Cam Thomas to lead LSU Basketball over Osun Osunniyi and St. Bonaventure

3. Getting solid play from their big 3

Trendon Watford, Cameron Thomas, and Javonte Smart have made LSU’s offense fun to watch this year. Going into the season, I was hoping that Smart and Watford would increase their scoring production from last season, and that is exactly what occurred. Smart went from averaging 12.5 points per game last season to averaging 15.9 points per game this season, and Watford took his scoring average from 13.6 points in 2019-20 to 16.7 points in 2020-21.

Just about everyone knew that Thomas could fill it up when he arrived at LSU, but it is still incredible that Oak Hill Academy product has put together as many 20+ point performances as he has this year (20 to be exact). His 22.6 points per game helped the Tigers stay in contests during the regular season and the beginning of the postseason when they were unable to defend adequately.

Watford, Thomas, and Smart can hurt opposing defenses a few different ways which makes them tricky to defend. Watford is at his best in the half-court when he can fool his defenders by putting the ball between his legs, and angling his body to his left before crossing over to his right and getting to the rim.

The great part about Watford’s offensive game is that he understands that he may not have a clear path to the basket every time, which is why he is perfectly fine with completing the dribble combination that I just described, regrouping, backing his defenders down into the low post, and being as patient as possible.

When overanxious defenders are guarding him down low, Watford loves to take a few meaning dribbles toward the rim, show the ball to them when the time is right (which causes them to lose their defensive discipline), and quickly step around them in the paint. When Watford wants to simplify his game, he catches the ball on either elbow, sizes up his defender briefly, rips through to his left or right, embraces the contact that he typically receives when he drives to the basket and stays upright as he is preparing to power up at the rim.

Smart is a tough cover for opposing defenses because he isn’t limited to just one move. He is almost unstoppable when he is able to fake a drive to his right and pull the ball back before firing a three.

When he feels like he can get into the paint, he doesn’t have much of an issue getting his defenders to commit to taking away the three (by pausing and keeping his eyes on the rim) and taking off toward the rim with a steady/effective pace (which enables him to pro hop and float the ball up over opposing bigs). Additionally, when Smart is able to be a true floor general and excel at all aspects of the game, he makes the Tigers an even tougher out.

When it comes to Cameron Thomas, well, the 6’4” guard can truly do it all. If he is able to get his defenders to lean to one side after completing 2 or 3 jab steps, he can rapidly rise up and get straight into his three-point jumper before his defenders can get a hand up. If he completes those two jab steps and elects not to take a three, he can take two dribbles to his right or left (preferably to his left), and use his textbook step back move to increase the distance between himself and his defenders before shooting a pull-up jumper.

And because Thomas is a threat to put the ball on the floor and finish with the best of them at the rim, defenders often don’t know if Thomas will take one final dribble before exploding toward the rim, or before springing backwards in a blur in order to give himself an advantage over his defenders (which is another reason why he is so difficult to guard in the half-court).

Yes, Thomas did have some games when he shot less than 40 percent from the field and took some extremely difficult shots, but Will Wade has made it clear that there is no such thing as a bad shot for Thomas. If Wade has been able to accept who Thomas is as a player for 20+ games this year, it wouldn’t necessarily make sense for him to change his tune in the big dance.

If LSU wants to get past St. Bonaventure in the Round of 64, their 3 future pros must show up when Saturday arrives. I know for a fact that they don’t want to exit the NCAA Tournament after competing in just one contest, and they will have to play like that if they want to survive and advance to the Round of 32.

It will certainly be interesting to see how the 8th-seeded Tigers perform against the 9th seeded Bonnies on Saturday, and if the Tigers are able to put together a complete game against the Bonnies we shouldn’t be surprised by an LSU win in game #1.