The LSU Basketball team wrapped up its Non-Conference slate on Sunday Night, dominating the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils. The Tigers head into SEC play with an 11-2 record and remain unbeaten at home, a massive improvement over last season when the Tigers lost five games prior to SEC play.
Heading into the season, LSU was projected to finish second to last in the SEC in the SEC Preseason Polls. If you look at any Bracketology projection, only three SEC teams are being left out of the NCAA Tournament in Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and LSU.
The Tigers now head into SEC play with a chance to go out and play spoiler for many of the top teams while trying to earn a bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers are considered one of the top teams in the Country but, they'll get a chance to knock a ton of them off in SEC Play.
To play the role of the spoiler, you need a scorer that can get hot and single handedly take over a game. The Tigers have three players capable of playing that role in Cam Carter, Jordan Sears, and Vyctorius Miller.
Cam Carter is scoring 16.9 points per game but, on any given night he can score 25 or more quickly shifting the dynamic of the game. The same can be said for Jordan Sears who's scoring 14.6 points per game but, he's most important being the player that can slow the offense down when it needs to the most.
Then you get to Vyctorius Miller who's scoring 12.0 points per game but, is scoring 17.66 points per game over his last three games. Miller has been the spark plug off the bench for the Tigers but, the team is at its best when Miller is on the court with Sears and Carter. If Miller can elevate his game and score over 15.0 PPG in SEC play then the Tigers will be one of the toughest outs in the Conference.
The one area LSU will need better play from in order to be a true spoiler in the SEC is with the play they get from their forwards after losing Jalen Reed for the season. The Tigers have gotten great play as of late out of Corey Chest who has become LSU's leading rebounder. Daimion Collins is the X-Factor for LSU down low as he scoring 8.0 points per game but, has the upside to score 20 or more in any given day.
We'll get our first idea of where this team stands in the back half of January as LSU will go on a run of playing five straight ranked teams including the 2nd and 5th ranked teams. Given what LSU has done thus far, it's impossible to write the Tigers off and it shouldn't be a shock if this team goes on a serious run in SEC play.