GETTING INSIDE
After two subpar seasons that resulted in just the second coaching change at the school since the early 1970s, LSU bounced back in a big way in 2008-09, winning not only the SEC's Western Division for the fourth time but its second overall regular-season league title as well.
The Tigers' final 27-8 record matched LSU's 2006 league champions in total victories, and the 27 wins were the third most in school history.
Had the Tigers gotten a little better seeding from the selection committee, they might have been able to last a little longer in the NCAA Tournament. But as a No. 8 seed, their first-round win over Butler got them a date with top-seeded North Carolina in the next round, and the Tar Heels pulled away over the final eight minutes for an 84-70 victory.
"These guys fought all year long," coach Trent Johnson said of his players. "They played together as a team. They were receptive to everything we asked them to do. They have nothing to hang their heads about."
Considering the number of veterans Johnson had at his disposal, the Tigers' success shouldn't have been that surprising. Seniors Tasmin Mitchell and Garrett Temple both started in 2006, when the Tigers reached the NCAA Final Four, and junior-college transfer Marcus Thornton scored nearly 20 points a game in 2007-08. Chris Johnson had started 22-of-25 games.
Benefitting from a heavily weighted early home schedule, the Tigers won 12 of their first 14 games heading into their conference opener at Alabama. They lost that game, but bounced back with a 13-game conference winning streak, interrupted by a home loss to Xavier.
By the time they lost their last two regular-season games, they already had clinched the division and overall titles.
Now comes the hard part for Johnson in his second season. He must find three new starters as well as replace a couple of veteran reserves in Terry Martin and Quinton Thornton. Also, Mitchell, who received a medical hardship after missing most of last year because of a foot injury, could be a candidate for early entry into the NBA draft.
NOTES, QUOTES--F Tasmin Mitchell, excited by the prospects of playing his more natural position on the wing, backed out of the 2009 NBA Draft to return to Baton Rouge.
"The workouts went well and some people felt I could have possibly been a second-round pick, but in the end it felt better coming home to be an LSU Tiger," Mitchell said in a statement released June 7.
Mitchell averaged 16.3 points and 7.2 rebounds last season. He returning to school and finishing his degree were in his best interest.
FINAL RECORD: 27-8, 13-3 in the SEC, first place in Western Division and overall regular-season champion.
WHAT WENT RIGHT: The Tigers got a great year out of senior G Marcus Thornton, who averaged 21.1 points a game while shooting 47.2 percent from the field. They averaged nearly 75 points a game and enjoyed a plus-9.3 points a game scoring advantage over their opponents.
The Tigers held opponents to just 31.2-percent shooting from the perimeter overall and less than 30 percent in the conference. They won the rebounding battle by more than five a game for the season.
After starting off SEC play with a road loss at Alabama, the Tigers won their next 13 league games, a stretch that included wins at Tennessee and Kentucky and a convincing 14-point decision over Bama in the rematch with the Tide.
WHAT WENT WRONG: The Tigers lost two games they probably shouldn't have at the end of the regular season, and though the setbacks to Vanderbilt and at Auburn didn't cost them in the SEC standings, it may have put them lower in the seedings for the NCAA Tournament.
They received only a No. 8 seed, which pitted them against top-seed North Carolina after their first-round win over Butler. That is the lowest seed an SEC regular-season winner has received since the NCAA began seeding the field in 1979. The previous low was a No. 7 seed awarded to Georgia in 1990.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We had a great season. I've had a great five years here, lucky enough to spend four of them with Tas, two of them with Marcus, and one with Coach Johnson." -- Senior G Garrett Temple, who redshirted as a freshman, referring to teammates Tasmin Mitchell and Marcus Thornton and coach Trent Johnson.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNELTHE GOOD NEWS: In his first year as coach, Trent Johnson has given some semblance of order to the program that was much in disarray following John Brady's dismissal in February 2008. He didn't clean house but earned the respect of the current players, even though they were a veteran crew.
G Bo Spencer emerged as a nice scorer as the season went on, and F Tasmin Mitchell had an outstanding season. Two redshirts, F Dennis Harris, a 6-10 freshman, and Garrett Green, a 6-10 sophomore, will join the active roster next season.
Also joining the team will be two November signees, Eddie Ludwig, a 6-8 small forward out of Metairie, La., and Aaron Dotson, a 6-4 guard from Seattle, Wash.
THE BAD NEWS: Three veteran starters -- top scorer Marcus Thornton, C Chris Johnson and G Garrett Temple -- depart with only inexperienced replacements available to step in their place. Johnson averaged 21.1 points a game. Johnson and Temple were both key defensive players, Johnson on the inside and Temple on the perimeter.
KEY RETURNEES: F Tasmin Mitchell came back from a foot injury and averaged 16.3 points and 7.2 rebounds a game while shooting 52.2 percent from the field. G Bo Spencer missed a couple of games with an ankle injury but is a scoring threat on the perimeter. Freshman Chris Bass played in 28 games as a backup point guard.
ROSTER REPORT:
--Chris Johnson finished his LSU career with 176 blocked shots, second only to Shaquille O'Neal's 412 in the LSU record book.
--G Marcus Thornton scored 55 points in the two NCAA Tournament games and ended his two-year career with the Tigers with 1,347 points. He averaged 20.4 points a game, the sixth-best average all time at LSU.
--G Garrett Temple finished his career with 113 blocked shots and 191 steals, good for third and seventh, respectively, in the LSU record book.
Previous Report: 04/02/2009
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