2009–10 LSU Tigers basketball team

2009–10 LSU Tigers basketball
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Record	11–20 (2–14 SEC)
Head coach	Trent Johnson (2nd season)
Assistant coaches	Donny Guerinoni Keith Richard Brent Scott
Home arena	Pete Maravich Assembly Center

2009–10 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
No. 2 Kentucky†	14	–	2		.875			35	–	3		.921
No. 21 Vanderbilt	12	–	4		.750			24	–	9		.727
No. 15 Tennessee	11	–	5		.688			28	–	9		.757
Florida	9	–	7		.563			21	–	13		.618
South Carolina	6	–	10		.375			15	–	16		.484
Georgia	5	–	11		.313			14	–	17		.452
West
Mississippi State	9	–	7		.563			24	–	12		.667
Mississippi	9	–	7		.563			24	–	11		.686
Arkansas	7	–	9		.438			14	–	18		.438
Alabama	6	–	10		.375			17	–	15		.531
Auburn	6	–	10		.375			15	–	17		.469
LSU	2	–	14		.125			11	–	20		.355
† 2010 SEC tournament winner As of March 30, 2010 Rankings from AP Poll

The 2009–10 LSU Tigers men's basketball team represented the Louisiana State University in the 2009–10 college basketball season. The head coach was Trent Johnson, who was in his second season at LSU. The team played its home games in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is a member of the Southeastern Conference. They finished the season 11–20, 2–14 in SEC play and lost in the first round of the 2010 SEC men's basketball tournament.

Previous season

Trent Johnson completed his first season as head coach of the Tiger men's basketball team in 2009. His first season was very successful as the Tigers won the SEC West division title and the overall SEC regular-season title which earned them the #1 seed in the 2009 SEC men's basketball tournament. As a result of earning the top seed, the Tigers received a first-round bye. The Tigers defeated the Kentucky Wildcats in the second round 67-58. However, Mississippi St. proved to be too much in the semi-finals eliminating the Tigers 57-67.

After the SEC Tournament, the Tigers' fate was in the hands of the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The Tigers were awarded the #8 seed in the South bracket for the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. This was the first time the Tigers had made the NCAA tournament since making it to 2006 Final Four. The Tigers had to travel to Greensboro, North Carolina to play the first two rounds of the tournament.

In the opening round of the tournament, LSU squared off against the #9 seed Butler, who finished the regular season 26-5. The Tigers seemed to be in control of the game leading by as much as 13, and by a score of 35-29 at the half. However, Butler continued to fight their way back using the size of Matt Howard who finished the game with 22. In the end, though, the Tigers were able to prevail 75-71 behind Marcus Thornton's 30 points.[1]

The 2008-09 squad compiled and overall record of 27-8, including a 13-3 mark in SEC play.[2]

Preseason

The 2009–10 Tigers men's basketball team had a much different look than the team that competed in the previous season. The Tigers replaced the following seniors from 2008–09:

• Chris Johnson, C, 2-year starter
• Garrett Temple, G, 4-year starter
• Marcus Thornton, G, drafted in the second round of the 2009 NBA draft by the Miami Heat
• Quinton Thornton, F, sixth man

However, Tasmin Mitchell decided to withdraw his name from the 2009 NBA draft and return to LSU for his red-shirt senior season. He joined junior Bo Spencer as the only two starters returning from last year.

Honors

Senior forward Tasmin Mitchell was the only Tiger to receive any preseason accolades. Mitchell was recently named to watchlist for the 2009–10 Naismith Award,[3] as well as being rated the #4 small forward in college basketball by Rivals.com.[4] During SEC media days prior to the season, Mitchell was named a unanimous First Team All-SEC selection by the SEC coaches.[5]

Recruiting class

College recruiting information

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Aaron Dotson SG	Seattle, WA	Rainier Beach High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	Oct 22, 2008
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 93
Eddie Ludwig PF	Metairie, Louisiana	Metairie Park Country Day School	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Oct 13, 2008
	Star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 87
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: Not ranked   Rivals: Not ranked
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "LSU Commit List for 2009". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 11, 2010. "Men's Basketball Recruiting". Scout.com. Retrieved November 11, 2010. "College Basketball Recruiting Schools". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 11, 2010. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved November 11, 2010. "2009 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 11, 2010.

Roster

2009–10 LSU Tigers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown F 1 Tasmin Mitchell 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Sr Denham Springs, Louisiana F 3 Garrett Green 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 230 lb (104 kg) So Woodland Hills, California G 4 Chris Bass 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Baton Rouge, Louisiana F 5 Malcolm White 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr Baton Rouge, Louisiana G 10 Daron Populist 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Fr Slidell, Louisiana G 11 Bo Spencer 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 186 lb (84 kg) Jr Baton Rouge, Louisiana G 12 Aaron Dotson 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Fr Seattle, Washington F 13 Eddie Ludwig 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Fr Metairie, Louisiana G 14 Chris Beattie 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 189 lb (86 kg) Jr Slidell, Louisiana F 15 Dennis Harris 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr Jonesboro, Georgia G/F 1 Calvin Traxler 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Fr Grand Rapids, Michigan F 22 Taylor Jacobsen 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So Charlotte, North Carolina F 24 Storm Warren 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 230 lb (104 kg) So Monroe, Louisiana G 30 Alex Farrer 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Head coach Trent Johnson (Boise State) Assistant coach(es) Donny Guerinoni (Nevada) Keith Richard (Louisiana–Monroe) Brent Scott (Rice) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: 2009-11-11

Schedule

2010 LSU Tigers basketball Game Log
Regular Season
November # Date Time Opponent^# Rank Location TV Attendance Score Overall Record SEC Record 1[6] November 13 7:00 p.m. Louisiana–Monroe Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana 9,081 82-62 1-0 - 2[7] November 16 7:00 p.m. Indiana State Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana 8,113 56-45 2-0 - 3[8] November 17 7:00 p.m. Western Kentucky Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana 8,220 71-60 3-0 - 4[9] November 25 6:00 p.m. #13 Connecticut Madison Square Garden · New York ESPN2 55-81 3-1 - 5[10] November 27 1:30 p.m. Arizona State Madison Square Garden · New York ESPN2 52-71 3-2 -
December # Date Time Opponent^# Rank Location TV Attendance Score Overall Record SEC Record 6[11] December 1 6:30 p.m. Louisiana-Lafayette Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana CST 8,107 66-58 4-2 - 7[12] December 12 7:00 p.m. Northwestern St. Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana 8,414 73-62 5-2 - 8[13] December 14 7:00 p.m. Southeastern La Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana 8,003 77-60 6-2 - 9[14] December 17 7:00 p.m. Nicholls St. Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana CST 7,957 63-60 7-2 - 10[15] December 19 1:00 p.m. Rice Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana CST 8,629 65-61 8-2 - 11[16] December 22 9:00 p.m. Washington St. KeyArena · Seattle, WA 15,341 70-72 ^OT 8-3 - 12[17] December 29 6:00 p.m. Xavier (Ohio) Cintas Center · Cincinnati ESPNU 10,250 65-89 8-4 -
January # Date Time Opponent^# Rank Location TV Attendance Score Overall Record SEC Record 13 January 2 7:00 p.m. Utah Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana CSS 8,631 59-61 8-5 - 14[18] January 4 7:00 p.m. McNeese St. Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana 7,807 83-60 9-5 - 15[19] January 9 4:00 p.m. Alabama Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana FSN 9,666 49-66 9-6 0-1 16 January 13 7:00 p.m. South Carolina Colonial Life Arena · Columbia, South Carolina SECN 12,103 58-67 9-7 0-2 17 January 16 7:00 p.m. Florida O'Connell Center · Gainesville, Florida FSN 11,627 58-72 9-8 0-3 18 January 20 7:00 p.m. Auburn Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana SECN 9,445 80-84 9-9 0-4 19 January 23 12:30 p.m. #24 Ole Miss Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana SECN 9,403 63-73 9-10 0-5 20 January 27 7:00 p.m. Alabama Coleman Coliseum · Tuscaloosa, AL SECN 10,657 38-57 9-11 0-6 21 January 30 12:30 p.m. Mississippi St. Humphrey Coliseum · Starkville, Mississippi SECN 7,247 51-67 9-12 0-7
February # Date Time Opponent^# Rank Location TV Attendance Score Overall Record SEC Record 22 February 4 8:00 p.m. #14 Tennessee Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana 9,052 54-59 9-13 0-8 23 February 6 3:00 p.m. #4 Kentucky Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana SECN 13,083 55-81 9-14 0-9 24 February 10 7:00 p.m. Arkansas Bud Walton Arena · Fayetteville, Arkansas SECN 12,777 52-87 9-15 0-10 25 February 13 12:30 p.m. Vanderbilt Memorial Gymnasium · Nashville, Tennessee SECN 14,316 69-77 9-16 0-11 26 February 20 3:00 p.m. Mississippi St. Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana SECN 9,434 59-60 9-17 0-12 27 February 24 7:00 p.m. Arkansas Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana SECN 8,463 65-54 10-17 1-12 28 February 27 6:00 p.m. Auburn Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum · Auburn, AL FSN 8,927 59-74 10-18 1-13
March # Date Time Opponent^# Rank Location TV Attendance Score Overall Record SEC Record 29 March 4 8:00 p.m. Ole Miss Tad Smith Coliseum · Oxford, Mississippi 6,430 59-72 10-19 1-14 30 March 6 4:00 p.m. Georgia Maravich Center · Baton Rouge, Louisiana FSN 9,328 50-48 11-19 2-14
Post-Season
SEC Tournament # Date Time Opponent^# Rank Location TV Attendance Score Overall Record 29 March 11 2:30 p.m. #13 Tennessee Bridgestone Arena · Nashville, Tennessee SECN 15,152 49-59 11-20

References

1. Thornton, No. 8-Seed Tigers Survive Butler, 75-71
2. 2008-09 LSU Tigers Men's Basketball Schedule
3. Mitchell Named to Preseason Naismith List
4. Mitchell Named Among Nation's Best Forwards
5. Mitchell Unanimous All-SEC Pick by Coaches
6. ULM vs LSU
7. ISU vs LSU
8. WKU vs LSU
9. LSU vs. UCONN
10. LSU vs. ASU
11. ULL vs. LSU
12. NSU vs. LSU
13. SLU vs. LSU
14. NSU vs. LSU
15. Rice vs. LSU
16. LSU vs. WSU
17. LSU vs. XU
18. MNSU vs. LSU
19. BAMA vs. LSU