Season roundup for LSU, Nicholls basketball

When the final buzzer sounded last Tuesday in UConn’s victory against Stanford in the women’s national championship game, the book that is the college basketball season officially closed.

It was a tough grind for the hoops fans in the Tri-parish area, and only the LSU women’s basketball team advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

But the LSU and Nicholls State coaches forecast sunshine in the 2010-11 seasons as all the teams in the area have youthful rosters.

Below is a season roundup for the Nicholls and LSU basketball teams.

Nicholls Women’s Basketball:

Final Record: 4-24

Starters Returning: 5

Seniors: 0

The Nicholls women’s basketball team didn’t collect as many wins as they’d have liked in 2009-10, but improvement was made nonetheless.

The Colonels lost eight Southland Conference games by single digits this season. That number was a huge improvement from two years ago when the team stayed within single digits just once and were beaten by 20 or more points seven times in 16 conference games.

The team hopes to continue its rebuilding process with their entire roster likely returning next season, headlined by guard Ricshanda Bickham, who averaged 19 points per game as a junior this season. The Colonels did not have a single senior, and the team signed three players in the early signing period – K.K. Babin of St. Michael the Archangel, Liann McCarthy of Ursuline Academy and Kya DeGarmo of El Dorado High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Colonels coach DoBee Plaisance said earlier in the season the signing class will be another step in the right direction in the team’s rebuilding.

“We have some pretty nice players on the way,” Plaisance said. “And we feel they will give the program a push in the right direction.”

LSU Women’s Basketball:

Final Record: 21-10 (Lost in 2nd round of NCAA

Tournament)

Starters Returning: 4

Seniors: 2

The Lady Tigers advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season.

The team won 21 games before losing a close contest to Duke in Durham, NC to end their season.

Like Nicholls, LSU has a youthful roster and is only expected to lose one senior. But that senior is a vitally important one – All-American guard Allison Hightower.

Hightower averaged 18 points per game and accounted for more than 25 percent of the team’s offense.

“There’s no question we lose a great player in Allison Hightower,” said LSU coach Van Chancellor. “But we have some returning players and young faces that are ready to step up to the challenge.”

One of those players will be the Tri-parish’s own Theresa Plaisance, who headlines the Lady Tigers’ recruiting class after a state championship season at Vandebilt.

Plaisance is one of three players inked for LSU’s top 10 recruiting class.

Chancellor said he is excited to see the 6-foot-5-inch standout trade in the blue and gold for purple and gold.

“She is a smart player,” Chancellor said. “She can shoot the basketball and is a great player. She possesses a lot of skills that she can play in a lot of different spots for us.”

The Lady Tigers’ second senior, Andrea Kelly, missed the entire season with an ankle injury. Kelly has a redshirt year at her disposal if she chooses to utilize it and return to the team.

Nicholls Men’s Basketball:

Final Record: 11-19

Starters Returning: 5

Seniors: 0

After nearly making the NCAA Tournament in the 2008-09 season, Nicholls took a few steps backward this year and struggled to an 11-19 record.

The Colonels struggled to replace Justin Payne and Ryan Bathie’s leadership, and the team couldn’t close the deal and lost six games by six points or less, including a heartbreaking 63-60 loss to LSU in December.

“We miss the intensity those guys brought to the table,” said Colonels’ coach J.P. Piper in December. “We are lacking in what they brought to the floor and the command they had of our locker room.”

But like their women’s basketball counterparts, the Colonels do not have a single senior and will return their entire roster next year.

Leading the way will be one of the nation’s most prolific scorers, forward Anatoly Bose. The 6-foot-6-inch Australian was No. 17 in the country in scoring and averaged more than 21 points per game in his junior season.

Nicholls coach J.P. Piper said with another offseason of conditioning, his team would be ready to make strides next season.

The Colonels figure to have eight seniors next season.

“I think our brightest days are ahead, for sure,” Piper said.

LSU Men’s Basketball:

Final Record: 11-20

Starters Returning: 4

Seniors: 2

Trent Johnson’s honeymoon first season at LSU quickly turned into a nightmarish roller coaster as LSU won just two Southeastern Conference games.

But LSU did play some of its best basketball down the stretch and both of those wins came in the final four games of the season.

Similar to the LSU women’s team, the Tigers will lose their best statistical player, Tasmin Mitchell.

Mitchell capped his five-year LSU career by averaging 17 points and nine rebounds per game.

But in addition to Mitchell, fog surrounds the future of LSU’s second most productive player Bo Spencer.

Spencer has another year of eligibility, but Johnson said following the season that the junior guard was suspended for a “lack of fulfillment in his responsibility academically.”

“He is suspended from all basketball activity with the team,” Johnson said. “It’s all about his academic responsibility. It’s pretty cut and dry. He just has to get it done.”

In Mitchell and possibly Spencer’s absence, the Tigers will hope for a more balanced team next season.

LSU currently has four signees for the recruiting class and Rivals.com ranks the class as No. 10 in the country.

Johnson hopes combined with the returning players, the new recruits can help make his third year in Baton Rouge his best one yet.

“We’re not going to sit up here and dwell on the negatives,” Johnson said. “We have an opportunity to make a big jump from where we ended up this year to where we’re going to end up next year. I’m excited as I’ve ever been.”