LSU came back from its appearance in the Battle 4 Atlantis with one victory in three games.

A Tigers victory against Old Dominion was bracketed by losses to Wichita State and VCU. LSU was totally embarrassed by the Shockers 82-47 and convincingly beaten by the Rams 85-74 – a deceptive final score.

There should be absolutely no surprise with the LSU setbacks to Wichita and VCU. Let’s forget about the current season’s teams. Let’s focus on the teams’ programs.

The Tigers, in Johnny Jones’ fifth season as coach, are nowhere near the status of those two programs from mid-major conferences. The manner of defeats in those two games showed the size of the gap between LSU and the best mid-major teams.

It can certainly be said that Wichita and VCU would have enjoyed the same success against half of the teams in the Southeastern Conference. But, that’s not the issue. The issue is the level of the Tigers program. Right now, LSU has a lot of work to do to be considered a viable NCAA tournament team.

Here are the numbers for Wichita and VCU in the last five seasons.

Wichita: 4 conference championships, 1 conference tournament championship, 5 NCAA tournament appearances, 4 appearances in the Round of 32, 2 appearances in the Sweet 16, 1 appearance in the Elite 8, 1 appearance in the Final Four.

VCU: 1 conference championship, 2 conference tournament championships, 5 NCAA tournament appearances, 3 appearances in the Round of 32.

What are LSU’s numbers in these categories? There is one NCAA tournament appearance – nothing more in the Tigers’ body of work for the last five seasons. Jones was the coach for the last four years following Trent Johnson.

Watching LSU square off with Wichita and VCU was quite revealing as to where its program sits right now. Those two exhibitions must be kept in mind when Jones is evaluated at the end of the season.

The present season continues Tuesday when Houston, another mid-major, visits the PMAC (8 p.m. Central/SEC Network). The Cougars have no titles and no NCAA tournaments the past five seasons. However, Houston (5-0) is making progress under second-year coach Kelvin Sampson.

All but one of the Cougars’ victories have come by a margin of at least 27 points. Houston nipped Vermont by one point. The Cougars return most of the players from last season when they defeated LSU 105-98 in overtime in Houston. It would not be a shock if the Tigers lose to another mid-major team.

The game against Houston completes the first portion of LSU’s pre-conference schedule. The Tigers will take a two-week break for semester exams before facing Texas Southern, North Carolina Central, College of Charleston and Wake Forest.

Playing good competition helps the evaluation of a team in any sport. The games against Wichita and VCU provided an accurate look at the players on this LSU squad.

None of the top eight players made 50 percent of their field goal attempts against the Shockers and the Rams. Duop Reath made 45 percent of his field goal attempts (10-of-22) and Antonio Blakeney made 44 percent of his field goal attempts (11-of-25).

Blakeney and Sampson, the Tigers’ top outside shooters, were a combined 3-of-16 on 3-pointers. Sampson, who did score 24 points in the victory against Old Dominion, missed eight of his 12 field goal attempts in those two games. He had two rebounds and zero assists.

LSU’s top rebounder in the two games was perimeter player Jalyn Patterson. In the two defeats, Patterson grabbed 12 rebounds. He also had eight assists and five turnovers. However, Patterson was 4-of-14 from the field, including 1-of-7 on 3-pointers.

Reath and Aaron Epps combined for just ten rebounds in the games against Wichita and VCU – a poor total for starting post players. Craig Victor, who was suspended for three games before the trip, had 13 points and nine rebounds in limited minutes. He will be back in the starting lineup soon.

Freshmen Skylar Mays and Wayde Sims looked like first-year players. Mays, who was benched after the Wichita game, averaged eight points in the two defeats. But, Mays accounted for three assists and six turnovers. Sims, who played well in three home games, missed five of his six field goal attempts.

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