After a 71-38 loss to Texas A&M in the SEC tournament, LSU has decided that their men’s basketball program will not participate in the NCAA postseason. This means that standout forward and likely #1 NBA pick Ben Simmons’ collegiate career is over.
At 19-14 and an RPI of 94, it was extremely unlikely for LSU to qualify for the NCAA tournament anyway. Needing to win the SEC tournament for an automatic bid, LSU got trounced at the hands of Texas A&M and ended any hope for making the tournament. LSU apparently decided to go with the “you can’t dump me, I’m dumping you” approach to being snubbed for the tournament.
In all honesty, declining a postseason bid can be beneficial for the team. It’s not great for the seniors and those leaving early because their collegiate careers are now over, but LSU has had injury issues and really wanted to put this season behind them. Senior Keith Hornsby had to have season ending surgery while freshman Antonio Blakeney is sick and not at 100 percent. And with Ben Simmons heading to the NBA, this is going to be a different team come next season and coach Johnny Jones prefers to use March to get a leg up on preparing for next season.
In addition to getting a start on next season, it appears as if Coach Jones is focused on making the NCAA tournament and nothing else. Jones said:
“We will be able to utilize this time to get better and start preparations for next season. We fell short of the mark of getting to the NCAA Tournament; I take full responsibility for this team, and will do the things necessary to make sure we are able to reach one of our main goals at LSU in the future.”
That very much looks like Jones couldn’t care less about the NIT or any other postseason tournament. It is “NCAA tourney or bust” and he feels the team is better off with added preparation in hopes to make the tourney next season.
