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NCAA Basketball: 10 teams that will exceed expectations in 2019-20

By Donovan Darlington

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 30: Mamadi Diakite #25 of the Virginia Cavaliers reacts against the Purdue Boilermakers during overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at KFC YUM! Center on March 30, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 30: Mamadi Diakite #25 of the Virginia Cavaliers reacts against the Purdue Boilermakers during overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at KFC YUM! Center on March 30, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – MARCH 23: Skylar Mays #4 of the LSU Tigers dribbles the ball as they take on the Maryland Terrapins during the second half of the game in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Vystar Memorial Arena on March 23, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. The LSU Tigers won 69-67. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – MARCH 23: Skylar Mays #4 of the LSU Tigers dribbles the ball as they take on the Maryland Terrapins during the second half of the game in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Vystar Memorial Arena on March 23, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. The LSU Tigers won 69-67. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /

LSU Tigers

2018-19 Record: 28-7

LSU did have a great recruiting class a season ago, but besides that, the Tigers sort of came on the scene rather unexpectedly last season. I for sure did not expect them to come out and compete with Tennessee and Kentucky for the SEC as they did. LSU will shock people again this year.

Lots of the guys responsible for that quick jump to being near the top of the SEC are now gone, but Skylar Mays and Ja’vonte Smart are back and ready to compete once again this season. I am not ready to write LSU off, and you should not be ready to do that either. The Tigers also has another great recruiting class to join the returnees.

This season, their frontcourt has lost some power from last year, but that will quickly be fixed thanks to Trendon Watford. Trendon Watford is a 6’9 Power Forward and was ranked by 247 Sports as the 18th best player in the 2019 class. The backcourt will be deadly once again and the other newcomers, along with Watford, will fill the roles and step up to prove that this LSU team is not yet finished with the business it began a season ago.

I do not see LSU competing for an SEC title this season, but I am a firm believer that they have what it takes to get back to the NCAA Tournament. This should give LSU fans something to look forward to since most of the college basketball world is ready to see LSU off.

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