worried about that right now.”
All of which only Simmons can articulate. He, and only he, knows his own problems.
“It’s tough for him,” said freshman guard Antonio Blakeney. “He knows that he has a future. He’s the only one that knows how he feels. I know it’s hard for him.”
Being the projected No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, and leading a 13-loss team to a hopeful NCAA Tournament appearance has placed mounting pressure on Simmons, Blakeney said.
LSU’s problems, as a team, haven’t sprouted because of Simmons, said sophomore forward Craig Victor II. Chemistry and leadership are the roots of the issues, he said, both of which LSU has lacked.
“We haven’t been playing on one accord,” Victor said.
Simmons agrees, as he showed his 57,000 followers on Twitter on Monday with a retweet from his pal, who was once in his shoes before the one-year in college rule was implemented, LeBron James.
“It’s this simple,” James tweeted. “You can’t accomplish the dream if everyone isn’t dreaming the same thing every day. Nightmares follow.”
To many, LSU’s season has been a nightmare, and not many college basketball-related horror stories end with an NCAA Tournament. The formula to a successful team, and season, has been diluted to raised expectations.
If the Tigers excel in the SEC Tournament they still have a chance to make the “Big Dance.”
To Simmons, that’s a blessing.
“I’m blessed to be on a team like this and to be able to win the SEC Championship,” he said.
In his final games in college, Simmons remains under an intense microscope — where he has excelled this season.
Simmons leads LSU in points and rebounds at 19.6 points per game — shooting 56.1 percent from the field this season — and 11.9 rebounds per game.
He ran through a rough patch of free throw shooting in early February, where the missed free opportunities reached a maximum during LSU’s 69-78 loss to Alabama in PMAC on Feb. 17.
Simmons tried to heal the wounds and shot free throws for 30 minutes after the loss.
Free throws are an example of Simmons attempting to wield a successful collegiate career that is surrounded in a flood of imperfections. To fans, he doesn’t have any room for those flaws, and has tried his best to be in the right place at the right time, Jones said.
“He’s a tremendous person. It’s been tough,” Jones said. “I’ll tell you, he’s stayed the course. You have to admire him for that. He’s gone about his business, not only with us, but with the media, fans and everybody around. He’s going to be really successful. He’s gone about the things the right way here, which leads you to believe he’s going to do the right things elsewhere.”