How low can you go?

No one ever believed the LSU men’s basketball program could get lower than it was two years ago when it fired head coach Johnny Jones after the Tigers went 2-16 in the SEC with a school-record 15-game losing streak.

But here we are.

Two weeks after LSU against all odds finished a season in which it won 28 games including 16 in the SEC to win the regular season championship and advance to Sweet 16, you wonder if the Tigers will even field a team next year and who’ll be coaching it.

The news Thursday that suspended LSU head coach Will Wade has agreed to meet with school officials and the NCAA on Friday – something he has refused to do since he was suspended March 8 for allegedly discussing on a FBI wiretap what was required to buy the scholarship signature of eventual signee Javonte Smart – seems too late to pull the program out of the gutter.

Since the Tigers walked off the Capital One Arena floor as an NCAA tournament East Region semifinal loser to Michigan State almost 14 days ago, five LSU underclassmen have declared for the NBA draft.

Throw in graduating senior Kavell Bigby-Williams, and it means six of the eight players in the Tigers’ playing rotation from this past season are looking at options to be anywhere but in an LSU uni next year.

It seems like everybody except veteran LSU basketball media director Kent Lowe is jumping ship. At least Lowe hasn’t declared to join the Professional Bowlers Association senior tour.

Here’s an eye-opening stat addressing the severity of those Tigers wanting to flee a sinking ship: Players who accounted for 89.6 percent of the scoring in LSU’s three NCAA games are looking for an exit.

In reality, only one player will be drafted. Freshman forward Naz Reid has been projected as a first-round draft choice.

None of others – sophomore All-SEC guard Tremont Waters, junior guard Skyler Mays, freshman guard Smart and freshman forward Emmitt Williams – will likely hear their names called.

All those players are eligible to return to LSU under the new NCAA guidelines, even Reid and Waters who said they’ve hired agents.

Underclassmen who declare for the draft have the option of returning to school if they’ve hired NBPA-certified agents.

The players can accept transportation, lodging and meal benefits related to meeting with their agents or going through workouts with NBA teams. Players don’t have to re-pay these expenses if they choose to return to school.

The NBA pays for players’ expenses to attend the NBA Scouting Combine or the G-League Elite. NBA teams are allowed to cover expenses stemming from private workouts. Players who choose to return to college are required to end their representation agreement with agents before re-enrolling in school.

Waters, even if he’s not drafted, isn’t coming back. He’s showed enough in his game to at least get a job playing in Europe. Another year of college basketball won’t result in a growth spurt for the 5-11 Waters to suddenly push past 6-feet.

Mays return for his senior season, but the SEC Basketball Scholar Athlete of the Year might be better off chasing his more obtainable dreams of becoming a doctor.

As far Williams and Smart, perhaps they just want to learn about the NBA draft process and return to LSU, just as Waters did a year ago.

Or maybe they wanted to make the first move, tired of being in limbo waiting for LSU and Wade to resolve the situation.

It never should have gotten this far.

These players deserved better. They should have had Wade coach them through the NCAA tournament. They needed Wade to guide them through any decisions about declaring for the draft.

Auburn went through the same situation with Bruce Pearl. When Auburn president Steven Leath wanted to talk to Pearl last November about alleged illegal recruiting, Pearl refused.

Last Saturday, Pearl’s Auburn team came up a controversial foul call short of winning its Final Four semifinal over eventual national champion Virginia.

Wade had to be watching that game.

And he had to be wondering that he’d taken Pearl’s stance, and yet had been left twisting in the wind by LSU president F. King Alexander and athletic director Joe Alleva.

There should have been some progress toward resolution of this albatross that has hung around the basketball program’s neck for five weeks.

But there’s been nothing but crickets.

When the smoke eventually clears on this burning pile of stink, there’s no way Alleva and Wade can ever work together again if Wade survives.

And if Wade makes it through to the other side, the specter of a possible NCAA investigation and probation will drain the life from the program. His chances of succeeding, even if he’s allowed to return as head coach, are miniscule.

What needs to happen is a complete cleanse, starting with the firing of Alexander and Alleva.

Big-donor money is shutting down because the boosters with the biggest bank accounts want to see Alleva gone. If Alleva is dumped, then you have to fire Alleva’s cheerleader Alexander.

And because Alleva and Alexander have let this situation drag out, the window of hiring a quality head coach should Wade be fired or resign is just about closed.

The solution may be as simple as blowing everything up and starting over.

But the sad historical truth is when you have LSU’s Kangaroo Court – the school’s Board of Supervisors – involved in such decisions, there’s too many personal agendas and it rarely turns out well.