The College Basketball season is starting to build up as Conference Play is right around the corner while College Football nears its end. Thus far, the LSU Basketball team is 9-2 with the losses coming against Pittsburgh and SMU. The Tigers have three key wins under their belt against Kansas State, UCF, and Florida State which should be important when Selection Sunday rolls around in March.
As things currently stand, the LSU Basketball team projects as the 6th team left out of the 64 team field according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) December 18, 2024
While LSU is on the outside looking in, overall, this is a positive development for the LSU Basketball team. At the start of the year, LSU was projected to finish in the bottom of the league according to the Preseason SEC Poll. We're now looking at LSU as a team in contention for the NCAA Tournament, a quick pivot in 11 games.
The best part of this all is that LSU is right in the mix before SEC play has even kicked off where LSU will have several opportunities to pick up massive wins. The Tigers get to face Lunardi's top overall seed Auburn, 2nd Overall Seed Tennessee, 4th Overall Seed Kentucky, 6th Overall Seed Alabama, 8th Overall Seed Florida, and 12th Overall Seed Texas A&M.
Winning a few big games in the SEC will be massive as the SEC leads the way with 13 teams projected to land NCAA Tournament bids.
This team is clearly improved, last season the Tigers lost to Nicholls, Dayton, Syracuse, Kansas State, and Texas all before SEC play giving the Tigers next to no chance at making the NCAA Tournament. This year, LSU has handled all of its Mid-Major opponents, won its game in the SEC/ACC challenge, and beat Kansas State.
LSU's loss to Pittsburgh will age well as the Panthers are a projected 7 seed while SMU is also a team right on the outside looking in. The path for the Tigers is simple, finish above .500 in SEC play while picking up a few big wins along the way and most likely the Tigers are going dancing.