Well, it wasn’t pretty.

But I’m sure most fans would rather win ugly than lose pretty and that’s exactly what the Tigers did last night in a 62-59 win against McNeese.

LSU went into the lockers down nearly double digits, but then pushed forward in the second half to secure the win.

Marcus Thornton led the Tigers with 15 points while Tasmin Mitchell, Bo Spencer and Chris Johnson added 12, 11 and 10 respectively.

LSU’s next game will be a post-holiday showdown with Washington State on ESPN 2.

So, I’ve been asked this a lot lately: “What do I think about the LSU MBB team?”

The answer? Not a whole lot, to be honest.

It’s not that I dislike Trent Johnson and I don’t believe the Tigers should have kept John Brady.

I just think it’s unrealistic to expect a team who was bad last year to just transform into a national powerhouse in one season just by changing the coach.

The players are exactly the same, minus their best player (Anthony Randolph) and LSU has only a handful of freshmen who play minutes.

So if the players are all the same off a team who was bad last year, why should we expect domination this year?

I think LSU will win their share, but they will also lose their share, too. So don’t let the good W/L record fool you.

Great teams don’t struggle to beat Nicholls and don’t fall behind 7-8 points to McNeese at home.

So there are still bumps in the road yet to be crossed. Let’s see how LSU reacts when those problems arise.

It might not be as rosy as you all think considering Terry Martin was suspended for last night’s game following Saturday’s loss because of a dispute over playing time.

So we’ll see how it plays out. But I just am not as optimistic as I used to be, because I see the team slowly slipping into some of their bad habits from last season.

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One team I am optimistic about is the LSU baseball team, which is officially No. 1 again after being given the top spot in the preseason Collegiate Baseball Magazine poll.

I said following LSU’s loss to North Carolina in the CWS that I thought next year would be the year that LSU stormed the fields as champions in Omaha and while LSU lost a little more off last year’s team than I expected, I still stand by that prediction.

The loss that will hurt LSU the most is Jared Bradford, who gave LSU versatility in both the rotation and the bullpen. But I think Louis Coleman will give LSU the same stability and the stockpile of having 2-3 Top 10 recruiting classes in a row will be enough to do the rest.

It will be even more fun that LSU will be able to do all of these things in their beautiful new stadium.

There will be nothing like seeing the new stadium full in its first season.

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In LSU football news, there is some good news to report — LSU’s blue chip recruit Russell Shepard is officially a Tiger after signing his National Letter of Intent this weekend.

There was never any doubt about Shepard being a Tiger as he’s been actively recruiting for LSU the entire process, but it still should make everyone sleep a little better knowing he is Iron-Clad in the LSU camp.

3-star QB Chris Garrett has also signed his letter of intent and will also be on campus for the start of the spring semester.

So, LSU will have Jarrett Lee, Jordan Jefferson, Andrew Hatch, Shepard and Garrett all fiercely competing for slots on the depth chart in what will be the most important spring for LSU in years.

I think it’s safe to say whoever if the odd man out between Lee, Jefferson and Hatch will most likely be on the way out.

But either way, depth at the QB position should not be a problem at all for LSU as the Tigers seem to be loaded there, should one guy emerge from the pack.

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There’s a bowl game tonight that figures to be a very good one — probably the first big-time heavyweight matchup of the bowl season.

Here’s my take on the game. 🙂

I am 3-2 on the bowl season.

Poinsettia Bowl:

vs.

This game is one of the most intriguing matchups of the entire bowl season. Boise comes into the game as the odd team left out of the BCS with an unbeaten 12-0 record. But TCU comes into the game with one of the best defenses you’ll ever see in college football. This one will be a very good one to kick off the bowl season.

My Pick:

TCU 20
Boise 16

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Enjoy your day!