LSU Basketball: 3 takeaways from Tigers shocking firing of Will Wade
1. Firing Will Wade won’t prevent the heavy sanctions
What makes this situation so difficult for the Tigers isn’t just about how they end the season but also what to do in the future. LSU Basketball firing Will Wade indirectly is an admission of guilt to the allegations so they’re definitely going to get hit hard by the NCAA.
There are eight total Level 1 violation allegations against LSU, seven of which are tied to basketball. Here's Allegation 11, which will loom large over this case: "The institution failed to exercise institutional control and monitor ...its football and men’s basketball programs" pic.twitter.com/mug5ns5DZy
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 12, 2022
The most recent example is the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who were originally banned from postseason play a year ago but had appealed to be able to play. But they were officially banned before the start of the 2021-22 season. Of course, they didn’t have Cade Cunningham this time around and finished 15-15 (8-10) and wouldn’t have been an at-large candidate. So as disappointing as it must have been for the players, the Cowboys got banned in a year where they weren’t going to dance anyways.
That’s been the pattern for programs knowing that they were going to face some stiff punishment from the NCAA. Auburn and Arizona both gave themselves a postseason ban when it was clear that they weren’t going to have a good season. That allows them to not have the dark cloud over them for the next year, which would’ve impacted recruiting and transfer portal actively quite a bit.
It won’t be the case for LSU, who knows they’ll have to bite the proverbial bullet next season. So whoever gets the gig will certainly start behind the eight-ball, having to convince players to be willing to not go to the postseason for at least the 2022-23 campaign. If the punishment is any worse than that, then they’ll be in real trouble.