After a great pre-season, the LSU Tigers dug themselves a hole too deep to escape from. Matt McMahon’s team is currently 2-10, standing near the bottom of the SEC tables. The recruitment this year hasn’t been great, and the transfer portal action was pretty dry as well. The fact of the matter is that teams need a lot of capital to compete in the modern NCAA landscape. There’s no way for a good team to be built without solid NIL deals and expenditures. For example, Duke spends about $1.3 million per player in the form of player development and other costs.

LSU, however, has decided to enter the arms race with the rest of the SEC. They finally look to grasp a similar amount of funds as other teams in their conference that are better off. With most teams spending over $7 million for their basketball players, it is unfair to expect McMahon to build a good roster without good financial resources.

However, with more money, they can afford to get better players altogether. There have been many cases of players leaving better-fitting programs for more money in the transfer portal. Mat McMahon should take inspiration from the teams that are going through NIL struggles this year, like UNC.

Mat McMahon needs to learn from Hubert Davis’ transfer portal failure

The biggest issue with North Carolina this year has been its lack of a big man. People have said it before and they’ll say it again, Hubert Davis simply was not given much to work with. Players expect a lot more money than some colleges are willing to give, and Davis was caught on the wrong side of the deal.

Hubert Davis, however, made it work a lot better than McMahon did. The Tar Heels are currently 8-6 in the ACC, standing at #6 with an above .500 record. Their star players RJ Davis and Ian Jackson have saved UNC from embarrassment. On the other hand, Mat McMahon’s team wasn’t so lucky.

LSU has Cam Carter and Jordan Sears, but they are all set to pass out after this year. The university has increased the team’s budget at exactly the right time, as without Carter and Sears, LSU barely has a playable five. Matt McMahon hasn’t been able to climb the ranks of the SEC this year, always falling short.

Hopefully, with the increased budget, McMahon won’t suffer the same pitfalls that he did this year, or that Davis caught himself in. The women’s roster is doing amazingly well under Kim Mulkey, and LSU hopes to find its men’s half doing the same soon enough.