LSU men’s basketball heading on the right path

I’m not much of a college basketball guy – the NBA game is much more my cup of tea.

But as I sat in my office this past Tuesday morning, I was glued to the TV – completely unproductive and dead to the rest of the journalistic world.

You see, the LSU men’s basketball game was on and I was completely fascinated by what I saw.

For the first time in quite a while, the Tigers actually looked pretty good.

And more important to the quality of play the team presented, LSU played an entertaining brand of basketball – a style that was visually pleasing to the eyes of any action-craving basketball fan.

And it’s all because of Johnny Jones.

Since taking over as LSU’s coach, Jones has instilled new life into the Tigers’ program.

The cupboard he inherited was bare – Trent Johnson was an awful fit in Baton Rouge. The Tigers didn’t win many games, and his defense-first mentality produced a brand of basketball that was awfully boring to watch.

But the trends definitively show that the program is headed in the right direction under Jones.

Let’s start with wins and losses.

Last season, LSU was picked to finish near the bottom of the SEC by virtually everyone in the world – myself included.

The reason for those projections were the struggles that the Tigers had under Johnson and the lack of talent depth on the team’s roster. In addition to his stiff personality, Johnson wasn’t much of a recruiter. The LSU players didn’t really look like major college ballers. Kentucky and Florida often exposed that deficiency.

But after one offseason on the job, Jones changed the team’s culture and outlook. With new recruits like Thibodaux High School standout Shavon Coleman and returnees like Anthony Hickey, Johnny O’Bryant and Andre Stringer, LSU had a turnaround season and posted a 19-12 record with a 9-9 mark in SEC games.

The Tigers did not reach the NCAA Tournament – a slow start to the year never allowed that to materialize.

But LSU was one of the 65 best teams in America when the year came to a close. Jones got votes to be the SEC’s Coach of the Year – deservedly so. The 2012-13 college basketball season marked the first time in a while that LSU had a pulse, but also a positive outlook for the future.

The Tigers have had solid teams in recent history, but they were all one-hit wonders. Heck, this is the same program that went to the Final Four in 2006, but then posted a 5-11 SEC record in 2007.

It’s also the same program that reached the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in 2009, but then limped to a 2-14 conference record a year later.

Consistency has been lacking for LSU basketball since Dale Brown left the program. Jones is a man that looks like he’s ready to bring it back.

The biggest reason for the optimism is recruiting – the Tigers are legitimately going after (and getting) some of the best players in America.

After posting the 19-11 record last year, Jones and his staff hit the road hard and sold the program to some of the best prospects in the country.

Their efforts were rewarded when the team received signed scholarships from a five-star player, two, four-star players and two, three-star players.

Three of those players started for the Tigers on opening day against UMass. They made mistakes – freshmen always do. But the Tigers showed a lot of promise and the team had short spurts where they showed flashes of greatness.

The headliner of the past recruiting class was Jarrell Martin. A 6-foot, 9-inch, 220-pound power forward, Martin was a must-get for Jones and his staff. That’s because the youngster is from Baton Rouge.

Martin was a McDonald’s All-American and is widely regarded as LSU’s biggest get in close to a decade.

But his signature was not alone for LSU’s last recruiting class.

In addition to the Blue Chip forward, Jones also landed Dallas power forward Jordan Mickey – a skilled player that can score both inside and out.

In the first game of his collegiate career, Mickey showed that promise, scoring 16 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and swatting 5 blocks in a team-high 38 minutes of action.

Georgia native Tim Quarterman also is a true freshman Jones and his staff like. He, too, started the season opener and pitched 18 minutes for LSU.

But the recruiting success doesn’t seem to be a one-hit wonder.

In the 2014 recruiting class, LSU already has verbal commitments from 7-footer Elbert Robinson – a four-star player from Garland, Texas that has a lot of promise.

LSU also has commitments from a pair of three-star commitments, point guard Jalyn Patterson and power forward Aaron Epps.

Looking even deeper ahead, LSU’s 2015 recruiting class also looks good. Five-star prospect and No. 6 player in America small forward Ben Simmons is committed to LSU.

With his pledge, it’s not unreasonable to expect that others will follow in the coming weeks as more youngsters get ready to make their collegiate decisions.

Any way you slice it, LSU basketball is on the way up.

That makes me very, very excited.

This is the first time in a while that the program has given its fans anything positive to look forward to – that’s for sure.