The arrival of February means that the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament are right around the corner. The end goal for every team at the end of the season is cuting down the nets and winning the NCAA Tournament. For the LSU Basketball team, the hope of acheiving that end goal is hanging on by a thread at the start of February.
The LSU Basketball team is currently 12-9 and 1-7 in SEC Play which has derailed a solid start in Non-Conference Play. The Tigers are 0-8 in Quad One Games, 3-1 in Quad Two Games, 2-0 in Quad Three Games, and 7-0 in Quad Four Games.
The Tigers boast an average National Ranking of 76th, ranking 74th in the NET and 78th in KenPom.
As March approaches, LSU has put itself in a terrible place when it comes to trying to make the NCAA Tournament as their only path will soon be winning the SEC Tournament. There are only 36 At-Large bids for the NCAA Tournament and the resume LSU has built won't get them selected.
The Tigers need to start winning games and it needs to start this week with Georgia and Ole Miss on deck. LSU desperately needs some quad one wins and the schedule has 9 Quad One Opponents and 1 Quad Three Opponent remaining. Georgia, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and South Carolina are all opponents LSU can beat and they'd give the Tigers four quad one wins and a quad three win.
Down the final stretch of the season, LSU has to face Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Kentucky, and Texas A&M which is a gauntlet but, finding wins in that stretch would be massive for the Tigers.
LSU see its resume improve simply by other teams playing better the rest of the way moving up a quadrant. Arkansas currently ranks 47th in the NET a climb to 30th would give LSU a Quad One win. Kansas State is currently 82nd but, a climb to 75th would give LSU a Quad One win. UCF is 64th and if they climb inside the top 50 that win climbs from Quad Two to Quad One. Florida State is a Quad Three win that could move to Quad Two if the Seminoles go on a run.
This next week is massive for the LSU Basketball team if they're going to make the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers badly need to get off the mat by beating Georgia and Ole Miss two teams with flaws to climb out of the basement of the SEC. Two losses this week would likely sink LSU's tournament hopes with the brutal final stretch the Tigers have.