Louisiana Sports, to Boot

The Daily Hat Trick is determined to deliver all manner of sports to you. Every now and then, I try to share my vast knowledge to the greatest degree possible. The best way to do this is to talk about what I know best. What I know best, being a Louisiana man, is Louisiana sports. So, asking for the pardon of loyal Hat Trick readers in Denver, Charlotte, Indiana, Detroit, Dallas, and around the world, I would like to launch into an all Louisiana edition of The Daily Hat Trick today.


LSU Sports

LSU Baseball

Baseball season is back at the new Alex Box Stadium. Louisiana State University, a traditional power, began the season ranked #15 by USA Today. The first series is often an opportunity of the Tigers to knock off rust and tune up without risking its standing in the Southeastern Conference. The loss of an enormous number of senior players and Major League Baseball draftees has given LSU a much younger look in 2011.

One series does not a season make. However, if the Tigers’ complete throttling and dismantling of Wake Forest, in a three game sweep, this past weekend is any indicator, LSU Head Baseball Coach Paul Mainieri may have a team whose baseball IQ is advanced beyond its years. Some of these talented young players will, inevitably, be siphoned off into the pros in two years, but LSU has a foundation that will keep them very competitive in the long term if the newer players perform as they did over the weekend.

Senior pitcher Ben Alsup started for LSU on Opening Night vs Wake Forest. 3

LSU started senior pitcher Ben Alsup on Friday night, freshman pitcher Kevin Gausman on Saturday, and freshman pitcher Kurt McCune on Sunday, the SEC Pitcher of the week. This youth movement is in stark contrast to what Tiger fans have seen in the past. Typically, the more experienced pitchers, particularly at the start of a season, take the mound in the three games of the weekend series. If there is a freshman taking the mound, it typically happens during a midweek game against an inferior, out of conference opponent.

LSU’s pitchers held their ground, allowing a total of 8 runs over all three games. More impressive was junior outfielder Mikie Mahtook, who crushed four homeruns and six RBIs over the weekend. Mahtook reached a career high for homeruns, with 14, in 2010 and is more than a quarter of the way there after one series.

LSU outfielder Mikie Mahtook goes yard on Opening Night. Mahtook would hit four HRs during the three game weekend series. 1

While one dominating out of conference series will hardly catapult the Tigers into the top 10 or shift the College World Series odds in Vegas, and while there are fewer weaker major conference opponents, outside the SEC, than Wake Forest, LSU’s dominance in the field and with the stick is worth noting. This is an LSU team that, during Mainieri’s tenure, in spite of three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, two College World Series appearances and a CWS championship in 2009, has fallen into the trap of playing down to the level of inferior out of conference opponents.

Last season, the Tigers made an ugly habit out of either losing to or being TOO competitive for too long with midweek opponents such as the University of New Orleans (whom the Tigers face tonight at Alex Box), the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulane University, Southern University, Nicholls State University, and Alcorn State. Many fans, myself included, thought that LSU should not have to rally from any deficit against any of these teams, let alone lose the games. Watching the Tigers completely dismantle Wake Forest is an about face from that pattern from 2010. The next test is against a historically respectable, and probably motivated, UNO team, which has given LSU its fair share of headaches in the past. A similar shellacking of this opponent would be a very welcome sign of things to come in 2011.

LSU catcher Micah Gibbs slaps a tag on UNO's Jerad Comarta in a 7-4 loss to the Privateers last season at Alex Box. Tiger fans want a different result tonight. 2

LSU Men's Basketball

Stick a fork in them for 2011; they’re done! This season for LSU hoops has been one to forget. While the Tigers (10-17 overall, 2-10 SEC) season has not been good, by any measure, it may not be fair to describe this season as entirely disappointing or underachieving.

LSU Basketball is on the receiving end. 4

LSU Men’s Basketball Head Coach Trent Johnson is in his third season at LSU. In his first season, in which LSU advanced to the second round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, he inherited a group of talented seniors who simply were not putting it together under former coach John Brady. For all of the criticism Brady has received over the years from LSU fans, his ability to bring in talented players was rarely questioned. His ability to coach and develop those players has been called into question and ultimately led to his demise after 12 seasons at LSU.

However, Brady was fired and Johnson was brought on after the 2009 recruiting season, and many of Brady’s recruits de-committed after Brady was fired. This left a giant vacuum for the team in which LSU had several seniors leave and no top flight recruits entering the program. Combine this with another exodus of upperclassmen after 2010 and the Tigers’ hole becomes a crater. The Tigers have only begun to fill that crater in this season, with a recruiting class ranked 19th by ESPN.

LSU has also received a commitment from power forward Johnny O’Bryant from Mississippi, a McDonald’s All-American. The program is taking baby steps and their younger players will have a year of hard knocks under their belts. The 2011-2012 season could be a make-or-break year for Coach Johnson. Given his circumstances, which have never been particularly favorable, I think Johnson has made the most he could of the Tigers’ situation. You cannot make chicken salad from chicken droppings. But I think the rubber will hit the road in the eyes of the Tiger faithful in 2012.

The key is to get IN FRONT of the opposing player BEFORE he drives to your basket! There is only one direction LSU can go: up! 5

LSU Football

The LSU football team announced its signees for the 2011 season. This year’s recruiting class was ranked #6 in the country by Rivals.com. Les Miles has, again, delivered with a top flight recruiting class. The headliners of this recruiting class were offensive tackle La’el Collins and defensive tackle Anthony Johnson. According to LSUSports.net, Johnson was ranked the nation’s #2 overall prospect (at any position) and Collins was the #3 ranked defensive lineman by Sporting News.

Miles in a suit? I wonder if Kathy dressed him that morning. 6

What does this all mean? This means that, once again, Les Miles will have an ample base of talent upon which to build his program. It means that LSU, again, is placing itself into position to have superior depth on its roster. It means that all of the pieces are in place to make a run at an SEC, and possibly, a national championship.

LSU continues to have a giant question mark at the quarterback position. Candidly, I think that neither Jordan Jefferson nor Jarrett Lee have what it takes to lead LSU to an SEC Championship. I think that what the offense gains by playing one QB, it loses by sitting the other and vice-versa. Miles appears to be more comfortable with Jefferson, so I expect to see more of Jefferson than Lee. HOWEVER, LSU’s signees included a highly ranked (#17 overall) junior college transfer in Zach Mettenberger, who achived impressive success at the JUCO level. LSU also picked up a QB prospect in 6’7” Stephen Rivers, brother of San Diego Chargers QB Philip Rivers.

Zach Mettenberger: he might be the future face of the program, but I sincerely hope that Beiber-tastic haircut is NOT! 7

Miles needs to get Mettenberger and Rivers up to speed as quickly as possible. First of all, 100% of the experienced LSU quarterbacking resides with Jefferson and Lee. They will both be gone after 2011. Second, if Mettenberger, with experience at the JUCO level, can be competitive quickly in the LSU system, perhaps Coach Miles will have a viable alternative to the two guys he has now, who have often produced less than desirable outcomes for the Tigers.

We shall see. The next installment of Baton Rouge’s favorite year-round story is the Spring Game, on April 9th. GEAUX TIGERS!


New Orleans Saints

If you are a Saints fan, like I am, and bleed black-and-gold, like I do, it is possible that, like an ostrich, you have deliberately tried to bury your head in the sand to all things Saints since the shocking and embarrassing first round playoff loss by the then defending Super Bowl champs at Seattle. Well, Who Dats, the Super Bowl has passed and “last year” is history. Time to wake up and smell the 2011 season, if there is one….

Saints fans on January 8, 2011 8

Perhaps the Saints had a Super Bowl hangover. Perhaps they had too many injuries in too many key positions. Perhaps they had some unexpected unlucky breaks at the worst times. Perhaps the rival Atlanta Falcons caught all of the breaks at the best times for them.

I think the Saints 11-5 regular season, fifth seeded playoff berth, and early exit from the playoffs was a result of some combination of the above. The question is: can the Saints be serious contenders in 2011 and how do they do so?

I think that as long as Drew Brees is healthy, the Saints will be in contention. Conventional wisdom, last season, was that the Saints would steamroll through the first round which would have resulted in facing the Chicago Bears for a chance to host the NFC Championship Game against the (eventual super Bowl Champion) Green Bay Packers. Games are not played on paper, but expectations are built on past performances. So the Saints were not that far away from defending their title last season.

The Saints may have to make some difficult decisions regarding their offensive backfield. Based on reports in the local media, I am under the impression that Pierre Thomas is not satisfied with any offers the Saints have made to retain him, long-term. His contract expires on March 4th. Reggie Bush would be due nearly $12 million in 2011, should the Saints not renegotiate his deal. Bush is valuable to Head Coach Sean Payton’s offensive blueprint, but his production cannot justify a $12 million salary. Bush knows this.

On the other hand, the Saints risk going from having one of the deeper backfields in the NFL (albeit one that was riddled with injuries last season) to having all of its eggs in one (powerful) basket in running back Chris Ivory. Just looking in from the outside, I think that Bush is more valuable to the Saints than he would be to any of the other 31 teams and I think that the Saints will offer him more money than any other team. So I think Bush stays.

Pierrre Thomas, on the other hand, may be more valuable to a team with less RB talent than the Saints. There has been apparent tension between Thomas and Payton and Thomas has been offered much less money that he has been seeking for the second consecutive offseason. I think we may have seen the last of Thomas in a Saints uniform.

Next stop: probably the 2011 draft…hopefully a completed collective bargaining agreement (one can hope).

I have a bad feeling that Thomas may be chucking up an additional finger to the Saints in a few months. As in "throwing up the deuce". ("PEACE!") 9 

New Orleans Hornets

The Hornets are much improved over last season. They are in sixth place in a very tight Western Conference playoff race and will probably make the playoffs in 2011. Yay Bees!

Unfortunately, the team’s improved on-the-court performance is not the most pressing story about the Hornets. The NBA recently purchased the Hornets after a proposed sale from majority owner George Shinn to minority owner Gary Chouset fell through. In light of the NBA’s pending collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the players and talk of contraction of up to four NBA teams, the Hornets’ future in New Orleans is shadowed in uncertainty.

In addition, the sports world watched as yet another big star, Carmelo Anthony, left the team that drafted him, the Denver Nuggets, for greener pastures in the large New York market with the Knicks. New Orleans has a strong possibility of being the victim of this trend in the NBA, as star point guard Chris Paul’s contract expires after 2012. What appears to be a good situation in the Hive on gameday for the Bees is anything but when Hornets Fan looks into the Creole Blue crystal ball at the club’s future.

The Hornets have cause for concern. 11

There are so many unknowns, variables, and moving parts in this saga that I do not have a strong gut feeling on any of the outcomes related to the Hornets. The following are my best guesses.

I think that no professional sports league wants any relocation or any contraction of any kind…ever. Talking heads and larger market owners (likely eager to cannibalize the assets of a potentially contracted team) can talk a big game about streamlining and smaller, better products, but the league as a whole needs to thrive. Contraction and relocation are last resorts for the league and its teams. To contract or relocate demonstrates instability, loss of goodwill, permanent loss viewers in television markets (albeit small and medium markets), devaluing of the league brand, and a loss of long term value of the league and its franchises due to the uncertainty.

The Hive in 2012??? 12

If those steps are absolutely necessary, then they will be taken, but I do not see the popularity of the league and attendance of the teams in question (New Orleans, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, and Indiana Pacers, among other teams) necessitating such a drastic move. But in any business, there is a lot the public does not know and anything can happen.

Chris Paul’s potential free agency defection after 2012, n the other hand, is a very real possibility. Paul is one of the league’s best players and I could understand his (alleged) desire to experience the bright lights, glamour, and marketing/branding exposure of a big city like New York or Miami. The Hornets have two things in its favor. The first is that, assuming a somewhat similarly structured CBA is in place, the Hornets will be able to offer Paul about $20 million more in guaranteed money than any other team. That did not stop LeBron James from leaving to go to Miami, but Paul, while popular ant talented, has nowhere near the endorsement cash cows in place that James had when he left Cleveland.

The other potential saving grace for the Bees is that the NBA’s new CBA may include a franchise tag option. Should that happen, like NFL teams, an NBA team would be able to protect its most cherished asset in exchange for a very lucrative guaranteed payday for that player. I think that if the NBA has the franchise tag option after 2012, Paul stays. If there is none, I think he leaves New Orleans, likely to the Knicks.

If CP3 really wants to play Santa Claus next year, he can bring Hornets fans his signature on a long term contract extension. David West's John Hancock wouldn't be a bad stocking stuffer, either. 10

Don’t forget to vote in the fan polls!

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1,2,3, 6, 7) Images from LSUSports.net
4) Image from altadenablog.com
5) Image from olemisssports.com
8) Image from dranil-marketingmusings.blogspot.com
9) Image from imageworldblog.blogspot.com
10) Image from pubsub.com
11) Image from nrestivo.wordpress.com
12) Image from istockphoto.com