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This is not an April Fool’s joke. The player second to only Shaquille O’Neal in blocks shots in the record books at LSU is leaving after his sophomore season and declaring for the National Basketball Association.
Jordan Mickey was recruited out of Prime Prep Academy in Dallas. According to his bio on lsusports.net, he averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds, with two blocks his senior season and was a consensus four-star recruit. A season before his Arlington Grace Prep team won the Texas state championship. Mickey signed with a team at LSU that ended the 2011-2012 season on a hot streak winning 10 of 16 games down the stretch for first year coach Johnny Jones. However, the team ended the season just short of making the postseason.
In his first season in Baton Rouge, Mickey played alongside Johnny O’Bryant, III, and Jarell Martin and started in all of the team’s 34-games. He did not let the change of scenery affect his game as he recorded statistics similar to those at Prime Prep and joined Shaq in the record books with 100 block shots in a season. The Tigers went on to win 20 games that season and advanced to the NIT marking the school’s first trip to the postseason since 2009. LSU defeated San Francisco 71-63 on the road in the opening round and got eight-points, eight rebounds, and a career high three assists out of the freshman Mickey. The season; however, came to an end less than a week later as Mickey returned home to face Southern Methodist in Dallas. Mickey was second in scoring on the night with 14-points, turned in two assists, and led the way with four blocked shots in a losing effort as SMU won the game 80-67.
The M&M Boys returned in 2014/15, flanked by newcomers Josh Gray from junior college and Keith Hornsby from UNC-Ashville. Mickey turned in more than 100 blocks on the season, was second on the team in scoring at 15.4 points a game, led the SEC in rebounding at 9.9 a game and led the nation in blocks at 3.64 per contest. The team went on to win 22 games this season and made the NCAA Tournament as an eight seed. The Tigers lost a heart breaker to NC State in the opening round. A banged up Jordan Mickey turned in 12 points, 14 rebounds, and six blocks on the night.
There's definitely going to be some debate about the wisdom in this decision, but LSU fans definitely won't be seeing Mickey in the PMAC now unless uniform is hung from the rafters alongside Shaq, Bob Pettit, Rudy Macklin, and the Pistol.