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LSU Tigers Basketball: Still Waiting For Ben Simmons Impact to be Felt

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There is absolutely, positively, nothing bad that you can say about the season that freshman phenomenon Ben Simmons of the LSU Tigers has had to this point.

Anyone that can find fault with a young man that is averaging 19.9 points and 14.9 rebounds through the first seven games of his collegiate career is not really paying attention to the amount of talent it takes to get those numbers.

The 43 points and 14 rebounds against North Florida is one of the top stories of the 2015-16 season, which is crazy because personally the 21 points, 20 rebounds, and seven assists game he had against Marquette was equally phenomenal.

With all of the great numbers that Ben Simmons has put up to this point in the season, including a pretty solid double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds to go along with five assists, there are still people waiting for Ben Simmons to have that culture changing impact on LSU that all the hype surrounding him actually demands.

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This is not saying that he is not living up to the hype. Again, he is averaging 19.9 points, 14.9 rebounds and 6.0 assists and shooting 53.8% from the floor.

But with all of the gaudy numbers the LSU Tigers are currently sitting at 4-4 after taking a 105-98 overtime loss on the road against Kelvin Sampson’s 6-1 Houston Cougars.

So this is not an article to say that Ben Simmons is garbage, that would be totally ridiculous to say. This is to say that the impact that he is having on the floor and the fortunes of the LSU Tigers has not been fully recognized at least for now.

That is definitely fair to say. With all the hype that came along with the consensus No.1 player of the 2015 freshman class and projected No.1 draft pick of the 2016 NBA Draft, people had to expect some kind of impact along the lines of what Carmelo Anthony had when he hooked up with Syracuse in the 2002-03 season.

Nov 19, 2015; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers forward Ben Simmons (25) drives against the South Alabama Jaguars during the first half of a game at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Now just for comparison sake no matter how unfair some people may think it is, Syracuse was 7-1 through their first eight games of the 2002-03 season as compared to the 4-4 that the LSU Tigers are currently enjoying this season.

But with the hype and numbers that Ben Simmons is bringing, it is not wrong for hoop fans to have expected a better showing from the Tigers to this point.

LSU has zero wins against anyone of substance to this point of the season. The win against North Florida is the only win that people can kind of get happy about because of the fact that North Florida was in the NCAA Tournament field last season.

On a positive note, if you want to say that it is positive, LSU’s losses have all come on the road which for some people would make those loses acceptable, except for one problem, Ben Simmons is on the Tigers and he is not having the impact that we were expecting with all of the banter about his prowess.

We know that there has to be a learning curve not only for him, but for the teammates he plays with, but at some point Ben Simmons talent has to be used to steal wins down the stretch of games.

Isn’t that what superstar talent does for a team in the end? Isn’t superstar talent called superstar talent because the skill level can go above and beyond the X’s and O’s and reading and reacting in order to get wins that the team would not ordinarily get.

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That is the kind of impact hoop heads were expecting from Ben Simmons. Maybe the coach is making sure that he stays within the framework of the offense or maybe Simmons himself is not revealing the “S” on his chest on crunch time in order to show respect to the upperclassman on the squad.

We really don’t know, but it is fair to say that in spite of the tremendous numbers that Ben Simmons is putting up, the impact on the games that he is playing is not being completely felt and surely not in the win-loss column.

This has to be mentioned because it would be a shame to see the NCAA tournament start in March and not see the LSU Tigers involved in it with the most talented player in college basketball.

But that is the current danger that the LSU Tigers are in if they don’t start getting some noticeable wins soon.

Ben Simmons is putting up major numbers, but is not having a major impact on the win-loss column at the end of the day. With all the talk of “National Player of the Year” that is being spoken about, you  would have thought that LSU would have had a better record than 4-4 to this point.

But guess what? They are 4-4 and look like they are wasting a lot of talent and time. Things need to change quickly.

Next: Poor Guard Play Haunts Gonzaga in Loss to UCLA

This is not an article placing blame on Ben Simmons at all, he can only do so much. But this is an article to point out that with all the hype and all the talk of “National Player of the Year” the impact is not fitting what is being ballyhooed about.

Just have to hope that other hoop fans are noticing what is being talked about.