It may be the biggest turnaround in the shortest amount of time of any sport in the history of LSU's storied athletic program.

From 21 losses two seasons ago to now 23 wins and counting for a team in a first-place tie in the SEC with three remaining regular season games, it grows more remarkable weekly how the youngest head basketball coach among all major conference schools has flipped a barely watchable losing program into a lurking March Madness monster.

The latest reminder of the sudden impact that 36-year old Will Wade has had in just his second season as LSU’s head coach came Tuesday night when the 13th ranked Tigers slogged their way to a 13th league win.

Consider that LSU’s 66-55 victory over Texas A&M in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center wasn’t aesthetically pleasing, yet was the Tigers’ second straight season sweep of the Aggies after losing three of the previous four times to A&M.

A couple of those consecutive losses included getting hammered by 33 points in the 2016 SEC Tournament followed by a 30-point loss at A&M the next season.

Reflecting on those beatdowns -- the former by a Tiger team that quit on then-LSU coach Johnny Jones down the stretch and the latter by a squad that played as if it wanted to make sure Jones got fired at the end of the 2016-17 season -- Wade's program has emerged as one of college basketball’s most intriguing storylines.

He’s done it combining recruiting superb athletes and using analytics to discover game situations enhancing their individual strengths.

Or as Wade said a couple of days ago, “Putting the players in the right position, and letting those players make the plays with their free mind.”

That means studying statistics related to specific spots players are most offensively and defensively efficient on the court..

Sounds complicated, but it’s simplified when you have an analytic coach whose point guard is on the same wave length.

It’s why LSU’s offense meshes considerably smoother when sophomore Tremont Waters is running the show. Because Waters knows guard Javonte Smart shoots 3s much better from the top of the key than the wings, and that guard Skylar Mays is most effective from the corners.

He understands lefty forward Kavell Bigby-Williams is better sweeping across the lane for jump hooks from right to left, he knows when to make eye contact with high-flying wingman Marlon Taylor for lob dunks and he understands passing angles and timing to ship the ball to freshman Naz Reid in the low post.

Yes, the Tigers have won the last two games without Waters, who has been sidelined by a virus. But they are more than ready for his return to practice Thursday in preparing for Saturday’s game at Alabama.

“I am just trying to run the team because Tremont is out right now,” said Smart, who has averaged 23 points in his last two starts. “I cannot wait until he gets back.”

Just the sight of Waters on LSU’s bench in street clothes for the A&M game was encouraging.

“I know he is going to do what he has been doing and come back full strength,” Mays said of Waters. “Then we can make this push for an SEC title with a deep run in March.”

Wade said he doesn’t talk to his team about winning the SEC title, but rather what comprises the mindset of championship teams.

“We just talk more about the championship traits and what goes into it,” Wade said. “One of them is do simple better. You don’t have to do anything crazy to win championships. Just do the simple things really well.”

Such as?

“As bad as we played against Florida (in last Wednesday’s overtime loss),” Wade said after the A&M victory, “we gave up nine points on out-of-bounds baseline defense. We win the game if that doesn’t happen.

“If you can outrebound your opponent, turn the ball over less than 10 times and at least get a shot on the backboard, it’s pretty good basketball. It gets in a possession by possession game and you have to value each possession.”

This all seems logical to a self-described “linear thinker” like Wade, because linear thinkers believe there is step-by-step progression in which a response to a step must happen before the next step is taken.

“I like when everything lines up,” Wade said Monday when he previewed the Texas A&M game. “Numbers and analytics certainly help everything line up. It works for me because that’s how my mind’s worked, and it has worked. I don’t think other people are racing to do the things we do.

"It works for us, and it may not work for other people. I feel like it’s been successful for us, and maybe given us a bit of edge and helped us win some of these close games.”