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The basketball season to this point has not been linear for this LSU team. It has been more like a wave with crests and troughs of varying amplitudes.
The season started with the team riding the wave to a 3-0 start before going to Brooklyn for a bout in the Legends Classic. While there the team lost close games to Marquette and the same North Carolina State team that had knocked it out of the Tournament a season ago. The wave at this point was at a slight trough, but it was about to get at its lowest amplitude as the team left Brooklyn and went down to Charlston where it suffered a humbling defeat 70-58.
The wave began to crest after a thrilling 119-108 win against North Florida as LSU scored 63 second half points. In the game freshman star Ben Simmons scored 43-points. It was the first time a player wearing the purple and gold scored 40+ points in a game since Shaquille O'Neal did so in 1991. The team lost the next game in overtime in Houston. That game at Hofheinz Pavilion was the first game with a healthy Keith Hornsby on the court.
The team got a shot in the arm with the return of Hornsby and the debut of the Arizona transfer Craig Victor. This caused the wave to crest again as the team rolled off a string of wins before losing to Wake Forest in its last game before SEC play. Conference play began with a 90-82 win in Nashville against Vanderbilt. The wave then crested to its highest amplitude as the Deaf Dome lived up to its reputation. On a Super Tuesday night, the Fighting Tigers defeated the the ninth ranked Kentucky Wildcats 85-67.
The laws of physics kicked in for LSU as it suffered a loss in its next game to the hands of Florida in Gainseville before netting back-to-back wins against Ole Miss and Arkansas. LSU then experienced a loss to the tenth ranked Aggies in College Station Tuesday night.
As the season continues a third of the way in, questions remain to be answered like what will the season be like for this team the rest of the way. Will the season become more linear, or at what hertz will the wavelenghts continue? LSU is now at a resting point before its next game Saturday against Alabama. The game can be seen at 1:30 PM on ESPNU and heard on the team's radio affiliates.