Previewing LSU Men's Basketball's trip to the Charleston Classic
LSU Men's Basketball's had a rocky start to their 2023-24 season. They took down Mississippi Valley State 106-60 on opening night before losing a 68-66 match to Nicholls on a fadeaway three pointer with less than a second on the clock.
The Tigers began the regular season with back-to-back home games, but this Thursday, LSU will travel to Charleston, South Carolina for the three day Charleston Classic tournament.
You can watch the Charleston Classic on FuboTV and the games will also be streamed on one of these networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+ and ESPNU
Who's playing in the Charleston Classic?
LSU will be joined by No. 6 Houston, Dayton, North Texas, St. John's, Utah, Towson and Wake Forest in the 2023 Charleston Classic.
Houston is the lone ranked team in the tournament, but St. Johns received 47 votes and would be ranked 28th in the nation if the rankings extended that far. Dayton was also picked to win the Atlantic 10 conference this preseason.
Who are the Tigers playing in the Charleston Classic?
We only know one matchup for sure, and that's LSU's opening matchup against Dayton. The Tigers will take on the Flyers on November 16th at 3pm CT.
As I said earlier, Dayton was picked to finish first in the Atlantic 10 this year. They had two players named to the first-team all-A10 in Junior forward DeRon Holmes II and junior point guard Malachai Smith.
Dayton began their preseason with an exhibition match against Ohio State, and the Flyers nearly took down the Buckeyes, but eventually fell 78-70. The Flyers are 1-1 in the regular season with a win over SIUE and a loss to Northwestern. This will be a tough opening game for LSU, but it's one that'll tell us a lot about what this team is made of early in the season.
What about the second and third rounds?
No matter what, every team will play three games over the three day span of the tournament. The winner of LSU vs Dayton will move on to face off with the winner of St. John's and North Texas in the semi-finals. The loser will then face the losing team from that same matchup.
Whoever comes out of LSU's bracket will face the finalist from the Houston, Towson, Utah and Wake Forest bracket in the championship game. If LSU were to lose both games, they'd face the last place team in a battle for seventh place.
If LSU were to win in round one and lose in round two, they'd face the runner up from the other bracket in the third place game. And if LSU were to lose in round one and win in round two, they'd face the third place team in the second bracket for fifth place in the tournament.
I know that was a lot to digest, but if you click here, you can see the tournament bracket as listed on the Charleston Classic's website.
How does this tournament benefit LSU?
This tournament has a pretty elite field. While Houston is the lone ranked team, St. John's and Dayton are teams that are in the NCAA Tournament more often than not. The first round matchup vs Dayton should be a very close and fun game. If LSU has the chance to face St. John's in the second round, that game will give us a real benchmark for where this team is at.
If LSU can manage to pull off two big wins, they'll likely face the No. 6 team in the country, Houston, in the championship game. The Cougars are returning a lot of players from last years squad that reached the Sweet Sixteen before getting bounced by Miami.
Houston is a very physical team that can beat you in a lot of ways, so if LSU can make it that far, this game would potentially be their hardest game all season. It would take a lot to overcome the Cougars, but it would be a really good test for McMahon's squad.
Here's what Head Coach Matt McMahon had to say about the upcoming tournament: