SEC Basketball Recruiting: Every team's top class from past decade

SEC Basketball Recruiting: Every team’s top class from past decade

By Dakota Cox | May 13, 2019

NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 02: Anthony Davis #23 of the Kentucky Wildcats celebrates before he cuts down the net after the Wildcats defeat the Kansas Jayhawks 67-59 in the National Championship Game of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on April 2, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images) /

8 of 15

BATON ROUGE , LOUISIANA – FEBRUARY 26: Naz Reid #0 of the LSU Tigers goes for a dunk during the second half against the Texas A&M Aggies at Pete Maravich Assembly Center on February 26, 2019 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

LSU Tigers: 2018

This recruiting class came with some good and bad things. The good? They were extremely talented. Naz Reid was one of the strongest post players in the SEC, and Javonte Smart was a big reason why the Tigers were the 1-seed in the SEC Tournament.

However, there were a lot of bad things with this class. The elephant in the room is obviously the scandal with Will Wade paying recruits. The majority of issues Wade is currently facing revolve around this recruiting class, specifically with Reid and Smart. In fact, Smart was suspended for part of this season to protect him from the investigation.

I could easily disqualify this recruiting class because of the scandal, but I’m not going to. At the end of the day, they are the most talented class in the past decade for LSU, and that’s what I’m here to find.

This class still has some potential to grow, too. I would personally be shocked if Reid or Smart came back to LSU, but they weren’t the only recruits. Emmitt Williams also declared for the draft, but he might want to come back. That will depend on the results of this investigation and what happens with Tremont Waters in late recruiting.

Excluding Williams, there is still Darius Days for the Tigers. LSU’s roster is extremely depleted, so Days will have to step up in the absence of all of these other scorers.

Home/SEC