Still less than a month after a Final Four that never happened, next college basketball season feels so far away.

Players, like most people, remain separated — or socially distanced — as the country and much of the world try to best navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

And coach Will Wade and his LSU staff are still potentially months from seeing their roster finalized for an eventual return to normalcy for which they can still only be cautiously optimistic.

The Tigers remain in the hunt to potentially add another big man through recruiting and might not definitively know until later than ever before whether a few key veterans will be in purple and gold or the NBA later this year.

But Wade sees some similar ingredients falling into place as to what allowed football coach Ed Orgeron and company to enjoy a storybook, championship across the street in Tiger Stadium.