As LSU prepares for the SEC tournament this weekend, emotions are high and the expectations even higher for this young Tiger team that now has a huge arrow pointing right at it after winning the league's regular season championship.
Perhaps junior guard Skylar Mays put it best when he said the team is moving forward by “controlling what we can control.”
What the players can’t control is if they will have head coach, Will Wade back for the top-seeded Tigers' tourney opener at 12 noon on Friday vs the winner of Thursday's Florida-Auburn game. Wade was indefinitely suspended by LSU athletic director Joe Alleva last Friday after Wade declined to meet with school administrators about a Yahoo Sports report revealing a Wade conversation on an FBI wiretap investigating college basketball recruiting corruption.
They also can’t control whether freshman point guard Javonte Smart will be joining them. Smart was withheld by the school from last Saturday's regular season finale against Vanderbilt because Wade referred to him in the wire tap conversation.
The indication now is it’d be a long shot for Wade to rejoin the team at any point this season, but that’s not necessarily true in Smart’s case.
“Javonte’s definitely been a bright spot for our team,” Mays said. “He’s an unbelievable person and I’m just so happy about his maturity. Probably the most important thing he does is bring positive energy to the team and he continues to do that despite the chips kind of coming down for him.”
Interim coach Tony Benford said Tuesday that there was no update on Smart’s availability for this weekend, but that the team should know in the next day or two. Benford said that Smart practiced with the team on Tuesday and has remained in high spirits while his future for this season still remains murky.
One player that will be back in the fold Friday is freshman forward Naz Reid. He was entered into the concussion protocol after a shot to the face in LSU's overtime win at Florida last week and missed the Vanderbilt game.
What the players can control is how they approach what's in front of them. In Wade’s absence, sophomore point guard Tremont Waters and junior guard Mays have been the coaches on the floor. responsibilities, Waters said the key to his enhanced leadership is knowing what Wade would say in certain situations.
“My teammates know that I’m not coming from a point of view where I’m telling them what to do,” Waters said. “They believe in me and that gives me more confidence to say what I have to say and moving in the right direction.”
Wade's absence, added Waters, gives the Tigers more motivation.
“It just gives us more to play for,” Waters said. “He obviously played a huge part in us being where we are today and to know that he’s not there it just makes us want to play even harder. We have to do it for ourselves and honestly it’s helped us because you have to own up to what you do and take constructive criticism from your teammates.”
Mays, who was named to the Academic All-American team on Monday, has always been a calming voice in the Tiger locker room. The junior guard said he’s texted with Wade over the past few days and while the current situation hasn’t been discussed, Mays said the coach couldn’t be happier for the team and for him.
“He’s just so happy for this team and what we’ve been able to accomplish and he’s been a huge part of that,” Mays said. “He’s so happy for me and after all that I’ve been through to be able to be part of a team this special and part of a moment like this.”
With everything going on around the team, the focus and goals remain the same for the players. March Madness officially starts with a successful trip to Nashville.
