SEC Basketball: 2024 offseason grades for each team

LSU Tigers - Grade: C+

Matt McMahon has improved his LSU teams each of the past two years. The largest improvement has been on the offensive end, and going into his third year he looked to improve LSU’s offense even more. 

The Tigers signed three players, all guards, from the transfer portal this offseason. Dji Bailey averaged 10.2 points last year at Richmond, Cam Carter averaged 14.6 points at Kansas State, and Jordan Sears averaged 21.6 points at UT-Martin. 

Bailey wasn’t the main scoring option for the Spiders but should provide some depth and fit well into a bench role. Carter was one of three players last season for Kansas State to average more than 14 points per game and is a good physical defender. And Sears is a great volume scorer who does a little bit of everything on the court. Last season he averaged 4.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. 

LSU will have plenty of wing depth but might be lacking some depth on the interior. The Tigers brought back two players from last season who are at least 6’10, Jalen Reed and Derek Fountain, but neither were top-tier rim protectors. McMahon and company added a 7’0 forward, Noah Boyde, from McCook CC and signed a 6’10 freshman, Robert Miller II, to lead a recruiting class with three top-75 players.

It’s hard to grasp exactly what this current iteration of LSU’s roster looks like on the court. An argument could be made that the offense will be improved enough that the lacking interior defense won’t be a problem, but with a guard-heavy roster and the team's best scorer being under six feet tall there is still a lot of uncertainty on the defensive end of the court.